Macomber & Whyte Rope Co. v. United Fruit Co.

225 Ill. App. 286, 1922 Ill. App. LEXIS 173
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMay 17, 1922
DocketGen. No. 26,939
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 225 Ill. App. 286 (Macomber & Whyte Rope Co. v. United Fruit Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Macomber & Whyte Rope Co. v. United Fruit Co., 225 Ill. App. 286, 1922 Ill. App. LEXIS 173 (Ill. Ct. App. 1922).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Thomson

delivered the opinion of the court.

By this appeal the defendant, United Fruit Company, a transportation company running a line of steámers between New Orleans and the Panama Canal Zone, seeks to reverse a judgment for $343.44, recovered by the plaintiff, Macomber & Whyte Rope Company, in the municipal court of Chicago. The trial was had without a jury, the parties stipulating as to the facts and submitting to the court the issue of law as to the extent of the defendant’s liability.

The stipulated facts disclose that on October 10, 1918, the plaintiff delivered a reel of wire rope, of the invoice value of $443.44, to the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, at Kenosha, Wisconsin, consigned to the “Panama Canal,” at the “Isthmus of Panama,” freight to be prepaid. Freight charges were paid by the plaintiff to that railroad, covering the shipment from Kenosha to New Orleans. The rope was delivered by the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad to the Illinois Central Railroad, and by the latter transported to New Orleans, where it was delivered to the defendant, United Fruit Company, on December 3, 1918, the latter company issuing its hill of lading therefor. The rope was never delivered to the consignee and the plaintiff never received payment therefor.

The published tariff of the defendant, in force and effect at the time in question, contained an item known as Item 13, which provided that on all packages of merchandise of a value of more than $100, and so declared on shipping receipts, there would he a charge of 1% per cent in addition to the published rates and that valuation must appear on the bill of lading. It was further set forth in this item that the defendant company would not be liable in the event of either loss or damage resulting from fault or negligence, as detailed on hills of lading, for more than $100 per package, unless the excess valuation was shown on shipping receipts and hills of lading, and the extra freight paid thereon. There was a further item known as Item 22, providing that freight on shipments' from New Orleans, consigned to the Panama Canal, would be assessed at rates published in the defendant’s tariff, less 25 per cent, with a minimum of 17% cents per hundred pounds, with certain exceptions not involved here. At the time the defendant issued its bill of lading, the Illinois Central Railroad filled out a dock receipt, .upon which was printed a paragraph providing that if the value of any goods exceeded $100 per package, a rate of freight based thereon must be arranged before tender of the goods for shipment, and the value of the goods must be declared on delivering them to the defendant at the dock, and such value inserted in the dock receipt, failing which, the .goods would be conclusively deemed received subject to the bill of lading limitation of value and liability to the invoice cost, not to exceed $100 per package. No declaration as to value was made at the time the rope in question was delivered to the defendant company, and no figures as to its value were inserted in the dock receipt) The bill of lading issued by the defendant company to the plaintiff, covering the shipment of the rope from New Orleans to the Panama Canal, showed that the rate of freight charged was 17% cents per hundred pounds. This bill of lading contained an item known as Item 30, which provided that in accepting the bill of lading, the shipper, owner and consignee of the goods, and the holder of the bill of lading, agreed to be bound by its provisions, either on its face or on the reverse side, as fully as if they had signed them. On the reverse side of the bill of lading, as a part of the contract of shipment, there appeared a provision to the effect that unless a higher value was stated in the bill of lading, the value of the goods did not exceed $100 per package, and that the freight on the shipment had been adjusted on that valuation, and no oral declaration or agreement should be evidence of a different valuation; and that in computing any liability to the carrier in respect of the goods shipped, no value should be placed thereon higher than the invoice cost, not exceeding $100 per package, or such other value as might be stated in the bill of lading. The - freight charges based on a rate of 17% cents per hundred pounds, amounting to $7.24, were paid by the plaintiff to the defendant. In June, 1920, the plaintiff wrote the defendant, declining to accept a payment of $100 on its claim for $443.44. In view of the fact that the defendant gave no definite reason for the loss of the rope, the plaintiff expressed the belief that it could not account for the loss of such a bulky article unless it -was due to the carrier’s gross negligence. The plaintiff added in this letter that it was aware of the limited liability of ocean carriers, but felt that a shortage of material of this size was an indication of pure negligence. Prior to the commencement of this suit, the defendant tendered the plaintiff $100 in full pay-, ment of its liability under its bill of lading, which amount was retained by the plaintiff without prejudice to its right to insist upon further payment. The stipulation of the parties concluded with the statement that it was their intention to place before the court for decision, the sole question as to whether the amount of damages which the plaintiff was entitled to recover from the defendant was the amount of $100, or whether it was the full invoice value of the rope, amounting to $443.44.

It should be noted that the plaintiff’s statement of claim alleges that its claim is for the breach of a certain contract, entered into by the plaintiff and the defendant at New Orleans on December 3, 1918, under the terms of which the defendant undertook and agreed to carry the rope in question from New Orleans to Cristobal, Canal Zone, Panama. It was therein further alleged that the defendant had made default and failed to deliver safely the rope to consignee at destination, and that the shipment was never delivered at the point of destination or at any other point, whereby, the plaintiff claimed damages in the sum of $443.44.

There were certain propositions of law requested by the defendant and refused by the court, which action of the trial court is assigned as error. The court found the issues for the plaintiff and assessed the plaintiff’s damages at the sum of $343.44, being the full invoice value of the rope in question, less the $100 which had been paid by the defendant to the plaintiff prior to the bringing of the suit.

The question of the defendant’s liability depends on the validity of the provisions of its bill of lading, limiting the value of the goods shipped, to $100, in the absence of any declaration on the part of the plaintiff fixing the value at a larger amount. The determination of this question involves the further question as to whether the liability of the defendant is covered by the terms of the Interstate Commerce Act. We have come to the conclusion that the defendant’s liability is not covered by the terms of that act, and that the provisions referred to in the defendant’s bill of lading are valid.

The Uniform Bill of Lading Act passed by Congress on August 9, 1916, as an amendment to the Interstate Commerce Act (39 Stat. L. 441, Comp. Stat. 1918, sec.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
225 Ill. App. 286, 1922 Ill. App. LEXIS 173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/macomber-whyte-rope-co-v-united-fruit-co-illappct-1922.