E. H. Emery & Co. v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad

186 Iowa 1156
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 27, 1919
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 186 Iowa 1156 (E. H. Emery & Co. v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
E. H. Emery & Co. v. Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, 186 Iowa 1156 (iowa 1919).

Opinion

Stevens, J.

I. Separate petitions were filed by plaintiff against eight different railroad companies, in each of which the American Refrigerator Transit Company was joined as defendant. The defendants upon whom service of notice was had and who appeared and answered are as follows, to wit: The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Company, the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the Pittsburg, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Company, and ihe Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company. Original notice was served upon the Refrigerator Company in Linn County, and it appeared in each of the separate cases, and moved that the trial thereof be transferred from Wapello to Linn County, which motion was overruled; whereupon it also filed answer.

Plaintiff in its several petitions claimed damages on account of the alleged negligence of defendants in' the transportation of peaches in carload lots from Clarksville, Arkansas, to various points of destination. All shipments originated with the St. Louis & Iron Mountain Railway Company, on which plaintiff was unable to obtain service of notice. The defendants named, except the Refrigerator Company, are delivering carriers.

The action against the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railway Company involved one car of peaches carried by it from Kansas City to Bladen, Nebraska; against the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, six cars from Kansas City, four of which were delivered to plaintiff at Ottumwa, and the remaining two to consignees named at Chicago; against the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, six cars from Kansas City, four of which [1159]*1159were delivered to plaintiff at Ottumwa, and the remaining two to consignees named at Chicago; against the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, nine ears, seven of which were delivered at New York City and two at Pittsburg; against the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, one car to Ottumwa. Each of the several shipments were made under a uniform standard bill of lading, approved by the Interstate Commerce Commission, containing the following provision:

“Claims for loss, damage or delay must be made in writing to the carrier at the point of delivery or at the point of origin within four months after a reasonable time for delivery has elapsed. Unless claims are so made, the carrier shall not be liable.”

Each of the defendants in answer denied the allegations of plaintiff’s petition that claims were filed within the time provided, or that the damages complained of occurred on its line of railway, or while the peaches were in its possession. By stipulation of the parties, a jury was waived, and the several cases consolidated for trial, and it was agreed that the evidence offered should, so far as applicable, be considered in each case.

The principal allegations of negligence relied upon by plaintiff were that a number of the shipments were made in meat cars, not properly constructed or equipped with necessary refrigeration or ventilation facilities, nor adapted to the transportation of fruit in warm weather; that all of the cars were inadequately supplied with ice, and not properly inspected and ventilated in transit. Evidence offered on behalf of all of the defendants tended to exonerate each of them from negligence in all of the respects charged.

Plaintiff claims to have purchased the entire yield of a certain peach orchard near Clarksville, Arkansas, and to have contracted with the Iron Mountain to furnish fruit refrigerator cars in which to ship the same. The railroad [1160]*1160company, however, furnished, a large number of meat cars, which, as above stated, plaintiff claims are not so constructed as to permit the proper circulation of air through the car. Appellant states that same are not equipped with ventilators, and that the ice bunkers are without sufficient capacity, and so constructed as not to properly cool and preserve the fruit; whereas fruit cars have much larger icing capacity, together with suitable provision for circulation of the air through the car, and appropriate means of ventilation, and are altogether better adapted to the transportation of perishable goods. Plaintiff vigorously protested to the agent of the initial carrier and the defendant Refrigerator Company against the use of meat cars, and notified them in advance of shipment that, in case peaches were loaded therein, heavy claims for damages would be filed; but, being unable to procure a sufficient number of fruit cars, finally consented, under protest, to shipment’s being made therein.

The evidence is’ undisputed that, at the time the peaches were loaded in the cars, the bunkers contained but little ice, and that wholly insufficient refrigeration was thereafter provided by the initial carrier, and that the peaches must have been in various stages of decay when received by defendants. Evidence was offered on behalf of each of the defendants, showing the amount of ice in the bunkers when the cars were received; also, the quantity placed Íherein by defendants and remaining at destination.

All of the carriers offered evidence showing that none of the cars were roughly handled, except one of the cars, which was carried to an eastern point; but it ivas not shown that the damages complained of were due to rough handling of the car.

The court, upon submission, took the several cases under advisement, and on January 6, 1917, filed a written opinion, holding that plaintiff had wholly failed to comply [1161]*1161with the provisions of the bill of lading requiring the filing of claims for damages, and that the several petitions would be dismissed. Later, and on June 16, 1917, formal judgment entry was filed in each separate case, in which the court found in favor of all of the defendants, except the Refrigerator Company, upon the merits.

The duty of initial and succeeding carriers to provide suitable cars and facilities for the transportation of perishable goods, and to properly inspect, refrigerate, and ventilate the cars in transit, is not controverted by counsel for appellees. By accepting and transporting the peaches in the ears received from the initial carrier, the defendants made the same their own, for the purpose of the shipment. Blair & Jackson v. Wells-Fargo & Co., 155 Iowa 190; Shea v. Chicago, R. I. & P. R. Co., 66 Minn. 302 (68 N. W. 608); Lucas & Lewis v. Norfolk So. R. Co., 165 N. O. 264 (80 S. E. 1076); Kime v. Southern R. Co., 360 N. C. 457 (76 S. E. 509).

, 1- byIcourf-1<:iinss commercp. In a decision upon the merits, the court must 'have found that the defendants were not negligent in the respects charged, and that the peaches were not damaged because of negligence on their part. If received in the condition indicated by plaintiff's testimony, it would have been manifestly impossible for defendants to have delivered them at destination in a sound -and marketable condition. Decay, having commenced, must necessarily continue, to some extent at least, thereafter.

2' térmSaf carsifipmen°taain5 The peaches were not inspected at the time the cars were delivered to defendants nor en route, nor is there direct evidence that the ventilators with which the fruit cars were equipped were opened. There was evideuce that it would have been imprudent to open the doors of the meat cars, as to do so would have permitted the cooled air to es[1162]

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Bluebook (online)
186 Iowa 1156, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/e-h-emery-co-v-chicago-burlington-quincy-railroad-iowa-1919.