180 Pa. 323 | Pa. | 1897
Opinion by
The question at issue in this ease was a question of pure fact, to wit, negligence of the defendant in caring for the plaintiff’s goods while in their custody. The principal facts of the case are not in controversy. That is, the fact that the plaintiff did deliver to the defendant a large quantity of chickens and squabs in September, 1893, for preservation by means of cold storage, and the fact that when these goods were removed in the early part of the year 1894, a very considerable part of them was seriously injured by mould and decay, are well established by ample testimony which is not contradicted. Whether the defective condition of the goods was due to the negligence of the defendant in their preservation, was the sharply contested question before the jury, which it was necessarily their proper function to decide. If there was no evidence of negligence more than a scintilla, of course, there was nothing for the jury to consider, and it would be error to submit the question of negligence to be disposed of by them. The learned judge of the
In stating to the jury precisely what was the question for them to consider the learned judge said that “ the real question —that is the primary question — is whether or not the defendant was negligent in the care of the poultry and squabs which the plaintiff put into its custody.” And in the general charge the. court further said that the defendant company could not be regarded as guarantors that the articles deposited with it should come out perfectly sound. “ They do not guaranty against the operation of natural causes. If either vegetables, or fruit, or meat, or poultry, put in such storage house, notwithstanding they are kept in a sufficiently cold atmosphere, decay, the storage company is not responsible for that. They expressly exclude that ground of liability in their contracts, just as they do leakage, by which I do not mean leakage from pipes, but from receptacles which are put there for storage, containing articles
It seems to us that the charge was, in an eminent degree, fair, impartial, and conservative of every right which the defendant could assert. It committed nothing to the jury but the one bare question whether the loss and injury suffered by the plaintiff was occasioned exclusively by the acts or omissions of the defendant while the articles were in its care and custody. That question was necessarily for the jury, and the court could not have affirmed the second, fourth and fifth points of the defendant, because they all contained requests for binding instructions to the jury to find for the defendant.
The only remaining question to consider, is, whether there was evidence more than a scintilla, tending to establish the allegation of negligence against the defendant. Having read the testimony with much care, and having reference to the very subject, we are constrained to say that in our opinion there was an abundance of such testimony in the cause. Without stopping to repeat it in detail, it is only necesssary to say that in the testimony of Leidy, Yan Ostrand, Drohan, Humphrey, Bergey, Lauter, Kitchen and Thompson, all of them examined for the plaintiff, may be found plentiful items of evidence, some on one subject and some on others, which are material, pertinent and convincing in a greater or less degree, illustrative of the very essential point of controversy.
Some of these witnesses describe the condition of the chickens and squabs when they were put in storage with Crowell & Class, some testify to their condition when taken out and removed to
It was abundantly proved that moisture would form mould, and mould would cause rot. The condition of mould and decay of the chickens and squabs when taken out was proved by a mass of testimony which was really not contradicted. A number of witnesses proved the good condition of the stock when it was. put into the storage, and the whole subject was fully developed in a large amount of testimony from which the jury could fairly infer all the conditions of the defendant’s liability.
There was, of course, some conflicting testimony on the part of the defendant, all of which was for the consideration of the jury, but of which we can take no cognizance. We do not think that it was necessary to prove some specific act of negligence which produced the dampness or moisture. The fact that, being present, they tend to cause mould is itself evidence of negligence in permitting such conditions. We see no error in the charge or answers on the subject of damages. The right to recover was limited to the actual loss sustained. The defendant’s ninth point relating to loss sustained after suit brought was affirmed with an explanation which it seems to us was entirely correct. We are quite clear that there was no error in the matter complained of in the fourth, sixth, seventh and eighth assignments, and, of course, as the case had to go to the
Judgment affirmed.