Missouri Pacific Railroad v. Ridley

1962 OK 277, 383 P.2d 227, 1962 Okla. LEXIS 556
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 18, 1962
DocketNo. 39892
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 1962 OK 277 (Missouri Pacific Railroad v. Ridley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Missouri Pacific Railroad v. Ridley, 1962 OK 277, 383 P.2d 227, 1962 Okla. LEXIS 556 (Okla. 1962).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Justice.

This action was commenced in the District Court of Oklahoma County, Oklahoma, by the defendants in error, Charles Ridley and W. W. Lackey, co-partners, hereinafter referred to as plaintiffs. The plaintiffs in error, hereinafter referred to as defendants, were the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co., a corporation, and Illinois Central Railroad Company, a corporation. A motion to quash was sustained on behalf of Illinois Central; hence the only appellant is the Missouri Pacific.

The petition alleged the plaintiffs had purchased 222 head of cattle at Vicksburg, Mississippi and delivered same to Illinois Central for transportation to Hawarden, Iowa; that such cattle were loaded in seven cars and transported to Monroe, Louisiana where the cars were delivered to the Missouri Pacific. That the Missouri Pacific was to transport these cars to Omaha, [229]*229Nebraska, where they were to be delivered to the Chicago and Northwestern Ry. Co. for transportation to Hawarden. That six of such cars containing 193 head of cattle were delivered in Hawarden on time. That the seventh car, containing 29 head of cattle, was misdirected by the Missouri Pacific and sent to Madelia, Minnesota where the mistake was discovered, and the cattle shipped to Hawarden where they arrived three days after the six cars. In lieu of the misdirected car, a car of cattle from Clovis, New Mexico had been substituted for the car misdirected to Minnesota. This car arrived with the other six.

The petition alleged that these cattle had been sold to a buyer at Hawarden before shipment from Mississippi, and when the cattle arrived, due to the poor quality of the cattle in the seventh car, the shipment was refused and the sale lost. Thereby plaintiffs were damaged by the loss of such sale in the sum of $4,910.71.

The .answer of defendant admitted partnership, corporate existences and shipment of cattle as alleged, but denied all else.

The following facts were stipulated at the pre-trial:

1. The shipment of cattle as alleged.

2. The misdirection of one car as alleged.

3. That the six cars of cattle arrived in Hawarden in as good condition as when shipped at Vicksburg.

It will be observed that there was no effort to collect for mistreatment of cattle, but the only relief sought was for loss of bargain, the profits on a sales contract lost by reason of the delay in the delivery of one car of cattle.

At the conclusion of the evidence the court sustained the motion of defendant for directed verdict. Upon motion for new trial by plaintiffs, the trial court granted a new trial, and from this order the defendant appeals.

In actions ex delicto for damages for injury to livestock by delay in transportation, the measure of damages is the difference between the value of the animals at the time they should have been delivered in the condition they should have been and the condition they were in at time of delivery, plus expenses incurred in connection therewith. 9L.R.A. 451; 53 L.R.A. 85.

Some damages are well within the contemplation of the parties at the time of shipment. But the present action is not ex delicto but ex contractu and involves the recovery of special damages as set out in the leading case of Hadley v. Baxendale, 9 Exch. 341, 5 Eng.Rul.Cas. 502, 156 Eng.Rep. 145.

The principles of the Hadley case have been accepted and incorporated in opinions throughout the United States. In line with the doctrines therein announced, it is now well established that where elements of damage are not within the contemplation of the parties at the time of the shipment contract there must be other facts proved to justify a recovery for delay in delivery. The principles governing the precise situation before us are embodied in Sec. 517 of 9 Am.Jur., Carriers, pages 737 and 738 as follows:

“As noted in prior section, where goods shipped have a market value, and there is nothing to indicate that they were ordered or shipped for any specific purpose, the damages are usually the difference between the market value of the goods at the time they ought to have been delivered and their market value when they are in fact delivered. When, however, the goods are ordered or shipped for a special purpose or for present use in a given way, and this fact is known to the carrier, it is responsible for the damages fairly attributable to the delay, and in reference to the purpose or the use indicated, which may reasonably be supposed to have been in the minds of the parties, and are not merely speculative or conjectural. Thus, where property is sold at an advantageous price before shipment on condition that it be delivered within a certain time, and the carrier, [230]*230with knowledge of that fact, undertakes the transportation, and through negligence fails to make the delivery in time, and the conditional purchaser declines to receive the property on account of the delay, the carrier may be held liable for the loss sustained by the shipper, which ordinarily is the difference between the market value of the property when it arrived at the place of destination and the price at which it was conditionally sold before shipment. But the difference between the price for which the shipper had contracted to sell goods and their market value cannot be recovered unless the carrier was notified that they were shipped to complete sales already made, or in reference to some special contract or situation. * * (Emphasis ours.)

In line with the above text, this court has in, the case of Alton Railroad Co. v. Oklahoma Furniture Mfg. Co., 190 Okl. 216, 122 P.2d 152, 166 A.L.R. 1030, said in the first paragraph of the syllabus by the court:

“If an article is intended for use in business at destination, and the carrier unreasonably delays its transportation, the owner cannot recover special damages, such as loss of its use during the delay or the profits which he would thereby have made if it had been seasonably delivered, unless the owner alleges and proves that the carrier, at the time the contract for its transportation was made, was informed of the special use to which it was to be put. And proof that the carrier had knowledge of the general use to which the article was to be put will not ordinarily be sufficient to charge the carrier with liability for loss of its use or the profits which would thereby have been made. The special circumstances of the case requiring care or expedition must have been brought to the carrier’s attention in such a way that its acceptance of the article, under the circumstances, could fairly be said to amount to an assumption of the risks which naturally and proximately would flow from its default.”

As stated above, this is a cause of action ex contractu, and therefore the principles announced in the above syllabus are equally applicable here, although a shipment of cattle is involved.

We have diligently searched the record herein to ascertain whether any notice was ever communicated to the carrier relative to the previous sale of the cattle. There is no such evidence.

The opinion in the Oklahoma Furniture Mfg. Co. case, supra, cited the case of Missouri, K. & T. Ry. Co. v. Foote, 46 Okl. 578, 149 P. 223, wherein the fifth paragraph of the syllabus reads:

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Bluebook (online)
1962 OK 277, 383 P.2d 227, 1962 Okla. LEXIS 556, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-pacific-railroad-v-ridley-okla-1962.