113 N.Y.S. 979 | N.Y. App. Term. | 1909
The plaintiffs sued to recover for the alleged loss of a case of clothing shipped by them on July 18, 1903, via the defendant’s steamship line; to J. L. Lapidus, at Denver, Colo.; the defendant’s undertaking, as expressed in the bill of lading, being to transfer the case “to said destination, if on its own line, or otherwise to deliver to another carrier, on the route to said destination.” Concededly the case never reached the consignee, and he was never advised of its arrival.
Denver was not on the defendant’s route; the latter’s southern terminus being at Norfolk, Newport News, and Portsmouth, Va., whence freight, destined for Denver, was forwarded by the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad. The defendant bound itself only to deliver the case to the connecting carrier at its terminus on the route to Denver, not to the consignee at Denver, and without some proof, therefore, that the defendant failed in the execution of its undertaking, the plaintiffs were not entitled to recover. No proof of a failure to deliver to the connecting carrier was tendered by the plaintiffs, and the trial court should have dismissed the complaint on defendant’s motion. Roberts v. Chittenden, 88 N. Y. 33. The rule which requires a party to supply proof of facts peculiarly within his knowledge has to do with the degree of the proof. It does not absolve the other party from supporting his constitutive allegation by some proof. Roberts v. Chittenden, supra; Woodbury v. Frink, et al., 14 Ill. 279. “If the loss or nondelivery of the goods is alleged, the plaintiff must give some evidence in support of the allegation notwithstanding its negative character. 2 Greenleaf on Evidence, § 213.
Upon the denial of the motion for a nonsuit, the defendant was compelled to and did assume the burden of proving the delivery of the case, and the deposition of one C. M. Trice, taken under a commission, was read in evidence in its behalf. It appeared therefrom that the witness was at and for some time after the shipment in the employ of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad Company, as “loading clerk,” at the company’s pier at Newport News; his particular duties
The judgment and order appealed from are affirmed, with costs. All concur.