Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Knox

98 N.E. 295, 177 Ind. 344, 1912 Ind. LEXIS 30
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedApril 16, 1912
DocketNo. 21,968
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 98 N.E. 295 (Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Knox) 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
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co. v. Knox, 98 N.E. 295, 177 Ind. 344, 1912 Ind. LEXIS 30 (Ind. 1912).

Opinion

Myers, J.

Appellee and his copartner, Houck, by a complaint in five paragraphs, instituted this action against appellant as a common carrier. The first and second paragraphs alleged the ownership of two carloads of corn, of 992 and 974 bushels, respectively, the entry into a written contract with appellant, a common carrier—which contract is made an exhibit of each paragraph—for the shipment of the corn from Converse, Indiana, to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, consigned to their order, with written directions in the bill of lading to notify Daniel McCaffrey & Sons, their agents, and paid the freight charges; that the corn arrived at appellant’s Manchester yards, near Pittsburgh, November 15, 1905, cool and sweet and in good condition; that said agents on said last-mentioned date sold both cars of corn to the Pittsburgh Union Stock-Yards at fifty-two cents a bushel, and that was its value; that appellant carelessly and negligently failed and neglected to deliver the corn until November 21, 1905, and that during the period from November 15, 1905, to November 21, 1905, by reason of said negligence, the corn heated and spoiled, so that the value thereof was reduced to twenty cents a bushel, and said agents were compelled to sell it at that price. Performance of all the conditions of the contract on appellee’s part, including making claim for the loss within thirty days, is alleged, and damages are demanded on each car shipped November 8.

The third paragraph is the same, except that it alleges shipment November 14, its arrival cool and sweet at the Manchester yards on November 15, sale at fifty-two cents a bushel that day, negligent failure to deliver until November [347]*34729, its spoiling in the interval, by reason of said negligence, and its value thereby reduced to twenty cents a bushel.

The fourth paragraph counts on the two shipments of November 8 as made without written,contract, and alleges the-agreement of appellant to transport and deliver the corn to appellee’s order in the city of Pittsburgh, but carelessly and negligently held it in or near that city six days, during which time the corn spoiled.

The fifth paragraph is the same as the fourth, except it counts on the shipment of November 14, and alleges receipt at the Manchester yards on November 20. The fourth and fifth paragraphs are claimed to be based on §3918 Burns 1908, Acts 1905 p. 58.

The cause was submitted to a jury on an answer of general denial, and at the close of appellee’s evidence, appellant demurred to the evidence, and it was agreed that if the demurrer should be overruled the court “may assess the damages on the evidence in the demurrer,” without recalling the jury. Appellee joined in the demurrer, which was overruled, and the court assessed the damages, and, over motion for a new trial, judgment was rendered for appellee, whose partner Houck had died pending the suit, as was disclosed by a supplemental complaint.

The errors assigned and not waived are on the rulings on the demurrers to each paragraph of the complaint, in overruling the demurrer to the evidence, and in overruling the motion for a new trial.

1. As to the first, second and third paragraphs of complaint, the ground of objection as to each is that in each it is alleged that the corn arrived at the Manchester yards, near Pittsburgh, cool and in good condition, and that on the day of its arrival appellee’s agents “sold the corn * * * for plaintiff to the Pittsburgh Union StoekYards and that the defendant company negligently and carelessly neglected and refused to deliver it,” until it heated [348]*348and spoiled, the contention being, that as it is averred that it was sold, the damage, if any, accrued to the vendee and not to plaintiff, and that no negligence in transportation is averred, but, at most, delay after plaintiff’s title ceased. As to the fourth and fifth paragraphs, there is no allegation of sale of the corn, but that by reason of the delay it spoiled and they were damaged thirty-two cents a bushel. If appellant’s contention is correct as to these points, the judgment must be reversed.

If the allegation quoted stood alone, or without anything in qualification, the court would doubtless be required to treat it as amounting to an allegation of a consummated sale. The allegation in the first, second and third paragraphs is, however, “that said corn was the property of these plaintiffs, and their said agents sold the said corn on said day to the Pittsburgh Union Stock-Yards at fifty-two cents per bushel. That said corn was then and there of the value of fifty-two cents per bushel. That defendant company negligently and carelessly neglected and refused to deliver said corn to said purchaser until the 21st day of Nov.,” in one case, and in the other, “until the 29th day of Nov., 1905. That during said period from Nov. 15th to Nov. 21,” in one case and “from Nov. 20 to Nov. 29” 'in the other, “the said corn heated and spoiled by reason of defendant’s said negligence, so that the value thereof was no more than twenty cents per bushel,” as to two ears, and “twenty-five cents per bushel” as to one car, “which was the best and highest price they [plaintiffs] could obtain therefor, and they were compelled to, and did sell for those prices.”

Taking the allegations together, they did not allege an executed sale, or a “bargain and sale” at common law, but an executory contract, or contract to sell.

Into this allegation must be read the proposition of law of the right of inspection, and the right of refusal of the contemplated buyer, and its right to reject that which it had not purchased.

[349]*349The allegations disclose an agreement, in effect, to deliver; and clearly one who buys an article worth fifty-two cents a bushel when he buys, but which at delivery, because of its condition, is worth enly twenty or twenty-five cents a bushel, is not required to accept it; so that unless we can say that delivery was made at the Manchester yards, it is clear that there was no sale, no parting with, nor vesting of title. Delivery was as essential as any other thing, and the allegation is that appellant “negligently and carelessly neglected and refused to deliver” for such a length of time that the corn spoiled, which is a negation that delivery was made at the time that appellant claims a sale is alleged.

Stated reversely: Suppose the stock-yards company had sued defendant and his copartner for a breach of contract to deliver corn purchased, could the latter have successfully defended the suit by showing that said company agreed to take so much corn of such and such a quality at so much a bushel? Would he not have been compelled to show that he had delivered it, or stood ready to deliver, and that it was of the quality agreed on?

The court cannot judicially know anything about the situation of the Manchester yards, or what relation, if any, they have to a contract to deliver in Pittsburgh.

The allegation of the complaint is that the corn arrived ‘ ‘ at the Manchester yards near said city of Pittsburgh. ’ On the face of the record, that is a showing that the corn was in transit. A sale and assignment of the bill of lading might have been made in transit; so the allegation is, in effect, of a sale while at the Manchester yards, or while in transit, delivery to be made at Pittsburgh, and impliedly subject to the right of inspection.

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Bluebook (online)
98 N.E. 295, 177 Ind. 344, 1912 Ind. LEXIS 30, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pittsburgh-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-v-knox-ind-1912.