St. Louis-S. F. R. Co. v. Freeman

1921 OK 183, 198 P. 298, 82 Okla. 6, 25 A.L.R. 72, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 164
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedMay 17, 1921
Docket10192
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 1921 OK 183 (St. Louis-S. F. R. Co. v. Freeman) 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
St. Louis-S. F. R. Co. v. Freeman, 1921 OK 183, 198 P. 298, 82 Okla. 6, 25 A.L.R. 72, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 164 (Okla. 1921).

Opinion

MILLER, J.

This action was commenced in the district court of Oklahoma county by W; S. Freeman, as plaintiff in the court below, defendant in error here, to recover $429.08 as damages sustained by reason of the loss of a trunk, against the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway Company. A jury was waived and the case tried to the court. Special findings of fact were made, and the court rendered judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant for $225. Defendant appeals and appears here as plaintiff in error.

The facts are as follows;

W. S. Freeman was a traveling salesman selling a line of raincoats and other goods of like nature. On the 12th day of September, 1917, he purchased a ticket from the agent *7 of said railway company at Okmulgee, Oklahoma, to Oklahoma City, and' upon this ticket he cheeked a trunk containing his merchandise and samples. The trunk did not reach Oklahoma City, and after waiting a day Freeman made complaint to the railway company’s division passenger agent. He af-terwards made a trip to Sapulpa, Tulsa,- and Okmulgee in an effort to locate the trunk. Being unable to find it he made a trip to St. Louis, Mo., to get another trunk and a new supply of samples. His items of damage are the loss of the commissions he would have made, amounting to $165, $50 expense money, and $204.08 as the value of the articles in the trunk. The railway company admitted selling the ticket, checking the trunk at Okmulgee, and its failure to deliver the trunk at Oklahoma City. It admitted a liability of $100, but insists that its liability is limited to that amount, because at the time of the acts complained of it had on file with the Corporation Commission of the state of Oklahoma, and had published and kept open for inspection and filed in its various offices in the state, as by law required, schedules giving the rates, fares, and charges for the transportation of baggage between different points in the state, including Okmulgee and Oklahoma City. That under the provisions 'of said schedules the value of baggage up to and including 150 pounds, so checked as aforesaid, and without extra charge, is deemed and agreed to be not in excess of $100, unless a greater sum or value is declared by the passenger and charges paid for increased valuation at the time of delivery of said baggage to the company.

At the conclusion of the evidence, the railway company moved the court to render" judgment in favor of the plaintiff and against the defendant in the sum of $100 and costs. This motion was overruled and defendant excepted. The court then made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law:

“The court finds that the defendant railway company had notice of the nature of the equipment of the baggage and that the same were samples intended by the plaintiff for use by him. The court further finds as a matter of law that the schedules were in force at the time specified and so far as the value of the property is concerned it is limited by the contract to wit, the schedule in defendant’s Exhibit A, and the plaintiff will therefore, recover the sum of one hundred dollars for the loss of property, also the sum of $50.00 expense incident to the recovery of and in seeking to recover the property and approximately caused by the negligence of the defendant in failing to deliver the baggage at Oklahoma City and plaintiff will also recover the sum of $75.00 for his time lost as a result of the negligence of the defendant, in other words' the plaintiff will recover the total sum of $225.00. I might say that the time lost is based at the rate of $50.00 per week, the evidence showing a loss about a week and a half timé.
“By Mr. Stratton: To which findings of fact and conclusions of law the defendant excepts and gives notice in open court of its intention to appeal to the Supreme Court of Oklahoma from such judgment, and asks the court to direct ’ the clerk to enter and make the proper entries upon the appearance docket and trial docket of the court.
“By the Court: Probably better make the further findings that the value is in excess of $100.00 but the plaintiff is limited under the contract of $100.00. You may draw up your journal entries and the clerk-will make the proper entries on the docket in accordance therewith. The judgment will be for the plaintiff in the sum of $225.00 as per journal entry in the findings of this case.”

The plaintiff in error made several assignments of error, but they may all be summed up and be resolved into this one question : In view of the limitation on the liability of the railway company to $100 for the value of the goods, was Freeman entitled to recover, in addition to said $100, loss of time and expenses incurred in trying to locate the trunk and necessary traveling expenses in procuring additional samples?

The baggage check issued by the railway company to W. S. Freeman contained the following notice-printed thereon:

“Notice to Passengers.
“Unless a greater sum is declared by the passenger and charges paid for increased valuation at time of delivery to carrier, the value of baggage belonging to or checked for an adult passenger shall be deemed and agreed to be not in excess of one hundred dollars ($100.00) and the value of the baggage belonging to or checked for a child traveling on a half ticket shall be deemed and agreed to be not in excess of fifty dollars ($50.00.)
"To avoid storage charges!, claim youir baggage immediately upon arrival at destination. Passengers should take memorandum of this cheek number, to avoid confusion in delivery of baggage, in case duplicate check is lost.
“H. T. Mason, General Baggage Agent,
“Springfield, Mo.”

The defendant in error does not question but that he had notice of the ruling; neither does the plaintiff in error question the sufficiency of the evidence to support the items set forth in the findings of fact made by the *8 court, but objects to the court allowing the items of expense and loss of time.

Plaintiff in error cites a large number of cases to support its contention and these cases bold that certain limitations on a carrier’s liability for loss, if reasonable, will be upheld by the court, but they do not get at the exact question presented here. The case of Kansas City, Mo. & O. Ry. Co. v. Fugatt, 47 Okla. 727, 150 Pac. 669, gets closer to the question than any case cited. The syllabus reads as follows:

“A carrier, with respect to baggage accompanying a passenger, intrusted to its custody, incurs the responsibility of a common carrier of goods and is liable as an insurer of baggage, except where the loss or damage is caused by the act of God, the act of the owner, or by the public enemy.
“It is the duty of the carrier to deliver a passenger’s baggage, whether within the weight prescribed by statute or not, immediately upon the arrival of the passenger at his destination.
“It is a matter of general knowledge, of Which courts will take judicial notice, that common carriers by rail make a practice of carrying as baggage the sample trunks of traveling salesmen.

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Bluebook (online)
1921 OK 183, 198 P. 298, 82 Okla. 6, 25 A.L.R. 72, 1921 Okla. LEXIS 164, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/st-louis-s-f-r-co-v-freeman-okla-1921.