290 Mass. 195 | Mass. | 1935
The facts as reported by the trial judge, so far as pertinent to the questions of law to be decided, are these: The plaintiff was a dealer in furniture, carpets and like articles. The defendant was a distributor and forwarder of merchandise. Each was a corporation with a place of business in Boston. For several years they had had relations with each other similar to those in the case at bar. The Furniture Manufacturers Warehouse Co. did business in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It collected furniture from manufacturers in its neighborhood which had been ordered by dealers in and around Boston and shipped it by railroad freight cars consigned to the defendant in Boston. This arrangement gave to the purchaser of the furniture the benefit of a freight charge based upon carload rates, which was much cheaper than that of shipments of less than a carload. The defendant solicited the business of furniture buyers in and around Boston of having their shipments of furniture from Grand Rapids consigned to it through the forwarding company in Grand Rapids. Under the agreement of the parties, the defendant did not send any shipments to the plaintiff’s place of business, but the plaintiff had a specified time within which to remove the goods before being subject to storage charges. On June 27, 1930, the defendant received from Grand Rapids under its contract with the plaintiff a consignment of furniture belonging to the plaintiff. The defendant immediately placed the goods in its warehouse, located in the yards of the Boston and Maine Railroad in Boston, and sent its usual form of arrival notice to the plaintiff. According to the notice and the agreement of the parties, the plaintiff could remove the goods from the defendant’s warehouse at any time before July 1 without becoming hable for demur-rage charges. On June 28, a fire which destroyed the plaintiff’s furniture occurred in the defendant’s warehouse. It was agreed that the fire was not caused by any negligence of the defendant or its agents. Notice of the damage was sent to the plaintiff on June 30. The plaintiff there
The trial judge ruled that the relation of the defendant to the plaintiff was that of warehouseman and, since it was conceded that there was no negligence on the part of the defendant, made a finding in its favor.
The important question is whether the defendant was a common carrier and acted for the plaintiff in that capacity. It was said in Dwight v. Brewster, 1 Pick. 50, 53, that a common carrier is “one who undertakes, for hire or reward, to transport the goods of such as choose to employ
The statements of the defendant in the arrival notice and the freight bill sent to the plaintiff, already quoted, do not render the defendant hable as insurer. They are not fairly susceptible of that construction in view of all the circumstances establishing relations between the parties. Although somewhat similar to notices which might be sent by a common carrier, they are reasonably incident to the business of the defendant and contain no element estopping the defendant to show the true business transaction between it and the plaintiff. Nealand v. Boston & Maine Railroad, 161 Mass. 67.
The defendant did not become liable as a carrier by the terms of the bill of lading under which the goods were transported from Grand Rapids to Boston. On its face it showed that the defendant was the consignee and the destination its place of business in Boston. The bill of lading was rightly excluded. It was found at the trial that the defendant was consignee and had received the goods. The contract disclosed by the bill of lading was irrelevant on the issue of the contract between the plaintiff and the defendant. The provision of the bill of lading to the effect that the railroad as carrier bound itself and
Order dismissing report affirmed.