50 So. 130 | Ala. | 1909
— This action was brought by the appellee against the appellant, for damages for failure to deliver 19 cords of tan bark received by it as a common carrier, to be delivered, respectively, at St. Louis, Mo.,
Stipulations limiting tbe time within which claims -shall be presented are recognized as being valid, provided the time fixed is reasonable. — 4 Elliott on Railroads (2d. Ed.) § 1512, and notes. Tbe question of reasonableness seems to depend on tbe opportunities which tbe ■party has to know of tbe loss, and it is said that it is proper that a reasonable limitation be fixed, so that tbe •carrier may be enabled to inform himself of tbe actual facts while the occurrence is recent. — 1 Hutchinson on Carriers (3d. Ed.) §§ 441, 443, and notes. Our ovm •court has held that a stipulation requiring claim to be ■presented within 30 days from tbe date of tbe receipt is unreasonable; tbe court saying that 130 days might ■elapse before tbe consignee became aware that anything bad been consigned to him.” — Southern Ex. Co. v. Caperton, 44 Ala. 101, 103, 4 Am. Rep. 118. This was followed in a case requiring presentation of tbe claim within 32 days from tbe date of tbe contract. — Southern Ex. Co. v. Bank, 108 Ala. 517, 520, 18 South. 664. Again, we held that 90 days after tbe receipt is reasonable. — - Broadwood v. Southern Express Co., 148 Ala. 17, 41 South. 769.
On tbe other band, tbe Court of Exchequer in England held that a stipulation for presentation of a claim within 3 days after delivery of tbe goods was reasonable.
Considerable time must be allowed for a freight train to travel from Alabama to St. Louis, and a shipper here would have to wait until the time when it might have been delivered, and then ascertain whether the freight had been delivered, and make his claim there. Under the facts of this case, the t requirement that the claim shall be presented at the point of delivery within 30 ■days is unreasonable.
The judgment- of the court is affirmed.