79 So. 102 | Miss. | 1918
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is a suit by Philip S. Craig et al., executors of W. C. Craig, on behalf of W. C. Craig & Co., against
The railroad company filed a special plea alleging:
' That, promptly after the receipt of said cotton from the plaintiff, it promptly and within a reasonable time after the issuance of the bill of lading transported by successive railroad companies acting as connect-ting carriers until it was finally delivered to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Eailroad Company at Hopewell, ill the state of New York, March 22, 1907, for ultimate transportation to destination, said point of destination being located on the line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Eailroad Company; that that company within a reasonable time after receipt by said company of said cotton transported the cotton to East Freetown, Mass., being a station in the town of Freetown and being within about nine miles of destination, being the station next to New Bedford on the line of said carrier, said cotton arriving in said town on March 28, 1907; “that owing to the unusual and unexpected congestion in freight traffic at New Bedford, on the line of said New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, prevailing at the time said cotton would have reached New Bedford had it not been stopped at East Freetown, and owing to the fact that at the time mentioned the local teamsters in said city of New Bedford who were accustomed to handle cotton arriving in said city were so occupied moving freights which had already arrived in said city, as to have been unable to have unloaded the cotton herein referred to upon arrival of said car, the ear containing the cotton re
The bill of lading issued by the company did not specifically contain a clause exempting the carrier from loss by fire during transportation. The only clause pertinent to this opinion in the bill of lading in reference to nonresponsibility of the carrier reads as follows :
“'This company shall not be responsible for loss or damage by accidents or delays from unavoidable causes: nor for delay, loss or damage caused by strikes or riots, or by quarantine or custom house regulations.’!
The rule is that a common carrier is responsible for all losses occasioned except those occasioned by the act of G-od, or the public enemy, except as it may stipulate in its contract against loss or liability at common law. It has been held by the federal supreme court in numerous cases that a carrier may modify its common-law liability by contracting against them, provided it does not contract against its own negligence.
Of course, each case must turn upon the specific provisions in its contract. It will be noted from the above quotation from the bill of lading that the exemption is from responsibility for loss or damage “from accidents or delays arising from unavoidable” causes; there being no allegation in the plea of any strike,
The facts should be set forth, and it ought to have been alleged with 'sufficient certainty to appear that the company could not have stored the cotton at New Bedford on its tracks at the time it should have reached there, and also it should have been alleged how long this condition existed so that the court could have determined whether the facts pleaded would have sustained a verdict for the defendant. So far
The defendant declined to plead further when the court sustained the demurrer to this plea and suffered final judgment to be entered against it.
A plea is construed most strongly against the pleader, and we are bound to assume that the facts are pleaded as strongly in the plea as they could be under the facts governing the transaction.
We think the carrier failed to exonerate itself from its liability under the bill of lading.
It is insisted here in argument that, unless the loss was caused by the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, the defendant is not responsible under the terms of the Carmack Amendment (Act Cong. June 29, 1906, chapter 3591, section 7, pars. 11, 12, 34, Stat. 595 [Comp. St. 1916, sections 8604a, 8604aa]). In other words, as we understand the argument, that the defendant is not responsible unless the loss was caused by some affirmative act of the connecting carrier, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company.
As we understand the decision of the United States supreme “court, the connecting carrier is to be treated as though it was a part of the original carrier’s line.
In G., H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Wallace, 223 U. S. 481, 32 Sup. Ct. 205, 56 L. Ed. 517, the United States supreme court held as follows:
“Under the Carmack Amendment, as already construed in the Riverside Mills Case, wherever the carrier voluntarily accepts goods for shipment to a
We think the plea in this case insufficient and states no defense. Certainly it states no facts upon which issue could be accepted.
The court below having reached the same conclusion, the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.