All American Bus Lines, Inc. v. Schuster

1948 OK 22, 189 P.2d 412, 199 Okla. 628, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 285
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJanuary 27, 1948
DocketNo. 32416
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1948 OK 22 (All American Bus Lines, Inc. v. Schuster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
All American Bus Lines, Inc. v. Schuster, 1948 OK 22, 189 P.2d 412, 199 Okla. 628, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 285 (Okla. 1948).

Opinion

WELCH, J.

Plaintiff, George Schuster, sued All American Bus Lines, Inc., a corporation, for damages for the loss of baggage. Plaintiff purchased a ticket at Los Angeles, Cal., over the bus line of the defendant to Oklahoma City, Okla., and at the time checked his suit case. The suit case was lost in transit.

Defendant’s tariff schedule on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission was in force and provided in effect that the limit of liability for the loss of such an item of checked baggage was $25, unless a higher valuation was declared by the passenger and the additional fee paid for transportation of baggage of higher declared value.

When plaintiff checked his baggage he signed a form of “valuation of baggage,” which in part read as follows:

“All property transported on tickets enumerated below as liability checks and for which this receipt to passenger is given is valued at not exceeding $25.00. In case of loss of or damage to such property claim will not be made for a greater amount, ... No claim will be made because of delay in delivery. . . . Baggage referred to herein is to be transported in accordance with tariff regulations of all Amercian Bus Lines .... Baggage of excess value will be charged for subject to tariff regulations. Greater value may be declared at small additional cost. (Signed) Geo. Schuster.”

Thereafter, upon the form there was inserted the information that the number of passengers was one, that the baggage had no excess weight nor any excess value charge, and there followed a notation of the number of plaintiff’s ticket and the number of his baggage check, followed by notation that the baggage was checked to Oklahoma City and the form was then signed by the “check man” by his initials.

Upon trial the plaintiff admitted signing the valuation form, but gave testimony that the amount $25 was not inserted in the form when he signed it, nor did it then contain the number of ticket or baggage check.

In answer, and again upon trial, defendant tendered the plaintiff the sum of $25 as being the limit of its liability.

Plaintiff gave testimony that he was employed in California, and purchased a bus ticket and checked his suit case to Oklahoma City in furtherance of a planned vacation trip to Indiana. That upon his arrival in Oklahoma City he requested his baggage, but did not receive it and was told by the bus company agent that another bus would arrive later that day and late, at night and that his luggage might be on that one; that he went to the bus depot the next day to inquire of his luggage and was told by the man in charge that it ought to be in tomorrow and to come back the next day; that he stayed in Oklahoma City about twelve or fifteen

[630]*630days in reliance upon these continued statements of the bus employee and then went on to Indiana. That his stay in Oklahoma City was for no other purpose than trying to find his bag. That his expense in staying in Oklahoma City was between $4 and $5 per day; that he remained in Indiana for two or three weeks and after some correspondence with the bus company returned to the bus depot in Oklahoma City and was there told that the bag was evidently lost.

Plaintiff gave further testimony concerning the bag and its contents and the value thereof and stated an amount in excess of $25.

Judgment was entered for the plaintiff and against the defendant for the sum of “$25.00 covering the declared liability on the value of the baggage in question, 'and for the further sum of $60.00 damages, being for 15 days at $4.00 per day, or a total recovery in the sum of $85.00.” Defendant prosecutes this appeal.

Assignments of error are presented under two propositions:

“The trial court erred in entering judgment for an amount in excess of the specified sum set forth in the tariff filed in the office of the Interstate Commerce Commission, by the All American Bus Lines, as an interstate motor carrier, the rights and liabilities of the motor carrier being controlled entirely by the Interstate Commerce Act, and the Carrier’s tariff schedule of rates and regulations, filed 'with the Interstate Commerce Commission.
“The judgment of the trial court for the sum of $60.00 damages in addition to the $25.00 provided for in the tariff filed in the office of the Interstate Commerce Commission by the defendant motor carrier Is not sustained by sufficient evidence.”

It is undisputed that the suit case in question was checked without declaration of its value and that plaintiff accepted a claim check therefor which provided “that baggage checked here-' under does not exceed $25.00 in value, . . . ” and that such valuation limitation was in accord with the carrier’s tariff schedule of rates and regulations filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission.

Defendant cites several Federal and state decisions to the effect that the rights and liabilities of interstate passengers and connecting motor carriers regarding loss of baggage are controlled by the Interstate Commerce Act, and that a passenger is limited in his recovery for the value of lost baggage to the amount specified in the tariff schedule filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission. Boston & Maine R. R. Co. v. Hooker, 233 U. S. 97, 34 S. Ct. 526, 58 L. Ed. 868, L. R. A. 1915B, 450; Galveston, H. & S. A. Ry. Co. v. Woodbury, 254 U. S. 357, 41 S. Ct. 114, 65 L. Ed. 301; Patton v. Penn. Greyhound Line, 75 Ohio App. 100, 60 N. E. 2d 945; Royalty v. Southeastern Greyhound Line, 75 Ohio App. 322, 62 N. E. 2d 200; Penn. Greyhound Lines v. Wells (D.C.) 41 Atl. 2d 837; Argo v. Southeastern Greyhound Lines (Ga.) 33 S. E. 2d 730; Campbell v. Tri-State Transit Co. (Miss.) 17 So. 2d 327; Peninsula Transit Corp. v. Jacoby, 181 Va. 697, 26 S. E. 2d 97; Missouri Pac. Transp. Co. v. Williams (Ark.) 182 S. W. 2d 762. This proposition appears well settled and we think it beyond question that the trial court was correct in limiting the amount of the defendant’s liability for the value of the bag to $25.

Plaintiff presented evidence to the effect that in the rush of the loading of the bus he did not read the agreement signed by him in reference to valuation of the checked baggage nor read the claim check which contained a limitation of liability for the loss of the checked article.

Plaintiff’s failure to read the limitation contained in the claim check does not excuse him from the legal effect of the limitation. Mo. Pac. Transp. Co. v. Williams (Ark.) supra; Boston & M. R. R. Co. v. Hooker (U.S.) supra. [631]*631In the Arkansas case the rule is stated as follows:

“A stipulation on parcel or baggage check, issued to bus passenger for safekeeping of her handbag at bus terminal, that bus company would not be responsible for loss of articles left in storage for any amount exceeding $25.00 became contract between passenger and such company, though passenger did not read, or have her attention called to stipulation, nor otherwise expressly assent thereto.”

Where a party signs a written agreement, in the absence of false representation or fraud, he is bound by it,, although ignorant of its contents. Rollison v. Muir, 163 Okla. 266, 21 P.

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Bluebook (online)
1948 OK 22, 189 P.2d 412, 199 Okla. 628, 1948 Okla. LEXIS 285, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/all-american-bus-lines-inc-v-schuster-okla-1948.