277 Pa. 105 | Pa. | 1923
Opinion by
On November 21, 1917, the plaintiff, Mary A. B. Hilbert, shipped a carload of household goods from Huntington, Mass., to Philadelphia, by way of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, defendant. By some oversight the goods were not delivered to plaintiff on arrival, although she made repeated inquiries for them, but were sent to a storage warehouse, where they were later found. Meantime, charges had accumulated, without payment of which defendant declined to surrender the goods, and, to recover their value, plaintiff brought this action of trespass. The trial judge granted a compulsory nonsuit and the refusal to take it off forms the basis of this appeal by plaintiff.
The shipment was made under a bill of lading which provides, inter alia, as follows: “Except where the loss,
The suit was not brought until over six months after the expiration of the two-year-and-one-day period and the trial court properly held the six months more than a reasonable time for delivery and therefore that the suit was barred. The court will take judicial notice of the distance between the place of shipment and of destination and of the time which by ordinary means of transportation would be consumed in sending the goods from one point to the other and determine the same as a matter of law: Sloss-Sheffield Co. v. Tacony Co., 54 Pa. Superior Ct. 11. Where there is no dispute as to the facts, the question of a reasonable time is for the court: Riddle Company v. Taubel, 277 Pa. 95.
Furthermore, the plaintiff here made no .claim in writing against the carrier until nearly two years and six months after the date of shipment, and as the loss, damage or injury complained of was not due to delay or damage while being loaded or unloaded, or damaged in transit by carelessness or negligence, her right of action was lost by failure to make such written claim within six months after a reasonable time for delivery, as the provision in the bill of lading to that effect is obligatory. See St. Louis, I. Mt. & So. Ry. Co. v. Starbird, 243 U. S. 592, 605; Queen of the Pacific, 180 U. S. 49; Riddlesbarger v. Hartford Ins. Co., 74 U. S. 386; Lissberger v. Bush Terminal R. Co., 197 N. Y. S. 281; Coroneos Brothers v. Penna. R. R. Co., 75 Pa. Superior Ct. 222; Trust Co. v. Toledo, St. L. & K. C. R. Co., 107 Fed. 628.
The suggestion that the instant case is affected by section 206 (f) of the Federal Transportation Act of 1920 (11 U. S. Stat. 162), which provides that “The period of federal control shall not be computed as a part of the periods of limitation in actions against carriers or in claims for reparation to the commission for causes of action arising prior to federal control,” is untenable. This shipment, as above stated, was made November 21,
The judgment is affirmed.