84 S.E. 1008 | S.C. | 1915
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
The decision in each of the above entitled cases is governed by the decision of this Court in Varnville Furniture Co. v. Ry., 98 S. C. 63, 79 S. E. 700.
Judgment affirmed.
Note.—The decision in Varnville Furniture Co. v. C. & W. C. Ry. Co., 98 S. C. 63, 79 S. E. 700, was overruled by the United States Supreme Court on writ of error, on June 1st, 1915, see 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 715, and thereupon the Supreme Court made an order modifying the foregoing decision, in Preacher v. So. Express Co.; and adjudging
The decision of the United States Supreme Court was as follows:
“CHARLESTON & WESTERN CAROLINA RAILWAY COMPANY, Plaintiff in Error, v. VARNVILLE FURNITURE COMPANY.
(35 Sup. Ct. 715.)
Commerce —State Regulation —Carrier's Liability —Congressional Action.'—Congress has so far taken over the subject of a carrier’s liability for loss or damage to interstate shipments by the act of June 18, 1910, (36 Stat. at L. 539, chap. 309, Comp. Stat. 1913, sec. 8563), and the act of June 29, 1906 (34 Stat. at L. 584, chap. 3591, Comp. Stat. 1913, sec. 8563), amending respectively secs. 1 and 20 of the act of February 4, 1887 (24 Stat. at L. 386, chap. 104), as to invalidate the provisions of S. C. Civ. Code 1912, sec. 2573, in so far as they may subject a terminal carrier to the prescribed penalty of $50 for failure to pay promptly a claim for damages to an interstate shipment, no matter where the loss occurred, unless the carrier proves that the shipment never came into its possession, or succeeds, within the forty days allowed, in shifting the loss by giving notice as to when, where, and by which carrier the property was damaged, or by showing that it used due diligence, but was unable to discover where the damage occurred; nor is the statute saved by calling it an exercise of the police power, nor by the proviso in the act of June 29, 1906, saving the rights of holders of bills of lading under existing law.
(Argued May 12, 1915.
Decided June 1, 1915.)
In error to the Supreme Court of the State of South Carolina to review a judgment which affirmed a judgment of the Circuit' Court of Hampton county, in that State, • affirming a judgment of the magistrate’s Court for that county in favor of plaintiff in an action against a terminal carrier to recover the damages to an interstate shipment and a penalty for failure to pay the claim promptly. Reversed.
The facts are stated in the opinion.
Mr. F. B. Grier, for plaintiff in error.
No counsel appeared for defendant in error.
delivered the opinion of the Court.
This is an action for $14)75, damage to furniture in transit from High Point, North Carolina, to Varnville, South Carolina, $4.60 overcharge, and $50 penalty under a South Carolina statute (Civil Code 1912, sec. 2573), for a failure to pay the claims within forty days. The defendant contended that the law imposing the penalty was invalid under the act to regulate commerce, especially sec. 20 (24 Stat. at L. 386, chap. 104), as amended by the act of June 29, 1906, chap. 3591, 34 Stat. at L. 584, 593, Comp. Stat. 1913, secs. 8563, 8592, known as the Carmack Amendment. The lower Courts gave judgment for the plaintiff, and the judgment was affirmed by the Supreme Court of the State. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Mazursky, 216 U. S. 122, 54 L. Ed. 411, 30 Sup. Ct. Rep. 378, was relied upon as still sustaining the law notwithstanding the amendments of the Federal act. 98 S. C. 63, 79 S. E. 700.
The defendant (plaintiff in error) received the goods from the Southern Railway Company and delivered them in damaged condition. Where the damage was done does not appear. But by sec. 2572, in such cases the initial, intermediate, or terminal carrier who fails within forty days from notice to inform the notifying party when, where, and by which carrier the property was damaged is made liable for the amount of the claim and a penalty of $50, although it may escape by proof that it used due diligence and was unable to trace the property, etc. By sec. 2573 a similar liability is imposed on carriers for failure to pay claims for freight overcharge or damage to property wrhile in the pos
It is true that in the opinion of the Supreme Court the judgment is spoken of as being for damage done to a shipment “while in defendant’s possession in this State,” and it is said that the statute limits the liability to such damage. But in view of the record this can mean no more than that there is a presumption that the carrier that fail's on notice to point out some other as responsible is itself iñ fault. The defendant happened to be the last carrier of the line, and in many States, including South Carolina, a so-called presumption has been established at common law that property starting in good condition remained so until the latest moment when it could have been harmed. But while this seems to have made its first appearance in the guise of a true presumption of fact, it became, if it was not always, a rule of substantive law, a rule of convenience, calling on the last carrier to explain. Willett v. Southern R. Co., 66 S. C. 477, 479, 45 S. E. 93, 14 Am. Neg. Rep. 635; Moore v. New York, N. H. & H. R. Co., 173 Mass. 335, 337, 73 Am. St. Rep. 298, 53 N. E. 816. The rule is stated as a rule of policy in South Carolina, and the statute makes it still more
The claims dealt with in Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Mazursky, 216 U. S. 122, 54 L. Ed. 411, 30 Sup. St. Rep. 378, all arose before June 29, 1906, the date of the Carmack Amendment. The South Carolina law has been amended and enlarged in scope since that decision, but it is less necessary to scrutinize those changes than to consider the modifications of the Unitecl States law. As it now stands that law requires the initial carrier to issue a through bill of lading, and makes it liable for all damage anywhere on the route. Sec. 20. By sec. 1, as amended by the act of June 18, 1910, chap. 309, sec. 7, 36 Stat. at L. 539, 546, Comp. Stat. 1913, sec. 8563, it is made the duty of carriers to secure the safe transportation and delivery of property subject to the act, upon reasonable terms. As was said in Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. Harris, 234 U. S. 412, 420, 58 L. Ed. 1377, 1382, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 790, the result of many recent cases there cited, beginning with Adams Exp. Co. v. Croninger, 226 U. S. 491, 57 L. Ed. 314, 44 L. R. A. (N. S.) 257, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 148, and coming down through Boston & M. R. Co. v. Hooker, 233 U. S. 97, 58 L. Ed. 868, L. R. A. 1915b, 450, 34 Sup. Ct. Rep. 526, is that “the special regulations and policies of particular States upon the subject of the carrier’s liability for loss or damage to interstate shipments, and the contracts of carriers with respect thereto, have been superseded.” It is true that in that case the inclusion of the attorney’s fee,' not exceeding $20, in the
It is suggested that the act is in aid of interstate commerce. The State law was not contrived in aid of the policy of Congress, but to enforce a State policy differently conceived; and the fine of $50 is enough to constitute a burden. Southern R. Co. v. Reid, 222 U. S. 424, 443, 56 L. Ed. 257, 262, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 140. But that is immaterial. AVhen Congress has taken the particular subject matter in hand, coincidence is as ineffective as opposition, and a State law is not to be declared a help because it attempts to go farther than Congress has seen fit to go. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co. v. Hardwick Farmers Elevator Co., 226 U. S. 426,
Judgment reversed.