Tebbs v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co.

50 N.E. 486, 20 Ind. App. 192, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 537
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 19, 1898
DocketNo. 2,464
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 50 N.E. 486 (Tebbs v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tebbs v. Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago & St. Louis Railway Co., 50 N.E. 486, 20 Ind. App. 192, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 537 (Ind. Ct. App. 1898).

Opinion

Comstock, J.

The complaint alleges that a bill of lading was issued by the C., C., C. & St. L. Ry Co. to J. Leverone & Co. for one car load of bananas, and that the car was consigned to appellant under the name of Tebbs Bros;, at Anderson, Indiana. The bill of lading contains the following clause, “with privilege of stopping over at Greensburg and Rushville, Ind.” The breach of the contract upon which the complaint counts is that the appellee refused to stop the car either at Greensburg or Rushville. The court below sustained a demurrer to the complaint for want of facts to constitute a cause of action. This ruling of the court is the error assigned upon appeal.

Omitting formal portions of the complaint, it is as follows: That on and prior to August 29, 1894, plaintiff was engaged in doing business under the firm name of Tebbs Bros., and selling bananas in the markets to merchants and grocers along the line of defendant’s railway in the cities of Greensburg, Rush-ville and Anderson; and prior to said 29th day of Au-. gust, 1894, had arranged to sell in the markets in each of said cities in Indiana, and had arranged to procure from the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, a car load of bananas, and ship the same through said cities of Greensburg, Rushville and Anderson, with the privilege of stopping over at each of said places and sell to [194]*194customers in such markets, and that on or about said 29th day of August, 1894, he purchased of defendants, J. Leverone & Company, of Cincinnati, Ohio, a car load of bananas for the purpose of making such shipment, which car load of bananas was of the value of $350.00, and of good merchantable and marketable condition and quality, and caused said J. Leverone & Company on said day to ship said car load of bananas so purchased from them, over the defendant’s railway, with the privilege of stopping over at said cities of Greensburg and Rushville, to be consigned to plaintiff at said city of Anderson, and said J. Leverone & Co. on said 29th day of August, 1894, for the use and benefit of this plaintiff, shipped said car load of bananas over defendant’s railway, and said defendant then entered into a written and printed contract with said J. Leverone & Co. for the use and benefit of this plaintiff, for the shipment of said car load of bananas, a copy of which printed and written contract is made a part of this complaint, filed herewith and marked “exhibit A;” that although said contract was issued in the name of said J. Leverone & Co., the same was issued for the use and benefit of plaintiff, and said defendants, J. Leverone & Co., have no right, title or interest therein, and they are made parties defendants to answer as to any such right, title or interest, if any they claim; that defendant took possession of said car load of bananas and undertook to ship the same as provided, and did carry the same through said Greens-burg and Rushville, and this plaintiff, before or while said car load of bananas was at Greensburg, Indiana, and immediately before its arrival there, notified and demanded the defendant to stop and side track said car load of bananas at said city of Greensburg, and said defendant, without plaintiff’s consent, and against his will, failed and refused to allow said car load of ba[195]*195nanas to be stopped or side tracked at the said city of Greensburg, and caused the same to be carried on to the said city of Anderson, without any stop over, and without allowing plaintiff to take bananas therefrom; that before or at the time said car load of bananas reached said city of Rushville, plaintiff notified and demanded appellant to stop and side track said car load of bananas at said city of Rushville, and that said defendant, without plaintiff’s consent, and against his will, failed and refused to allow said car load of bananas to be stopped or side tracked at’ said last mentioned place, without allowing plaintiff to take bananas therefrom, and carried them on through to the place of their final consignment, and there delivered them to this plaintiff; that the stop over privilege expressed in said contract was' by the parties and custom of common carriers agreed and understood to be for the purpose of allowing a portion of the contents of said cars to be unloaded; that said contract for shipment was entered into for a valuable consideration moving to the said defendant; that this plaintiff and the said firm of J. Leverone & Co. in whose name said contract was made for this plaintiff, have each performed the stipulations and conditions of said contract on their parts required to be performed; that the defendant has violated and broken said contract in failing and refusing to stop over and side track said car load of bananas at said cities of Greensburg and Rushville; that at the time said car load of bananas was shipped from said city of Cincinnati, there were therein 700 bunches, in sound condition, not decayed, of good merchantable quality, and then and at the time the said car arrived at said city of Greensburg, were of the value of fifty cents per bunch, that being the market value per bunch at said city of Greensburg of the kind of bananas that were in said car when it [196]*196arrived at said city of Greensburg; that said city of Greensburg is a city having 4,000 inhabitants, and at said time the banana market of said city was poorly supplied, and there was a great demand for bananas at said market price, and had said car been stopped at that place plaintiff could and would have sold' in the market at that place more than 250 bunches of said bananas at and for the price of fifty cents per bunch, and could and would have sold the ripest portion of said car load of bananas which were then in good marketable condition; that said city of Rushville was then a city of more than 5,000 inhabitants, and at the time said car arrived at said city there was a good market and a great demand for bananas at said city, and the market price there for bananas, such as were more than one-third of the said car load when it arrived there, was sixty cents per bunch, and had said car been stopped over at said city of Rushville, plaintiff could and would have sold in the market of said city more than 200 bunches of bananas from said car load at the price of sixty cents per bunch, which was then the market price at said city of said bananas and the value thereof, and the plaintiff could and would have sold the ripest portion then remaining in said car, and which portion was at least one-third of the whole amount in said car, and which portion was then of good merchantable quality; that when said car arrived at said city of Anderson, and continuously thereafter, there was a poor market at that point for said bananas; that the market at said point had been supplied; that he was unable to sell any of said bananas there, without great sacrifice and was wholly unable to dispose of but a small portion of said car load; that the nature of the banana trade and the character of bananas is such that it is a fact that unless bananas when ready [197]

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Bluebook (online)
50 N.E. 486, 20 Ind. App. 192, 1898 Ind. App. LEXIS 537, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tebbs-v-cleveland-cincinnati-chicago-st-louis-railway-co-indctapp-1898.