Hodgson-Cauthorn Grain Co. v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.

293 P. 520, 131 Kan. 695, 1930 Kan. LEXIS 388
CourtSupreme Court of Kansas
DecidedNovember 8, 1930
DocketNo. 29,447; No. 29,450
StatusPublished

This text of 293 P. 520 (Hodgson-Cauthorn Grain Co. v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Kansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hodgson-Cauthorn Grain Co. v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co., 293 P. 520, 131 Kan. 695, 1930 Kan. LEXIS 388 (kan 1930).

Opinion

The opinion of the court was delivered by

Marshall, J.:

The .plaintiff in one of these actions recovered a judgment against the defendant for $31.86, and in the other for $33.73, and $50 attorneys’ fees in each action taxed as costs therein. The defendant appeals in both actions.

Each action was for the recovery of an overcharge on frieght paid on an interstate shipment of corn from Kansas City, Kan., one to Edgerton, and the other to Hord’s Spur, in Missouri. The entire shipments of corn from Kansas City to the destination points named were over the defendant’s line of railroad.

Findings of fact and conclusions of law were made in each case. They were identical except as to destinations of shipments and amounts involved. They follow:

“1. That on May 24, 1924, the Hodgson-Davis Grain Company, now known [696]*696as the Hodgson-Cauthorn Grain Company, by reason of a change in the corporate name, loaded 80,000 pounds of bulk corn into defendant’s freight car, C. 1ST. W. No. 82896, at Kansas City, Mo., for transportation over the line of the defendant’s railway to Edgerton, Mo.
“2. That at the same time and place the plaintiff surrendered to the defendant certain paid freight bills showing that 80,000 pounds of bulk corn, the property of the plaintiff, had originated beyond Kansas City.
“3. That the defendant accepted said shipment, received and retained the said freight bills showing that the shipment originated beyond Kansas City, and issued to plaintiff its bill of lading upon which a notation was made of the said freight bills so surrendered.
“4. That the defendant thereafter transported said shipment to Edgerton, Mo., there made delivery, and demanded of and collected from the plaintiff as its freight charges, the sum of 856, or a freight rate of 7 cents per hundred pounds.
“5. That Edgerton, Mo., is an intermediate station on the line of the defendant’s railway between Kansas City, Mo., and Leavenworth, Kan.
“6. That at the time this shipment moved defendant’s tariff No. 10693-S was in force and effect. Item 555 of this tariff provided for a rate of 4 cents per hundred pounds on shipments of corn between Kansas City, Mo., North Kansas City, Mo., and St. Joseph, Mo., and Atchison, Kan., and Leavenworth, Kan., but with the provision that this rate applied only on shipments originating beyond.
"7. That there are .no rates published in the said tariff No. 10693-S for intermediate stations on shipments of corn originating beyond the stations mentioned, but the said tariff does carry on its title page the statement that it is issued by authority of rule 77 of the interstate commerce commission tariff circular No. 18-A, and that by reason of such authority rates are not made applicable to all intermediate points.
“8. That, taken individually, Item 555 of defendant’s tariff No. 10693-S, which fixes the rate of 4 cents per hundred pounds on shipments of corn between Kansas City, Mo., North Kansas City, Mo., and St. Joseph, Mo., and Atchison, Kan., and Leavenworth, Kan., and which applies only on shipments originating beyond, does not contain and refer by a proper reference mark to a note showing that the defendant has been granted permission by the interstate commerce commission to maintain a higher rate to intermediate stations on said line of railway.
“9. The movement of grain or other commodities from Kansas City to Leavenworth over the line of the defendant would be northeast over the main line to Cameron, thence over the branch line from Cameron to Leavenworth, a distance of 113.8 miles. The distance by the shortest single line of railway (Chicago Great Western) is 24.7 miles.
“10. Edgerton is on defendant’s Leavenworth branch between Cameron and Leavenworth.
“11. At the time of the shipment here involved the defendant had in effect, as shown by tariffs lawfully on file with the interstate commerce commission, between Kansas City, Leavenworth and Atchison and St. Joseph, a proportional rate on corn of four cents (4c) per hundred pounds, as shown by [697]*697Rock Island tariff 10693-S, and at the same time a flat rate of seven cents (7c) per hundred pounds as shown by Rock Island tariff 29329-P, between Kansas City and Edgerton, Mo. The movement was interstate, as the car originated in Kansas and moved to stations in Missouri.
“12. The petition in case No. 30740-A was filed and summons issued on May 23, 1927.
“13. The bill of lading in this case was made in the office of the HodgsonDavis Grain Company and thereafter presented to an agent of the railway company for signature.
“14. At the time of the movement of the car involved in this suit, certain tariffs, hereinbefore mentioned, were in force and effect, providing for a flat rate or charge of seven cents (7c) per hundred pounds on corn in ear lots between Kansas City and Edgerton. Tariffs also were in force and effect-providing for a proportional rate of four cents (4c) per hundred pounds between Kansas City, Mo., and Leavenworth, Atchison and St. Joseph, respectively. No published proportional rate was provided by the tariff in force and effect between Kansas City and Edgerton on corn.
“15. Rock Island tariff 10698-S shows on the title page that it contains local joint and proportional rates on classes and commodities between lower Missouri river crossings and between lower Missouri river crossings and upper Missouri river crossings; the lower Missouri river crossings being Kansas City and Leavenworth, Atchison and St. Joseph; the upper Missouri river crossings being Omaha, South Omaha and Council Bluffs.
“16. Item No. 25, page 4 of said tariff 10693-S, contains the following statement: ‘By authority of rule 77 of interstate commerce commission circular No. 18-A, rates in individual items, which are made subject to this item, are not made applicable to all intermediate points. Upon reasonable request therefor, rates which will not exceed those in effect to more distant points will, under authority granted by the interstate commerce commission, be established to any intermediate point hereunder, upon one day’s notice to the commission and to the public.’ Item 555 in said tariff makes no reference to this rule.
“17. The title page of said tariff also contains the following statement:
“ ‘This tariff contains rates that are departures from the terms of the amended fourth section of the act, to regulate commerce, under authority of interstate commerce commission, fourth section, order 7163, of January 10, 1901, except as otherwise noted herein.’
“The fourth section order No. 7163 of the interstate commerce commission provides:
“ ‘It is further ordered, that the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company be, and it is hereby authorized to continue and to establish rates on classes and commodities between Kansas City, Mo., and other lower Missouri river cities and points taking the same rates as set forth in tariff of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Company, I. C. C. No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
293 P. 520, 131 Kan. 695, 1930 Kan. LEXIS 388, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hodgson-cauthorn-grain-co-v-chicago-rock-island-pacific-railway-co-kan-1930.