American Locomotive Co. v. New York Central Railroad

190 A.D. 372, 179 N.Y.S. 851, 1920 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4172
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedJanuary 16, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 190 A.D. 372 (American Locomotive Co. v. New York Central Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
American Locomotive Co. v. New York Central Railroad, 190 A.D. 372, 179 N.Y.S. 851, 1920 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4172 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1920).

Opinion

Laughlin, J.:

On the 19th of November, 1913, the plaintiff shipped from its plant at Schenectady, N. Y., over the line of the defendant’s predecessor, seven carloads consisting of thirty-six packages containing the parts of two complete locomotives, consigned to its own order at New York city with directions to notify it there. A bill of lading was issued for each carload containing -notations showing that the freight was intended for export to the Iddo Wharf at Lagos, South Africa. The plaintiff paid the freight charges to New York and lighterage charges for delivery alongside of vessel at New York harbor for export. The freight and lighterage charges thus paid by the plaintiff were at the rates established by the tariffs and classifications of the carrier duly published, posted and filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission for shipments made subject to all of the terms and conditions of the uniform bill of lading, and it was mutually agreed that the shipments should be made subject to said terms and conditions. The rules and regulations duly prescribed by the carrier provided that where freight was not shipped under the uniform bill of lading, but subject to the carrier’s full liability, limited only as provided by common law and by statute, the transportation charges would be ten per cent higher, subject to a minimum increase of one cent per 100 pounds, than the rate paid by the plaintiff. The cars while in transit, the day after the shipments were made, were derailed near Coxsackie station and all of the freight was seriously damaged. It was stipulated that the cause of the derailment was one which rendered the carrier liable to the plaintiff. Plaintiff’s plant at Schenectady was the nearest and most inexpensive place at which repairs and replacements, rendered necessary by the derailment, could be made. The plaintiff and the carrier made a special agreement, without prejudice to any right either might have against the other, that the freight should be [374]*374returned to the plaintiff’s plant for repairs and replacements and should then be reshipped according to the directions originally given, and that the carrier would pay the cost of such repairs and replacements and that was done. The work rendered necessary by the derailment necessarily consumed a period of sixty days, at the expiration of which time the freight was again delivered to the carrier, and on the plaintiff’s order it was delivered alongside a steamer for shipment and shipped as originally intended. Between the time when the freight should have been delivered for export in New York under the original shipment and the time when it was delivered there, the rate for the ocean transportation thereof to Lagos had increased by the sum of $1,361.22.

The sole point presented for decision is whether the plaintiff is entitled to recover the amount of the increase in the rate of freight for ocean transportation. The submission contains no stipulation with respect to any change in the market value of the freight either at the point of shipment or at the port of New York or at the port to which the freight was intended for export either at the time the shipment was made or when it should have been delivered in New York or when it was delivered there or when it would have reached the port in South Africa had it not been for the delay or when it actually reached that port. It is conceded that the defendant assumed the liabilities of its predecessor.

The defendant claims that it is exempted by the bills of lading from liability for mere delay in transportation and that, even if liable therefor, the increase in the freight rate for ocean transportation is not the measure of its liability. Plaintiff claims that the provisions of the bill of lading limiting the liability of the carrier do not embrace unreasonable delay in transportation and that the market value of the freight when finally delivered at New York for export was less by the amount of the increased freight than its market value would have been if delivered without unreasonable delay and that likewise its market value at the ultimate point of destination when delivered was less by that amount than it would have been had it been received there in due course of transportation.

' The contentions of the plaintiff with respect to the depreciation in the market value of the freight cannot be sustained on [375]*375this submission for they involve inferences of fact which may not be made on a submission of a controversy. A carrier’s liability at common law for unreasonable delay in transportation is the difference between the market value of the freight at the time and place when delivered and its market value at the time and place when it should have been delivered. (Ward v. New York Central R. R. Co., 47 ,N. Y. 29.) There being no stipulation with respect to the market value of the freight at any time or place, it is unnecessary to decide whether the liability at common law would depend on the market value here or in South Africa; but, it may be observed, that since these were not through bills of lading, it would seem that the liability would be determinable by the market value at New York, which was the end of the transportation by the carrier according to the bills of lading which it issued. (See Frey v. N. Y. C. & H. R. R. R. Co., 114 App. Div. 747.) I am of opinion, therefore, that the plaintiff cannot recover on the submission even if we should hold that the carrier’s liability was not limited by the bills of lading.

I am also of opinion that the carrier would not be liable under the bills of lading for damages for a depreciation in market value resulting from mere delay in transportation without injury to the freight or for the increased cost of ocean transportation. Here the carrier concededly has reimbursed the shipper for all injury to the freight. A provision in a bill of lading limiting the liability of a carrier from its full liability at common law or by statute without consideration to the shipper by way of a reduced rate of transportation or otherwise would be unreasonable and void, but here there was a consideration therefor running to the shipper in that it received a material reduction in the rate of transportation which lawfully might have been and would have been charged but for the agreement that the shipments were to be made according to the obligations of the carrier contained in the uniform bill of lading and that affords a sufficient consideration for the limitation of the common-law liability. (Burke v. Union Pacific R. R. Co., 226 N. Y. 534; Grossman Mfg. Co., Inc., v. N. Y. C. R. R. Co., 181 App. Div. 764; Shaffer & Co. v. C., R. I. & P. R. R. Co., 21 I. C. C. Rep. 8; St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. R. Co. v. Coolidge, 73 Ark. 112; K. C. & M. [376]*376R. R. Co. v. Oakley, 115 Ark. 20; 170 S. W. Rep. 565; Southern Ry. Co. v. Cofer, 149 Ala. 565; Pittsburg, etc., R. Co. v. Knox, 177 Ind. 344; New York, P. & N. R. R. v. Produce Exchange, 122 Md. 215; Produce Reporter Co. v. Adams Express Co., 176 111. App. 74; L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Oden, 80 Ala. 38; Rogan v. Wabash R. R. Co., 51 Mo. App. 665; Grubbs v. Atlantic Coast Line R. R. Co., 101 S. C. 220; 85 S. E. Rep. 405; Crenshaw v. Sou. Pac. Co., [Cal.] 181 Pac. Rep. 252; Olcovitch v. Grand Trunk Ry. Co., 176 id.

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Bluebook (online)
190 A.D. 372, 179 N.Y.S. 851, 1920 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 4172, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/american-locomotive-co-v-new-york-central-railroad-nyappdiv-1920.