Pabst Brewing Co. v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.

273 S.W. 424, 221 Mo. App. 338, 1925 Mo. App. LEXIS 176
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 25, 1925
StatusPublished

This text of 273 S.W. 424 (Pabst Brewing Co. v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pabst Brewing Co. v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co., 273 S.W. 424, 221 Mo. App. 338, 1925 Mo. App. LEXIS 176 (Mo. Ct. App. 1925).

Opinions

BLAND, J.

This is an action for damages suffered by plaintiff on account of the failure of defendants to deliver at Globe, Arizona, a carload of Pablo accepted by the defendants for. transportation to that point. At the conclusion of all the testimony the court instructed the jury to find for plaintiff, leaving only the amount of the verdict to be determined by them. Defendants have appealed.

This ease was here before. [See Pabst Brewing Company v. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Ry. Co., et al., No. 13441.] The former trial resulted in a verdict for the defendants which, however, was set aside by the trial court and defendants appealed. This court reversed and remanded the ease with instructions to the trial court to reinstate the verdict for defendants. It was held in that appeal that as a matter of law defendants were deceived by the appearance of the shipment but the opinion was never published for the reason that it was quashed, at least in part, by the Supreme Court. [See State ex rel. v. Ellison, 286 Mo. 225.]

The facts show that plaintiff was a brewery located in the City of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and had been largely engaged in brewing beer and shipping it to customers throughout the country; that it was and had been máking real alcoholic beer for nearly seventy-five years; that only in the last three or four years prior to the time of the shipment of the beverage in question did it manufacture what is known and called “Pablo.” On January 31, 1916, it delivered to defendant, Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Company, 170 half barrels of Pablo to be shipped to Globe, Arizona. The bill of lading was made out by plaintiff and recited that the shipment contained “170 half barrels of Pablo, an unfermented, carbonated, nonalcoholic beverage;” that the Milwaukee Railroad had received the property described in it, “contents and condition of contents of packages unknown.” The car containing the beverage was delivered at El Paso, Texas, to the connecting’ carrier, the defendant, Southern Pacific Company, and transported by that company to Lordsburg, N. M., the last station in New Mexico before that railroad crossed into the State of Arizona. The Southern Pacific refused to carry the *340 car into Arizona, claiming that to do so would violate the Constitution of the State of Arizona relating to the introduction into that State of certain beverages, including beer and intoxicating liquors.

Defendants’ refusal to carry the shipment resulted, after a period of five months, in an agreement between plaintiff and the Southern Pacific Company that the latter empty the beverage and return the cooperage to plaintiff, all to be done without prejudice to the rights of the parties. The beverage remained in Lordsburg from February 4th to March 3rd. No account is given as to what happened to it between those dates. Defendants’ witness, Brinley, stated that he placed locks upon the ear on March 3rd and attended to the icing of the car between that day and June 17th, and kept possession of the keys. He did not testify as to Avhat amount of ice was put in the car or at what temperature the car was maintained. On June 17th Brinley turned the keys over to one Reardon, an employee of the defendant, Southern Pacific Company, aaJlo in company with íavo other employees of said defendant opened the car and took out a half barrel of the beverage and delivered it to Dr. Meserve of Tucson, Arizona. Dr. Meserve testified that he A\ras a chemist in the employ of the State of Arizona; that he received the keg of beverage from Reardon and, on the same day, after noting that it was thoroughly chilled, opened it and made an analysis of its-contents and found that the beverage contained 0.726 per cent of alcohol by volume. When the liquid AA?as opened “it looked like beer, foamed like beer and smelled like beer.”

Plaintiff introduced the testimony of the agent of the Mihvaukee Railway Company at Milwaukee aaJlo testified that the company did not accept shipments of Pablo for transportation unless the bill of lading was accompanied by an affidavit of a disinterested chemist stating what the Pablo contained and that the liquid tendered Avas a non-alcoholic, unfermented, carbonated beA^erage. The Avitness further testified that a waybill, which AAras introduced in evidence in connection with his testimony, accompanied the shipment and that it bore on its face the information that the shipment consisted of “170 % Bbl. P'ablo Carbonated Beverage non-alcoholic’’ and that the shipment Avas perishable. Pie further testified that the affidavit, Avhich the witness identified, AAras attached to the Avaybill and that the waybill was supposed to accompany the shipment to destination.

Defendants offered the testimony of plaintiff’s brew master and chemist, who testified that Pablo was made in plaintiff’s brewery at Milwaukee; that the same equipment for manufacturing beer was used, in part, in the manufacture of Pablo; they testified, however, that neither malt nor yeast was used in the manufacture of Pablo; that there was no process of fermentation; that Pablo contained no alcohol; that it was a non-intoxicating unfermented beverage that *341 Pablo was a perishable liquid'; that if it was not kept at the proper temperature, it would spoil and become unfit for beverage purposes; that when it became spoiled it usually created a certain amount of alcohol but it could be kept from spoiling for as long as three months if maintained at the proper temperature. There was other evidence that the proper temperature in which to keep Pablo was between thirty-four and forty degrees Fahrenheit.

Plaintiff’s chemist testified that if Pablo was not kept properly iced, it would spoil and there would be “not only the alcohol germ developing but others developing at the same time, which would influence the odor to such an extent that it would have to be termed spoiled. It would be repulsive, you might say, an odor produced by lactic or acetic acids, alcohol and product of other fungi, that is not very agreeable.” That the odor of Pablo in a good condition is entirely different from that of beer; that the color would be similar and that it would foam similarly to beer.

The keg of beverage opened on June 19th had pasted over its bung hole and attached to the keg by cleats a United States internal revenue stamp labeled “beer” and was stamped with the words “Pabst Brewing Company.” It was brought out from defendants’ witnesses that the government authorities at the time in question would not permit a brewery to ship any beverage .in regular beer kegs without paying the regular government revenue for beer and having revenue stamps placed on them such as those attached to the shipment in question. Beer kegs were not required for shipment of Pablo. It could have been shipped in bottles or other suitable containers. The Constitution 'of the State of Arizona, which is in evidence, provided:

“Ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine or intoxicating liquor or liquors, of , whatever kind, shall not be manufactured in or introduced into the State of Arizona, under any pretense. Every person who sells, exchanges, gives, barters or disposes of any ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine or intoxicating liquor of any kind, to any person in the State of Arizona, or who manufactures or introduces into, or attempts to introduce into the State of Arizona, any ardent spirits, ale, beer, wine or intoxicating liquor, of any -kind, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor. ’ ’

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Bluebook (online)
273 S.W. 424, 221 Mo. App. 338, 1925 Mo. App. LEXIS 176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pabst-brewing-co-v-chicago-milwaukee-st-paul-railway-co-moctapp-1925.