McEwen v. Jeffersonville, Madison, & Indianapolis Railroad

33 Ind. 368
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 1, 1870
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 33 Ind. 368 (McEwen v. Jeffersonville, Madison, & Indianapolis Railroad) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
McEwen v. Jeffersonville, Madison, & Indianapolis Railroad, 33 Ind. 368 (Ind. 1870).

Opinion

Elliott, J.

The -contract of shipment, which is the basis •of the -complaint, is contained in the bill of lading, by which the appellee acknowledged the receipt of the flour from Jones & Co. and agreed to deliver it to Comstock & Co., at the -regular station at Indianapolis, on payment of freight “-and presentation of duplicate 'hereof” The latter •clause, which we have italicised, was inserted in the hill of lading by the appellee’s agent, at the instance of Jones & Co. The reason for which was, as alleged in the complaint, that Jones & Co. had previously contracted the flour to Comstock & Co., to he delivered on cars on the appellee’s railroad, and to he paid for-on the receipt of the bill of lading. Comstock & Co. had in the meantime become insolvent, and Jones & Co. did not intend that the flour should pass to their possession until it was paid for. This they intended to guard by the Insertion -of a clause in the bill of lading, making it a condition to the delivery of the flour that Comstock & Co. should first present to the appellee the .duplicate bill of lading. Jones & Co. -did not forward the ■-duplicate .to Comstock & Co., but transferred it by indorsement, with a draft drawn on the latter for the price of the flour, which they negotiated with the appellants, by whom at, with the hill -of lading attached, was forwarded to Indianapolis for collection. Comstock & Co. did not pay the .draft on presentation, and consequently the bill of lading was not delivered to them; and, therefore, they could not present it to the appellee; but,the latter .delivered the flour without its presentation.

[374]*374Comstock & Co. were the consignees- o-f the flour, and', in the absence of any condition being annexed to- the delivery, would have been entitled to its possession on its arrival at Indianapolis, by paying the freight. The question, therefore, as to the sufficiency of the complaint depends upon-the proper meaning and legal effect of the clause of the bill of lading, “and presentation of duplicate hereof.”

It is contended by the appellee’s counsel that this- clause in the bill of lading must be regarded as having been inserted for the benefit of the-carrier, as a means of identifying the-consignees,-that the railroad company was responsible for the delivery of the flour to- Comstock & Co., the consignees; and that in- delivering it to them without1 the presentation of the duplicate bill of lading; the only risk incurred was that of the proper identity of the persons' named as consignees. No direct authority is cited in support of this proposition; but it is claimed that it stands upon the same footing as the other provision in the bill of lading, “upon payment of freight,”' and it is insisted that it is settled by the authorities that this latter provision in bills of lading is always- regarded as having been inserted' for the benefit of the carrier; which he may disregard in the delivery of the goods- to-the-consignee and look to th© consignor for the freight. But this- proposition is too broadly stated, and not sustained by the cases: cited. In Collins & Timberlake v. The Union Transportation Co., 10 Watts, 384, the goods were shipped by E. & D. Gratz, commission and forwarding merchants, for Collins & Timberlake, who were merchants in Lexington, Kentucky, and the owners of the goods, which were consigned to- Hutchinson & Leslie, a commission and forwarding house in Pittsburgh, and to be delivered to them “upon the payment of freights.” The goods were carried by The Union Transportation Company and delivered to Hutchinson & Leslie without the payment of the freight, who forwarded them to Collins <55 Timberlake, and they paid the- freight to Hutchinson & Leslie. The-.latter became insolvents The Union- Trans* [375]*375portation Company then sued Collins & Timberlake for the freight, and it was held that they were liable. It is said in the opinion of the court, “that the stipulation in a bill of lading, for delivery on payment of freight, is introduced for the benefit of the consignor,' or the party for whom the consignee is agent,” and that “if the agent should be faithless, the loss should fall on those who trusted him, and they ought to bear it.”

Barker v. Havens, 17 Johns. 234, is also cited. In that case the owner of goods shipped them on the plaintiff’s vessel, to be carried from NewYorkto Liverpool,to be delivered to C., the consignee, he paying freight, &e. The master delivered the goods to the consignee without receiving the freights, which the consignee subsequently refused to pay. The suit was brought against the consignor, the owner of the goods, and he was held liable for the freight. But it was said by Spencer, C. J., who delivered the opinion of the court, that he should be clearly of opinion, “that if it appeared that the goodswere not owned bythe consignor, and were not shipped on his account, and for his benefit, the carrier would not be entitled to call on the consignor for freight.” This, upon principle, would seem to be the proper rule in such cases. If the owner consigns the goods, for his own benefit, to his agent, and the latter refuses to pay the freight, though the carrier is not bound to deliver the goods to him until the freight is paid, still the owner of the goods should be liable. But if the consignee is the owner of the goods, and they are shipped for his benefit, it is his duty to pay the freight, and if it is so stipulated in the bill of lading, the earlier must look to him alone for the freight.

Shepard v. DeBernales, 13 East, 565, is cited in both the foregoing cases as a leading case on this subject, and accords with the opinion expressed above.

But the stipulation that the goods were to be delivered to Comstock & Co. upon the presentation of the duplicate bill of lading, does not rest on the same- foundation as that for the payment of freight. It is true that an unconditional [376]*376consignment of goods to a consignee by name is prima facie evidence that he is the owner and entitled to the possession of them, but it is not conclusive, and in many cases the consignee is but the agent of the consignor and receives the goods for his benefit. It is the right of the shipper, or consignor, in naming a consignee, to subject the delivery of the goods to him to any condition deemed proper by the consignor; and if, upon the arrival of the goods at the place of destination, the consignee does not comply with the condition, the carrier may discharge his liability as such by storing the goods in a proper warehouse, subject to the order of the shipper. In such a case the carrier is the agent of the shipper, and his primary duty is “ to observe the instructions of his principal; and when he disregards them, he voluntarily assumes a responsibility by which he must content himself to abide.” Johnson v. The N. Y. Central R. R. Co., 83 N. Y. 610.

In this case, the stipulation in the bill of lading that the flour should be delivered to Comstock & Co. upon the presentation by them of the duplicate bill of lading, was inserted at the instance of Jones & Co. for their benefit and protection. It constituted a condition to the delivery of the flour to Comstock & Co., that they should' first present the duplicate bill of lading to the appellee, and without which the latter was not authorized to deliver the flour to them. The duplicate bill of lading was delivered to Jones & Co.

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Bluebook (online)
33 Ind. 368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcewen-v-jeffersonville-madison-indianapolis-railroad-ind-1870.