13 Ga. App. 86 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1913
Lead Opinion
The plaintiff sued tbe railway company for damages on account of injuries to certain live stock in a car which was delivered to the Atlantic Coast Line Bailroad Company in Deland, Florida, consigned to Howell Station, Georgia, for transportation by the Atlantic Coast Line and connecting railroads to Atlanta, Georgia. The car of stock was delivered by the initial carrier to the Southern Bailway Company at Jacksonville, Florida, for transportation to Atlanta. The consignee at Howell Station was the plaintiff’s agent in and about the reception and caring for the stock after arrival. The contract made with the initial carrier bound
The defendant answered, denying all allegations of negligence. 'By amendment the defendant pleaded that the shipment of live stock was made'under a through contract of affreightment between the plaintiff and the Atlantic Coast Line Bailroad Company, in consideration of a reduced rate. This contract provided that in consideration of the reduced rate and of a free pass issued to the owner or his agent, the owner released all the carriers from risk of injury to the animals in consequence of their inherent nature, or resulting from any material used by the owner for feed of the stock or from certain other causes. The contract further stipulated that the owner should feed, water, and attend to the stock at his own ex
Judgment affirmed.
Rehearing
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING.
The plaintiff in error challenges the correctness of the court’s construction of the contract of affreightment, and of the ruling announced in the third division of the opinion. It is contended that the contract of carriage under which the live stock was transported was one merely to transport to the end of the line of the receiving carrier and there to deliver to the defendant company. This construction of the contract is based upon the recital in the record that a contract of shipment was introduced in evidence, acknowledging the receipt of the car of live stock from the Atlantic Coast Line Eailroad.Company, consigned to Howell, Georgia, “to be delivered to such carrier whose line may be considered a part of the route to destination, it being understood that the responsibility of the A. C. L. Eailroad shall cease at said station when delivered.” The Atlantic Coast Line Eailroad Company received the car of live stock for shipment to Howell, Georgia, over its own line and the lines of such other carriers as were necessary to complete the shipment. By the express terms of the Hepburn act as amended, when the Atlantic Coast Line Eailroad Company delivered its receipt for the live stock, it became liable for any loss or damage caused by it or by any other carrier to whom the live stock was delivered, or over whose line the property might pass. It could not by contract exempt itself from liability thus imposed. Consequently the Atlantic Coast Line Eailroad Company became bound, when it received the goods, to see that they were safely delivered at destination. The recital in the contract, to the effect that its responsibility
Rehearing denied.