91 Ga. 389 | Ga. | 1893
In the present ease, the figures “ 62.20” in the contract of shipment were ambiguous, and parol evidence was properly admitted to prove that they represented the amount of freight for the entire distance, and also, that this amount was prorated among all the railroad
On the hearing of the case in this court,"counsel for the plaintiff in error insisted that, conceding the defendant company had made a through contract of shipment, the evidence failed to disclose any negligence on the part of either the initial road or any of its connecting carriers, and that the trial court erred in its instructions to the jury upon this branch of the company’s defence. In presenting the argument upon this contention, counsel stated (evidently under a misapprehension of the facts), that after the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company had performed its full duty in promptly securing new men to carry on its business, they in turn, through sympathy with or persuasion from the strikers, also refused to work, and the officers of the company were thus rendered powerless to meet the great and unexpected emergency. He conceded the fact that no lawlessness or violence was indulged in by the strikers or their allies, but insisted that, for all practical purposes, the company was as helpless as though its business had been interrupted- by the irresistible force of an armed mob, and that, therefore, this case does not differ in principle from that of Haas v. Kansas City &c. R. R. Co., 81 Ga. 792. It was held in that case that: “Where a railroad company receives freight for shipment, and its employees strike or cease to work for the company, it is still bound to forward the freight within a reasonable
Taking as true all that the defendant company proved in its defence, it cannot be excused even upon the test of liability suggested and relied on by its counsel. The verdict for the plaintiff’ in the court below was demanded by the evidence, and a new trial was properly refused. Judgment affirmed