129 Ky. 175 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1908
Opinion op the Court by
Reversing-
This action was instituted for the purpose of recovering the value of 30 head of horses shipped from East St. Louis, Ill., to New Haven, Ky., over the railroad of defendant, and which were destroyed by fire in. Louisville, Ky. There is no allegation in the petition of any negligence on the part of the carrier, and a general demurrer to the petition was sustained by the court. The plaintiffs "declining to amend their petition, it was dismissed, from which judgment this appeal is prosecuted.
The sole question arising on the record is whether or not, in Kentucky, the common-law rule as to the liability of a common carrier for inanimate freight delivered to it prevails as to live stock; it being conceded that if this rule does prevail the petition states a cause of action, and if it does not the judgment of the trial court is correct. It is not denied that at common law the common carrier of inanimate freight was an insurer of its safe delivery except where the
The cases cited by the appellee in support of the judgment of the court are not apposite to the question before us. They are cases where the stock was killed or injured by reason of its inherent propensity, and the loss may be said to have resulted from the infirmity or vice of the animals; and while the court, perhaps, used general language in legard to the negligence or non-negligence of the carrier, which,- if- dis
It results, therefore, that the court erred in sustaining a demurrer to appellants’ petition, and the judgment is reversed for proceedings consistent with this opinion.