Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. C. & A. Potts & Co.

71 N.E. 685, 33 Ind. App. 564, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 240
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 1, 1904
DocketNo. 4,515
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 71 N.E. 685 (Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. C. & A. Potts & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. C. & A. Potts & Co., 71 N.E. 685, 33 Ind. App. 564, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 240 (Ind. Ct. App. 1904).

Opinion

Comstock, J.

This action was tried on the plaintiff’s amended and substituted complaint, which was in two paragraphs. The first paragraph alleges that the appellant is a common carrier, with a line extending from Indianapolis, Indiana, to Cincinnati, Ohio; that the appellee is a corporation; that just prior to April 17, 18-91, the appellee sold and agreed to deliver to the Gates City Brick Company, at Gates City, Virginia, a car load of brick machinery, to be delivered by the appellant to the Gates City Brick Company, at Gates City, Virginia, within a reasonable time; that at the time the said machinery was delivered to the appellant the appellant gave the appellee the following receipt: “Indianapolis, 4-17, 1891. Received in good order, from C. & A. Potts & Co., at the depot of the Big Eour railroad, the articles named below to be delivered in like good order, without delay, to the Gates City Brick Company, at the station at Gates City, Virginia, as per conditions in company’s bill of lading.

“Marks. Article. Weight.

“1 Car load brick mach.

“No. 6165 O. O. C. & St. Lr

“Signed by “W. A. Sullivan.

“Original.”

[567]*567The paragraph, after setting out the foregoing instrument, contains averments to the effect that the bill of lading referred to in said receipt did not come into plaintiff’s hands until long after it had made numerous inquiries relative to said shipment, but was retained by appellant until July, 1891, when it came into appellee’s possession, attached to numerous “tracing papers that a copy thereof is attached to the complaint, the original being returned by the appellant. The appellant was on May 17, 1891, a common carrier of goods from Indianapolis to Cincinnati, where its railway connected with the Louisville & Nashville railway, to whom it should have delivered said machinery, to be by it forwarded to its destination, which machinery was owned by appellee, and was of-the value of $3,000; that appellant negligently failed to make delivery to said connecting company, but negligently did deliver said machinery to the Chesapeake & Ohio railway, whose lino neither ran to Gates City, nor connected with one that did, but which went to Preston, Virginia, to which point appellant’s agent negligently billed said machinery, without fault' on appellee’s part, and that said machinery lay at said place a long time, and, by bad handling and care, was rendered of no value, through appellant’s negligence, without appellee’s fault; that appellant never -delivered said machinery to the consignee or the connecting’ line contemplated, whereby it was lost to appellee, who thereupon supplied its customer with other similar machinery, and was obliged to, and did, pay $300 damages on account of delay in delivery.

Among other terms contained in the hill of lading filed > with the complaint is the following: “This hill of lading contracts rates from - to Preston, Virginia, via -at sixty-two cents per 100 lbs. and charges advanced at $-.”

The second paragraph is identical with the first, except that it' contains an averment that the said bill of lading [568]*568was not delivered to appellee, and did not come into its possession, until long after the goods should have been delivered, when it came to its hands in connection with other papers belonging to appellant and was with them returned to it; that appellant, being a common carrier of goods between Indianapolis and Cincinnati, undertook and agreed to transport said machinery with reasonable dispatch to a place on its road where the same was to be delivered to any connecting carrier making direct connection with the point to which shipment was made, for which appellee agreed to pay sixty-two cents per 100 lbs.; that it failed so to deliver said machinery, but negligently delivered it to the Chesapeake & Ohio railway, which did not go to Gates City or connect with any road that did, and. negligently caused it to be sent to Preston, Virginia, where it was allowed to st;ay a long time, and to become damaged and valueless. Separate demurrers for want of facts were overruled, and an answer in two paragraphs filed.

The first paragraph of answer was a general denial. The second paragraph of answer is as follows: “For further answer the defendant says that it is true that the defendant did enter into a contract with the plaintiff, and that the contract between the parties was and is in writing; that .a copy of said contract is herewith filed, and made a part hereof, marked ‘exhibit A/ and that said contract is the sole and only contract executed.between the plaintiff and defendant. The defendant says that the paper or instrument set out in the body of each paragraph of the complaint is not a copy of the contract between the parties, but is what is called a ‘shipping ticket’; that the said shipping ticket was executed in duplicate, one copy of which was delivered to the shipper, and the other retained by the defendant, but both copies referred to the bill of lading, a copy of which is, as aforesaid, herewith filed, marked ‘exhibit A,’ and contains the contract between the parties. The defendant further avers that at the time of making the [569]*569said contract the plaintiff informed the defendant that Gates City was not on any line of railroad, and that the nearest station thereto on any line of railroad was Preston, Virginia, and that the defendant was then and there instructed and directed by the plaintiff to ship said property to Preston, Virginia, that being, as defendant was informed and believed, and as was at said time the fact, the nearest railroad station to Gates City, Virginia; that the defendant, after being so instructed by the plaintiff, and for the sake of greater certainty, did take the means to ascertain, and did ascertain, that Preston was the nearest station to Gates City on any line of railroad; that, as appears in the contract between the plaintiff and defendant, the parties agreed upon the rate of freight to Preston, Virginia, and fixed the same as appears in their written contract made part hereof as aforesaid; that, by the terms of said contract, Preston, Virginia, was made the destination of said property, and the rate of freight was contracted to said point, and the defendant never agreed to deliver, and never received any consideration for carrying or delivering it to Gates City; that by the terms of said contract the defendant undertook and agreed to carry said freight to destination, if on its line, and if the destination was not on its line then to carry it and deliver it to a connecting carrier whose line did reach the said destination; that the defendant’s line of railroad, at the time of making said contract, extended from the city of Indianapolis, Indiana, to the city of Cincinnati, in the state of Ohio, and that at the last-named city it connected with the line of the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, and that the line of said railroad ran from the city of Cincinnati to the said destination, Preston, Virginia; that the said defendant did carry the said freight to the said city of Cincinnati, and did then and there deliver it to the said Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company, and the said last-named company did carry and deliver the same to the said city of Preston, [570]*570Virginia; that the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company’s line did not run from the city of Cincinnati to either Gates City or Preston, Virginia, and that the Chesapeake & Ohio Railway Company’s line was the only direct line from the city of Cincinnati to the said destination, Preston, Virginia.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
71 N.E. 685, 33 Ind. App. 564, 1904 Ind. App. LEXIS 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cleveland-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-v-c-a-potts-indctapp-1904.