60 So. 993 | Ala. Ct. App. | 1913
The principal facts in the cascare without controversy, and the case was. tried before the court sitting as judge and jury. The appellee purchased a second-class passenger ticket at Savannah, Ga., from the Seaboard Air Line Eailroad Company, entitling her to transportation as a passenger over the line of that common carrier and other connecting carriers, including the appellant, company, to the point of her destination, Florence, Ala. At the time the appellee bought her ticket'at Savannah, she checked as baggage on that -ticket, as an incident to her passage and contract of carriage, two trunks,-one of which trunks was delivered to her at- Florence without damage or delay and is not involved in this suit. The other trunk was never delivered, having been1 lost in transit, and appellee brings this action to- recover damages for its loss.
The only -controverted fact arising on the trial grows out of the disputed question as to whether or not the appellee, at ■ the time she checked the trunk, informed the initial carrier’s baggage agent at Savannah, who checked it, of the contents of the lost trunk, and, as the case was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury, the finding and conclusion of the court stands as the finding of a jury on the controverted questions of fact. — Winter-Loeb Grocery Co. v. Mutual Warehouse Co., 58 South. 807, and cases there cited. The appel-lee, as plaintiff in the court below, testified on the trial that, at the time she checked the steamer trunk (the trunk lost being of that description) at Savannah, she paid the' amount demanded for excess baggage and informed the baggage agent of the Seaboard Air Line Eailroad -'Company, who checked it, that the trunk con-
Tbe notice of the contents of tbe trunk given by tbe passenger to tbe authorized agent of tbe carrier at Savannah selling tbe through ticket was notice to tbe connecting carriers, over whose lines tbe initial carrier was authorized to contract for and sell, and did contract for and sell, tbe ticket by which tbe connecting roads, through tbe initial carrier as their agent, contracted to transport tbe plaintiff, and tbe plaintiff’s baggage accepted by that carrier, over their lines. Tbe company selling and contracting for through transportation over different lines generally stipulates in tbe contract of passage that it is acting as agent of tbe other companies, and, in tbe absence of a special contract to tbe contrary, it is the agent in tbe transaction of tbe sev
■ The defendant, -then, having had 'notice " 'through its agent, the duly authorized’ baggage agent of the initial carrier,:, that sold the ticket entitling the plaintiff to through passage and transportation of herself and baggage over its railroad as an intermedióte Carrier, that the trunk contained, the articles in question, and'such agent having accepted the trunk and checked-the samé as baggage with knowledge of its contents, the plaintiff would be entitled to recover for the loss of such articles, although they wére not what are generally' known, designated, and regarded as the personal baggage of a passenger, but consisted of merchandise or other articles.—
The evidence is without conflict that the trunk was .accepted as baggage, checked, and taken into custody by the initial carrier on the plaintiff’s .ticket entitling her to ride as a passenger over the defendant’s railroad as an intermediate carrier to the point of her destination. It is also shown without conflict in the evidence that the defendant carrier received the trunk from a connecting carrier while the trunk was in transit and failed to deliver it to the next connecting carrier, or to the plaintiff. In fact, it is shown by the agreed statement of facts introduced on the trial that the defendant company, an intermediate carrier, received the- trunk, while en route to its destination, and that it was lost, or stolen, while in the custody and care of- the defendant or its agent at Tuscumbia, Ala.; having been taken from the platform of the depot at that place by some unknown, person. . .
While the carrier transports the baggage of a passenger as an- incident of the carriage, its liability for the loss of .the personal baggage of the passenger delivered to and taken possession of by it is that of a common carrier of goods. See cases cited in Cyc., under the title of .Carrier, p. 662, note 4. •
The same is true with respect to the assignment of error going to the court’s rulings on the plaintiff’s demurrers to the defendant’s various pleas. Besides, these rulings, if erroneous (and we do not think they are), would be without injury, as the defendant is shown to have had the benefit of all the special matters
The court’s rulings on the .evidence are/free from error. From what we have said it will he seen that it was entirely proper to admit evidence of the loss and value of the articles in question in view of the testimony of the plaintiff that she had informed the agent who checked the baggage on the through ticket that the trunk contained such articles.
There was no error in the judgment rendered by the court.. The evidence supported the judgment on the counts of the complaint seeking a recovery for failure to deliver baggage received by it as a common carrier, to which counts the judgment was referable.
The motion for a new trial was without merit. — M. & O. R. R. Co. v. Hopkins, 41 Ala. 486, 94 Am. Dec. 607; So. Ex. Co. v. Owens, 146 Ala. 412, 41 South. 752, 8 L. R. A. (N. S.) 369, 119 Am. St. Rep. 41, 9 Ann. Cas. 1148. Nor does the hill of exceptions show that proof in support of the allegations set out as grounds for granting the motion was adduced on the hearing of the motion, or that any showing was made that due diligence to procure the testimony had been unavailingly used.
No error appears, and the judgment of the court appealed from will be affirmed.
Affirmed.