Missouri Pacific Railroad v. S. L. Robinson & Co.

65 S.W.2d 902, 188 Ark. 475, 1933 Ark. LEXIS 74
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedDecember 18, 1933
Docket4-3256
StatusPublished

This text of 65 S.W.2d 902 (Missouri Pacific Railroad v. S. L. Robinson & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas 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. S. L. Robinson & Co., 65 S.W.2d 902, 188 Ark. 475, 1933 Ark. LEXIS 74 (Ark. 1933).

Opinion

Mehaffy, J.

The appellee brought suit in the Crawford Circuit Court for $260.94 for delay in transporting and delivering a car of strawberry crates fom Paducah, Kentucky, to Yan Burén, Arkansas. It was alleged that the car of strawberry crates, including 4,000 extra quarts, was ordered on April 29,1932, and that the Paducah Box & Basket Company loaded said crates and received from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company at Paducah, Kentucky, on the 30th day of April, 1932, a bill of lading; that said car of crates was thereafter shipped and handled Over the lines of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company and the Missouri Pacific Railroad Company; that, at the time the car was ordered, appellees were engaged in handling and the sale of strawberry crates, and the strawberry season, which was short, was on in Van Burén and vicinity; that said crates were ordered for immediate use and resale, and were needed and required by appellee for that purpose; that, if said car had been handled and transported without delay, it would have, in the ordinary course of transportation, arrived and been delivered to appellee in the city of Van Burén, Arkansas, on May 3d, but that it did not arrive in said city of Van Burén until 5 p. m. on May 5th; that, by reason of the delay in transporting and deliver-ing said car by appellant and its connecting carrier, appellee was deprived of having said strawberry crates on hand for retail sale to its customers, who were demanding same, and, by reason of the delay, appellee lost the sale during said season of the amount of one carload of crates, which, if they had had, as they would, had they been delivered to them promptly in the ordinary course of transportation, they would have sold to their trade at a net profit of $260.94; that appellee had customers for the purchase and taking up of said crates, at the profit above mentioned, and, by reason of the failure to deliver the car, appellee was compelled to buy its crates from other dealers, and, as a direct result of the failure to deliver said crates within the time, it lost said profit, and the sale of that amount of crates; that, within the time provided in the bill of lading, appellee filed claim with the appellant for damages in the amount above named, which claim was by the appellant denied.

The appellant filed answer, in which it denied all the material allegations in the complaint.

The evidence shows that appellee ordered the car, which it is alleged was delayed for two days, from the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company, at Paducah, Kentucky. Appellee had ordered from the Paducah Box & Basket Company four or five cars of strawberry crates, to be shipped, as ordered by appellee, from time to time during the strawberry season. When it ordered the first car of crates, it came from Paducah to Van Burén in three days. Knowing the time that was required to transport the crates from Paducah to Van Burén, appellee, when it began to run low on crates, ordered another car to arrive in time to sell — by the time all of the crates in the first car were gone-, that is, they ordered it four days before they would be out of crates. The same day it ordered this car shipped, it notified the agent of the appellant at Van Burén of the order, and had him start tracing the car, so that it would not be delayed. Appellee sold the last of the first car of crates, the night before the day that the car should have arrived. If the crates had come in three days, as the first car did, appellee would have had crates to supply their trade for the next two days, but the car was delayed for two days, and appellees were out of crates. Instead of getting there in three days, it took the car in question five days to come from Paducah to Van Burén.

Appellee had ordered another car to be shipped to it, intending for it to arrive at the time it sold the crates in the car that was delayed, but, this car being delayed, the appellee canceled the order for the next car. If the car had arrived on time, appellee would have- sold the crates at a net profit of $'260.94. "When the car did arrive, appellee sold the crates at a net profit of $260.94. There is therefore no damage claimed because of a loss on this particular car, but the damage is claimed because the negligent delay in shipping this car left the appellee without crates to sell for two days, thereby losing the profit it claims they would have made. It bought crates elsewhere, nearer home, but the record does not show where, and does not show at what time they bought them. This, however, is immaterial, since the only claim for damages is for loss of profits that appellee would have made during the two days they were out of crates.

Usually, the measure of damages for delay in shipment is the difference in the price of the freight when it should have arrived and the price at the time it actually did arrive. But the claim here is not that it sold the car when it finally came for a lower price and were thereby damaged, because the evidence of appellee itself shows that they received the same price they would have received, if the car had not been delayed.

Appellees do not claim that they had already made a contract for the sale of the crates, but they claim that, if they had received them, they would have sold them at the profit named. Appellee contends that there is no element of special damages, but the damages complained of are as real and actual, and the result of the contract, as any damages could be.

A statement of the law in 10 C. J. 72 is as follows: “In accordance with well-settled principles, only such damages as are in the contemplation of the parties when they make their contract, and which result as a breach of it, are properly recoverable. Hence the fact that the shipper, at the time he made the contract with the carrier, informed its agent that he wished to make contracts with third persons for the sale of the goods to them, and the further fact that he did make such contract afterward, do not entitle a recovery from the carrier of profits which would have been made but for the breach of the contract of carriage.”

In this case, there is no evidence tending to show either that appellee had already made contracts to sell the crates, or that it gave any notice to the carrier, at the time of the shipment, of the fact that the crates were desired for immediate sale, or that there would be any special damages because of delay. There is no claim that any notice of special damages was given. Such notice must be given in order to recover special damages, or the evidence must show that the carrier had knowledge of the special circumstances, and this notice or knowledge must be at, or before, the shipment is made.

The measure of damages for negligent delay in the transportation of freight by a carrier is the difference between the value of the freight at the time it was delivered and its value at the time it should have been delivered, unless the carrier had notice that special damages would result from a failure to deliver in time. Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. Newhouse Mill & Lbr. Co., 90 Ark. 452, 119 S. W. 646.

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Bluebook (online)
65 S.W.2d 902, 188 Ark. 475, 1933 Ark. LEXIS 74, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/missouri-pacific-railroad-v-s-l-robinson-co-ark-1933.