Strickland Transportation Co. v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc.

387 S.W.2d 720, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2887
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 11, 1964
Docket16414
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 387 S.W.2d 720 (Strickland Transportation Co. v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Strickland Transportation Co. v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc., 387 S.W.2d 720, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2887 (Tex. Ct. App. 1964).

Opinions

DIXON, Chief Justice.

On October 1, 1959 appellant Strickland Transportation Company, Inc., hereinafter called Strickland, sued appellee Navajo Freight Lines, Inc., hereinafter called Navajo, for the sum of $7,912 for rentals alleged to be due on that date on Strickland’s trailer No. 813. Appellant alleged that an oral trailer interchange master contract had been entered into in 1955. Pursuant to said master contract trailer No. 813 had been turned over to Navajo in 1956, loaded with freight destined for delivery at a destination on the line of another motor freight carrier; and that rentals at the rate of $8.00 per day had continued to accrue.

On May 8, 1962 Navajo filed a cross-action for $14,946, which it claimed was due from Strickland following an adjustment of rental accounts between the two carriers involving trailer No. 813 as well as other trailers interchanged by the two carriers. Among other defenses Strickland pled that the cross-action was barred by limitations.

On October 14, 1963 Strickland filed its amended petition in which it alleged that the amount of daily rentals due in connection with No. 813 had reached a total of $19,016. Navajo filed a plea of limitations as to a substantial portion of Strickland’s account.

In a trial before a jury an instructed verdict was granted in favor of Navajo for $4,712.

It is a practice among common carriers of freight to offer to the public a service where, for a single charge, shipments originating at a point on the line of one carrier will be transported and delivered to a destination on the line of another carrier. For convenience the cargo of freight is not ordinarily reloaded onto another trailer at an interchange point, but continues on its journey in the same trailer though the trailer is thereafter operated by the other carrier. On occasion a trailer loaded with cargo will pass into the possession of several different carriers before reaching its destination.

• In their 1955 master contract Strickland and Navajo had agreed that on all interchanges of trailers between them the carrier receiving a trailer from the other would [723]*723pay the lending carrier a rental of $8.00 per day until the return of the leased trailer, or the delivery of another trailer acceptable to the lender in lieu of the original trailer. Both truck lines are freight carriers on a large scale. It was their practice to balance and settle their interchange accounts from time to time on a money basis.

This particular controversy involves three truck trailers: No. 813 owned by Strickland, No. 1A32 owned by Merchants’ Motor Freight, Inc. of St. Louis, Missouri and No. 57 owned by Navajo.

On February 28, 1956 Strickland turned over to Navajo at Amarillo, Texas Strickland’s trailer No. 813 loaded with explosives. Navajo thereafter turned No. 813 over to Garrett Freight Lines at Denver, Colorado, because the point of destination was located on Garrett’s line. Garrett was obligated to pay Navajo $8.00 per day rental while No. 813 was in Garrett’s possession, Garrett was supposed to return the trailer to Navajo so Navajo could return it to Strickland, thus terminating Navajo’s obligation to pay $8.00 per day rental to Strickland. However, Garrett did not return No. 813 to Navajo. Instead on March 7, 1956 Garrett through error turned No. 813 over to Merchants’ Freight Lines of St. Louis. Thereafter No. 813 became temporarily lost. Neither Garrett, nor Navajo, nor Merchants was able to trace No. 813. Meantime the daily rentals owed by Navajo to Strickland and by Garrett to Navajo continued to accumulate.

The transfer of February 28, 1956 of No. 813 from Strickland to Navajo was an interchange of trailer No. 813 from Strickland to Navajo, but it did not involve an exchange of trailers. In other words, Strickland did not receive a trailer in return for No. 813.

There is testimony that Garrett, desiring to terminate its obligation to pay rental on No. 813 to Navajo, communicated with Navajo at Denver, stating that Merchants would let Garrett have Merchants’ trailer No. 1A32 in lieu of No. 813. Garrett would then give No. 1A32 to Navajo and Navajo would give No. 1A32 to Strickland to close out the interchange on February 28, 1956 of No. 813 from Strickland to Navajo. There is no evidence that Strickland was a party to this agreement.

On April 17, 1956 Navajo tendered trailer No. 1A32 to Strickland in an effort to terminate its rental obligation on No. 813 which had been in effect since February 28, 1956. Strickland at first refused to accept No. 1A32 in lieu of No. 813 because No. 1A32 was not a trailer to which Strickland had title or could obtain title. But, according to Strickland, possession of No. 1A32 was finally accepted by Strickland, solely on Navajo’s representation that upon tender of No. 1A32 to Merchants, the latter carrier would either return No. 813, or some other acceptable trailer to Strickland.

The date of April 18,1956 is important in this case because Navajo in the alternative claims that on that date Strickland accepted No. 1A32 in lieu of its trailer No. 813, thereby terminating Navajo’s obligation to pay $8.00 per day rental on No. 813. This is denied by Strickland, who contends that possession of No. 1A32 was accepted strictly on condition that Merchants would exchange Strickland’s No. 813 or some other acceptable Strickland trailer for No. 1A32.

Merchants, as it turned out, refused to exchange a Strickland trailer for No. 1A32. Strickland then tendered 1A32 back to Navajo since its acceptance of No. 1A32, according to Strickland, was based on a condition which was not fulfilled as above indicated. Navajo refused to accept the return of No. 1A32 from Strickland despite several tenders of the trailer by Strickland to Navajo. This situation continued for about eleven months during which time Strickland used No. 1A32 in the transportation of merchandise on several occasions.

[724]*724On March 26, 1957 No. 1A32, loaded with a cargo whose destination was California, was finally returned by Strickland to Navajo in an interchange transaction. However, Navajo insists that its acceptance of the return of No. 1A32 had nothing to do with the controversy between the two carriers in regard to No. 813. Navajo contends that Strickland had previously on April 18, 1956 accepted possession of No. 1A32 in lieu of No. 813. The March 26, 1957 transfer of No. 1A32 back to Navajo was a new, independent interchange transaction, according to Navajo.

On April 9, 1957 No. 1A32 returned from its California trip and it was tendered by Navajo to Strickland from whom it had been received in the interchange of March 26, 1957. Strickland refused to accept return of No. 1A32, claiming that it had been turned back to Navajo pursuant to Strickland’s refusal to accept it in place of No. 813. This date, April 9, 1957, is important because Navajo claims in a second alternative that its duty to pay rentals on No. 813 terminated with Strickland’s refusal to accept return of No. 1A32 in lieu of No. 813. It is admitted that Navajo declined to pay rentals on No. 813 after April 9, 1957. It was stipulated by the parties that the value of No. 813 on that date was $4,000.

Thereafter trailer No. 1A32 sat idle in a parking lot in Amarillo, Texas until January 1, 1958 when it was finally picked up by Merchants, its owner. Merchants did not take back its trailer No. 1A32 in an interchange transaction.

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Strickland Transportation Co. v. Navajo Freight Lines, Inc.
387 S.W.2d 720 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1964)

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Bluebook (online)
387 S.W.2d 720, 1964 Tex. App. LEXIS 2887, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/strickland-transportation-co-v-navajo-freight-lines-inc-texapp-1964.