Treadway v. Terminal R. R. Ass'n of St. Louis
| Decision Date | 06 February 1940 |
| Citation | 136 S.W.2d 401,235 Mo.App. 494 |
| Parties | W. T. TREADWAY, APPELLANT, v. TERMINAL RAILROAD ASSOCIATION OF ST. LOUIS, RESPONDENT |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal from the Circuit Court of City of St. Louis.--Hon. Robert J Kirkwood, Judge.
AFFIRMED.
Judgment affirmed.
T. M Pierce, J. L. Howell, Wm. A. Thie and Walter N. Davis for respondent.
B. & O. S.W. v. Burtch, 263 U.S. 540, 44 S.Ct. 165, 68 L.Ed. 433; Cox v. M. K. & T. R. Co., 76 S.W.2d 411; Boston & M. R. R. Co. v. Hooker, 233 U.S. 97, 34 S.Ct. 526, 58 L.Ed. 868; Boston & M. R. R. Co. v Hooker, 233 U.S. 97, 34 S.Ct. 526, 58 L.Ed. 868; Galveston H. & S. R. Co. v. Woodbury, 254 U.S. 357, 41 S.Ct. 114, 65 L.Ed. 301; American R. Co. v. Daniel, 269 U.S. 40, 46 S.Ct. 15, 70 Ed. 154; Western Union T. Co. v. Esteve Bros. & Co., 256 U.S. 566, 41 S.Ct. 584, 65 L.Ed. 1094; Pierce & Co. v. Wells Fargo Co., 236 U.S. 278, 35 S.Ct. 351, 59 L.Ed. 576; T. & P. R. Co. v. Mugg, 202 U.S. 242; K. C. So. Ry. Co. v. Carl, 227 U.S. 639; Erie R. Co. v. Stone, 244 U.S. 332, 37 S.Ct. 633, 61 L.Ed. 1173; N. Y. R. Co. v. Beaham, 242 U.S. 148, 37 S.Ct. 43, 61 L.Ed. 210; Southern Express Co. v. Byers, 240 U.S. 612, 36 S.Ct. 410, 60 L.Ed. 825; Cleveland & St. Louis Ry. Co. v. Dettelbach, 239 U.S. 588, 36 S.Ct. 117, 60 L.Ed. 453; American Express Co. v. United States Horse Shoe Co., 244 U.S. 58, 37 S.Ct. 595, 61 L.Ed. 990; American Express Co. v. United States Horse Shoe Co., 244 U.S. 58, 37 S.Ct. 595, 61 L.Ed. 990; American R. Express Co. v. Levee, 263 U.S. 19, 44 S.Ct. 11, 68 L.Ed. 140.
Buder & Buder, G. A. Buder, Jr. and Frederick A. Judell for plaintiff-appellant.
(1) Gayle v. Foundry Co., 177 Mo. 427, 446; O'Hara v. Laclede Gas Light Co., 244 Mo. 395, 409-10; Burgess v. Garvin, 272 S.W. 108, 112; Mattocks v. Emerson Drug Co., 33 S.W.2d 142, 144; Hilsdorf v. City of St. Louis, 45 Mo. 94, 98; In the Matter of Peoria & Pekin Union Railway Co., 93 I. C. Rep. 3; State ex rel. Burr v. Jacksonville Terminal Co., 90 Fla. 721, 106 So. 576; Cooley on Torts (2 Ed.), p. 647; Mullich v. Brocker, 119 Mo.App. 332, 338; Semper v. American Press, 273 S.W. 186, 189. (2) Defendant held plaintiff's baggage as a warehouseman and not as a carrier and, therefore, was not entitled to any limitation of liability as a result of any provision of the baggage tariff. (a) The baggage tariff itself so provided. Western Baggage Tariff, No. 25-8, Rule 14 (e). (b) A reasonable time had been afforded the plaintiff to call for the baggage in the present case before the loss occurred, and the liability of the defendant was, therefore, that of a warehouseman and not a carrier. Saffa v. Illinois Central Railroad Co., 218 Mo.App. 502, 279 S.W. 223, 225; Cohen v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co., 59 Mo.App. 66, 68; Rossier v. Wabash Railway Co., 115 Mo.App. 515; Denver Railway Co. v. Doyle, 58 Colo. 327, 145 P. 688; St. Louis & San Francisco Railway Co. v. Terrell, 72 S.W. 430.
This is a second appeal, the prior opinion being reported in 231 Mo.App. 1028, 84 S.W.2d 143.
Plaintiff's petition seeks to recover judgment for $ 849 against defendant Terminal Railroad Association of St. Louis, hereinafter referred to as the Terminal, as the value of certain baggage which had been transported by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company from Houston, Texas, to St. Louis, Missouri, where, upon its arrival, the said Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company had delivered the baggage in question to the defendant Terminal Railroad Association at its Union Station in St. Louis, Missouri, for safe-keeping and delivery to plaintiff, but which baggage, though due demand was made therefor by plaintiff, was never delivered.
On March 27, 1931, plaintiff and his wife were at the Rice Hotel in Houston, Texas. Plaintiff had purchased two tickets for transportation on the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad from Houston, Texas, to St. Louis, Missouri. Plaintiff had the porter of the hotel come to his room and get his baggage and had him check the same to St. Louis. The hotel porter, when checking the baggage for transportation, signed plaintiff's name to a valuation receipt which stipulated that the "property covered by check # 733822 is valued at not exceeding $ 100, and in case of loss or damage to such property, claim will not be made for a greater amount." When plaintiff left the hotel for the depot the porter gave him the railroad tickets and said baggage check of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company.
Plaintiff's baggage was carried by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad to St. Louis, Missouri, and arrived at the Union Station at ten o'clock on the evening of March 28, 1931. Upon arrival at the station the baggage was there turned over by the baggagemen of the train to a representative of the defendant Terminal, who gave the baggagemen a receipt for the same in the name of Dennis O'Toole, railroad baggage agent of the Terminal. Plaintiff went to claim his baggage at the Union Station on March 29, 1931, at about nine o'clock A. M. Defendant was not able to locate the baggage and it was never delivered to plaintiff.
At the first trial of the case before the court without the intervention of a jury a judgment was entered for plaintiff for the uncontroverted value of the baggage and its contents at the time of the loss, which was $ 849.
On the first appeal it appeared that at the trial of the case, upon objection by plaintiff, defendant was not permitted to introduce the tariffs pleaded in defendant's answer as having been filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission by the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, and that the court further had excluded testimony offered by defendant to prove the agency of the defendant in handling plaintiff's baggage for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad Company, and this court held that the action of the court in this regard was error prejudicial to the rights of defendant Terminal, and reversed the judgment and remanded the cause.
The case was retried in the circuit court upon the original pleadings, without the intervention of a jury, and judgment resulted for plaintiff for $ 100, and plaintiff in due course appealed. Plaintiff's evidence was the same as that offered at the first trial, and made out a prima-facie case. The baggage check issued to plaintiff for his baggage was introduced in evidence and bore the number 733822.
The evidence of the defendant Terminal, among other things discloses that it is the owner of terminal facilities in St. Louis, Missouri, and East St. Louis, Illinois, and it is wholly owned by fifteen railroad companies which make use of its terminal facilities; that by contract between it and the several proprietary railroad companies, each of these railroads has the right to joint use with each other proprietary company and with such other companies as may become proprietary lines, of all the terminal facilities of the defendant for passenger, freight, express and mail business, and in interchange of the same between each other and with the public. The Terminal is the owner of the union passenger station in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, and by agreement each of the fifteen proprietary lines entering the said city...
To continue reading
Request your trial
- National Exhibition Co. v. City of St. Louis
-
Southern Advance Bag & Paper Co. v. Terminal R. Ass'n of St. Louis
... ... capacity of agent in the completion of a service which a line ... haul carrier would otherwise be expected to perform ... Treadway v. Terminal Railroad Association of St ... Louis, 235 Mo.App. 494, 136 S.W.2d 401. However, its ... restriction to purely terminal purposes ... ...