147 Mo. App. 8 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1910
Action for damages for defendant company’s failure to furnish plaintiff sufficient cars to ship 120,000 feet of oak logs of the value of $1920, and 60,000 feet of cypress logs of the value of $840, from the station of Terry to Chaffee, Missouri, during the months of July, August, September and October, 1907. Plaintiff averred he frequently demanded of defendant’s agent at Hayti, a station three miles from Terry, and the right place to apply, cars in which to ship the said logs, the agent promised to furnish them, but did not; by reason of this omission of duty the logs became damaged and depreciated in value and caused plaintiff a loss of $920, for which he prayed judgment. Besides a general denial, the answer said defendant furnished plaintiff all the cars at the station of Terry needed to transact the average business done with him there and consistent with defendant’s duty to its other patrons at said station and elsewhere along its line; that if plaintiff was prevented from making timely shipments of his logs by lack of cars during the interval mentioned, it was on account of the unusual pressure of business at the station, together with the unusual pres
It is enough to say of the testimony in this case that it proved plaintiff needed four cars a day, which were not furnished as demanded during the period mentioned, and he suffered loss in consequence; further, that he demanded cars frequently and the agent sometimes promised to furnish them but did not, and at other times said they could not be obtained. For defendant the evidence tended to prove there was a great and unexpected increase of transportation business over the country generally during the months in question, and many railroad companies fell behind fifty to sixty per cent in supplying their patrons with shipping facilities, defendant among others; car manufacturing companies were behind with their orders and railway companies could not obtain more cars to handle the accession of business; the officers of this company who were charged with looking after the matter, distributed as rapidly and equitably as possible, cars to the different stations along its lines, including the line over which plaintiff shipped and to the different patrons at each station; they had 150 flat cars on the line to use for the carriage of logs in the district where plaintiff shipped and 175 coal cars were used for hauling logs out whenever they hauled coal into the district; in making this distribution plaintiff was treated like other shippers and his due proportion of cars of the kind he needed was al
Defendant filed a motion to compel plaintiff to make his petition more specific, saying the petition averred plaintiff had placed for shipment at Terry, during the months mentioned, 120,000 oak and 60,000 cypress logs, but had failed to state what quantities of logs he had placed at said station for shipment on different dates, where the same were to be shipped, the character of the cars required for them, the market price of the timber for which cars were required, either at the point of shipment or point of destination, when he made application for cars, or how many he desired for each shipment; all of which particulars defendant alleged should have been given and the court was prayed to require plaintiff to give them. This' motion was overruled and .an exception saved. The other points raised on appeal are that the court erred in not sustaining
The petition was specific enough as to the quantity of logs, their value and the two hinds offered for shipment by plaintiff during the four months from July to October, 1907, inclusive. It also alleged that on numerous occasions plaintiff asked for cars but failed to get them, and defendant failed to furnish plaintiff cars in which to ship the logs mentioned or any of them, and in consequence they (the logs) became damaged and decreased in value, as the market meanwhile declined. The effect of those allegations was to state a case for not furnishing cars to haul any of the logs during the months named, and this was “a plain and concise statement of the facts constituting a cause of action.” [R. S. 1899, sec. 592.]
The motion for a more definite petition asked to have one fact given which the petition already gave, i. e., the place to which the logs were to be shipped. In the petition nothing was said about the logs being delivered for separate shipments on different dates, but the motion took this for granted in asking that plaintiff be required to set forth the quantity he had on hand “for each particular shipment and the dates thereof.” The court could not know the logs were tendered on various days for separate shipments; hence said part of the motion was bound to be overruled. In the petition
Taking up the appeal on the merits, we hold it would have been a good defense if an extraordinary increase of business on defendant’s line, which could not have been anticipated and provided for by using judgment and diligence, had prevented defendant from furnishing the cars. Railroad companies are expected to be prepared with an equipment necessary to handle the average traffic over their lines and such an increase as would be expected by managers of experience, for the volume of traffic will vary with the seasons and general business conditions. These contingencies ought to be provided for and the law requires them to be; but a railroad carrier need not be ready to handle any accession of business, however great, which some unforeseeable condition may cause; and in case an extraordinary
Defendant contends the witnesses who testified for plaintiff regarding the car shortage in the third district were not competent. Though they were not railroad experts, they were shippers of timber and, presumably, apprised concerning the fact they stated, namely, that there was a deficiency in timber cars for several years prior to 1907, equal to the deficiency that year. This téstimony inclined to overcome the defense of an unusual volume of traffic which could not have been foreseen, and to prove a scarcity of cars had existed so long defendant could and should have corrected it.
The judgment is affirmed.