6 La. 711 | La. | 1834
delivered the opinion of the court.
This suit is instituted by the owners of the steamboat Saratoga, to recover of the defendant freight on a lot of cotton and peltry from the Ecore a Fabre to New-Orleans. The defendants in their answer allege that the cotton when delivered was damaged, and they claim in reconvention the damages sustained by the deterioration of the cotton.
The bill of lading is in the usual form, stating that the cotton and other articles were shipped in good order and well-conditioned. A bill of exceptions was taken by the defendants to the admission of evidence on the part of the plaintiffs,
On the merits, the evidence which we have carefully examined, leaves no doubt on our minds, but that the cotton was damaged before it was laden on board the Saratoga. It was brought from the part of the country where it was raised, down the Ouachita river to the Ecore a Fábre, when it was left on the ground exposed to the weather. On its arrival in this city four or five days afterwards, it was found rotten to the depth of several inches. It is physically impossible that it could have become so rotten in so short a time as appears to have elapsed between the shipment and the delivery of it here.
It is, therefore, ordered, adjudged and decreed, that the judgment of the Parish Court be affirmed with costs.