29 Ga. App. 780 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1923
This is a suit by a shipper against a carrier to recover .the actual value of goods lost in an interstate shipment through the alleged negligence of the carrier, where the carrier in its plea admits that the property was received for transportation and was lost through its negligence, but defends solely upon the ground that its liability was limited to a valuation of $50, which it contends was agreed upon in the contract of shipment. A verdict for $100 was rendered for the plaintiff, which was for an amount authorized by the evidence as representing the true value of the property lost. The carrier excepts upon the ground that, under the law and the evidence, it is not liable in an amount in excess of the alleged agreed valuation of $50.
While a carrier can not by a contract with a shipper exempt itself from liability for its own negligence or that of its servants in case of loss or damage to the article shipped, a carrier in interstate commerce may, by an agreement with the shipper, fairly and understandingly made, where the shipper is given a consideration
In the case before us it does not appear that the shipper made any declaration as to the value of the article shipped. Nor does it appear that the $50 valuation placed upon the shipment by the agent of the defendant carrier, which was less than the true value, even though acquiesced in by the agent of the shipper, was,
The contention of counsel for the plaintiff in error, that under the authority of American Ry. Ex. Co. v. Lindenburg (U. S.), 43 Sup. Ct. 206, the acceptance of a receipt for the property presented for transportation, given by the carrier to the shipper in this case established a contract limiting the carrier’s liability to $50, the valuation actually placed upon the property, is unavailable to the plaintiff in error, since the receipt is not in evidence, and the parol evidence as to its contents does not show that the receipt contained any agreement between the carrier and the shipper whereby the shipper agreed to a reduced value for the purpose of securing a reduced rate. Evidence to the effect that the $50 valuation placed upon the contents of the shipment was recited in the receipt does not, without more, establish that the receipt contained an agreement whereby the shipper consented to the $50 valuation for the purpose of securing the reduced rate charged.
Where the court instructed the jury favorably to the defendant carrier, that one who is entrusted with property by the owner for the purpose of delivering it to a carrier for transportation presumably has authority to agree with the carrier upon the terms of shipment, and that, in the absence of any knowledge by the carrier that such agent is exceeding his authority and is violating his instructions from his principal when entering into an agreement with the carrier as to the value of the property, the owner of the property is bound by such agreement, an instruction to the jury to the effect that persons dealing with a special agent
Under the above rulings, no reversible error appears.
Judgment affirmed.