75 S.E. 962 | S.C. | 1912
October 8, 1912. The opinion of the Court was delivered by The plaintiff, a jewelry merchant, delivered to the defendant express company at Columbia on 31 March, 1909, a package containing diamonds and other jewelry of the value of $677.01 for shipment to M. Visanska in the city of New York. When the package was received by the consignee, two rings of the aggregate value of $131.50 were missing. The defense to this action to recover the value of the lost rings rests on the allegations that the plaintiff falsely billed the goods shipped, in violation of the Federal statute which forbids and declares to be a crime "false billing" by a consignor. The plaintiff endorsed on the package "value $400," and obtained transportation for ninety-five cents, under a contract of shipment which contained this stipulation: "In consideration of the rate of charges for carrying said property, which is regulatedby the valuation and classification thereof, and is based upon a valuation not exceeding fifty and 00-100 ($50.00) dollars, unless a greater value is declared, and the shipper agrees that the value of said property is not more than fifty and 00-100 ($50.00) dollars, unless a greater value is stated therein, and that the company shall not be liable in any event for more than the value so stated." On the 31st day of March, 1909, the regular schedule of express rates from Columbia to New York for carriage of goods, duly filed with the interstate commerce commission as required by law, showed that the rates of defendant were regulated by the valuation and classification thereof, and based upon a valuation not exceeding fifty dollars in case of each shipment, unless a greater valuation was declared, and that when value in excess of fifty dollars was so declared an additional charge was made, which for jewelry was fifteen cents for every hundred dollars, or fraction thereof.
Paragraph 3 of section 10 of the interstate commerce commission law provides: "Any person and any officer or *575 agent of any corporation or company who shall deliver property for transportation to any common carrier subject to the provisions of this act, or for whom, as consignor or consignee, any such carrier shall transport property, who shall knowingly and wilfully, by false billing, false classification, false weighing, false representation of the contents of the package, or false report of weight, or by any devise or means, whether with or without the consent or connivance of the carrier, its agent or agents, obtain transportation for such property at less than the regular rates then established and in force on the line of transportation, shall be deemed guilty of fraud, which is hereby declared to be a misdemeanor, and shall, upon conviction thereof, in any Court of the United States of competent jurisdiction, within the district in which such offense was committed, be subject for each offense to a fine of not exceeding $5,000, or imprisonment in the penitentiary for a term of not exceeding two years, or both, in the discretion of the Court."
A jury trial having been waived, the Circuit Judge made a decree in favor of the plaintiff for $77.69, the proportion of the loss that the value indorsed by the plaintiff on the package, $400, bore to the real value, $677.01. Both parties appeal.
We do not think the shipper was guilty of any violation of the Federal statute. The statute is directed against and covers every device or means which a shipper may adopt to obtain an advantage over other shippers or the carrier. It does not expressly prohibit undervaluation, and undervaluation under such a contract of shipment as the plaintiff made gives the shipper no advantage over the carrier or over other shippers who make the same contract and take the same risk. The contract of carriage shows that the carrier based his charge entirely on valuation — that is, on the measure of his responsibility in case of loss. The recovery in case of loss being limited to the value as stated by the shipper, that, and not the actual value, was the measure of responsibility. *576 Since the charges of the carrier and its responsibility are regulated by the value as stated by the shipper and not the actual value, the failure to state the actual value is not false billing or a device to obtain transportation "at less than the regular rates then established."
The defendant relies on the case of Ellison v. AdamsExpress Co.,
Since the decision in Huguelet v. Warfield,
It follows that the plaintiff was entitled to recover one hundred thirty-one dollars and fifty cents, the value of the articles lost, and the judgment of this Court is that the judgment of the Circuit Court be modified accordingly.