Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Driskell

61 Tex. Civ. App. 310
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 26, 1910
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 61 Tex. Civ. App. 310 (Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Driskell) 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
Texas & Pacific Railway Co. v. Driskell, 61 Tex. Civ. App. 310 (Tex. Ct. App. 1910).

Opinions

WILLSON, Chief Justice.

— Prior to 1903, Oak Cliff and the City of Dallas, respectively, were stations on the Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company’s line of railroad, and each of itself, was an independent municipal corporation. During that year Oak Cliff ceased to exist as an independent corporation, and, as the ninth ward thereof, became a part of the City of Dallas. The territory which constituted Oak Cliff continued, however, to be known, and is yet, commonly known by that name; and to distinguish it from the territory before that time, constituting the City of Dallas, will hereinafter be so designated. The principal portion of the City of Dallas is located east of, the Trinity River. Oak Cliff is located west of said river. The space of about one mile between them is river bottom land, subject to overflow, and therefore, is unoccupied. After Oak Cliff became a part of the City of Dallas the Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company did not maintain there (in Oak Cliff) either a freight 'or passenger depot, but did maintain there a siding, which it treated as a “flag” 'or “prepaid” station, and where it continued to deliver freight. The distance between this flag station and said company’s depot, in another part of said City of Dallas, was nearly four miles. '

The City of Dallas is also a station on the Texas & P. Railway Company’s line of railway. Said railway company’s line does not extend to Óak Cliff, but it connects with said Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company’s line of railroad to Oak Cliff.

The Owens Lumber Company was in business at Oak Cliff, where its yard was located, about two miles from the court-house in Dallas, and "about three blocks north of the Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company’s flag station in Oak Cliff. At and during about 18 years before the times hereinafter mentioned, the lumber company had been receiving shipments of lumber at said station.

[312]*312June 12, 1907, appellant received of appellees, at Woodlawn, a carload of lumber “to be transported,” the bill of lading covering same recited, “to Oak Cliff, Texas, and there delivered at the usual and customary place of discharge of transfer of ear,' in like order and condition to G. W. Owens Lumber Company.” The ear of lumber, it seems, was duly transported by appellant to its station in Dallas, where it was tendered on a “switch card” to the Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company for transportation over its line of railway to the Owens Lumber Company, at Oak Cliff. Said Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company refused, when same was so tendered, to receive and so transport the car. The lumber was never delivered to the consignee, the lumber company, but it seems, finally was sold by appellant and the proceeds of the sale retained by it to cover charges claimed against the shipment. After-wards, appellee commenced suit 'against appellant, and sought to recover the value of the car of lumber, and a statutory penalty for an alleged failure on the part of appellant, to deliver same to the Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company at its (appellant’s) connecting line in Dallas, for transportation to Oak Cliff. A trial before a jury resulted in a verdict and judgment in appellee’s favor for the sum of $637.22 as the value of the lumber, and for the further sum of $300 as a penalty.

After Stating the Case as above — Appellant insists, and we agree, that on the ease as made by the record it was not liable to the penalty adjudged against it.

The recovery for the penalty was on the ground that appellant had failed, after transporting the lumber to Dallas, to deliver same to the Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway Company, as its connecting line, for transportation to Oak Cliff.

Subdivision 2 of art. 4574, Chapter 13, Sayles’ Statutes, declares that “every railroad which shall, under such regulations as may be prescribed by the commission, fail or refuse to transport and deliver without delay or discrimination, any passengers, tonnage or cars, loaded or empty, destined to any point on or over the line of any connecting line of railroad, shall be deemed guilty of unjust discrimination.” Orders of the Railroad Commission, effective January 27, 1896, and March 24, 1897 (circulars 199 and 399), declared that a railroad company, '“having received from a shipper a loaded car destined to a point on a connecting line, the company so receiving such loaded car shall forward and haul same over its line to its junction with the next connecting line, to which it shall, at such junction, deliver same for further transportation.” Art. 4575, Chapter 13, Sayles’ Statutes, declares, that “in case any railroad subject to this chapter shall do, cause to be done, or permit to be done any matter, act or thing in this chapter prohibited or declared to be unlawful, or shall omit to do any act, matter or thing herein required to be done by it, such railroad shall be liable to the person or persons, firm or corporation injured thereby, for the damages sustained in consequence of such violation; and in case such railroad company shall be guilty of extortion or discrimination as by this chapter defined, then, in addition to such damages, such railroad shall pay to the person, firm or corporation injured thereby, a [313]*313penalty of not less than $125 nor more than $500, to he recovered in any court of competent jurisdiction in any county into or through which such railroad may run; provided that such road may plead and prove as a defense to the action for said penalty, that such overcharge was unintentionally and innocently made through a mistake of fact.”

Whether appellant was liable to the penalty adjudged against it or not, depended upon whether it had violated the statute and orders of the Railroad Commission to which we have just referred. And whether it had violated such statute and orders or not depended, first, upon whether the car of lumber was destined to a “point” on one of its “connecting lines;” and, second, upon whether, if the car of lumber was destined to such a point, it had transported and delivered same to such connecting line for further transportation.

The trial court was of the opinion, and iso instructed the jury, that for the purposes of the shipment Oak Cliff was a station of the Gulf, C. & S. P. Railway, and “was not a part of Dallas or Dallas Station.”

Was Oak Cliff, within the meaning of the statute and said orders of the Railroad Commission, a “point” distinct from Dallas on the line of the Gulf, C. & S. F. Railway, or was it only as a part of Dallas, a “point” on said line of railway? It is clear that the City of Dallas was such a point. The City of Dallas included Oak Cliff. Within the meaning of said statute and orders, could there be a point within a point? We think not. The contention seems to have been that the Railroad Commission had made a certain rate on shipments of lumber to Oak Cliff, and a different rate on such shipments to other parts of Dallas, and thereby, as to such shipments, had segregated the Oak Cliff territory from Dallas. The order of the commission referred to as accomplishing this, became effective March 5, 1906 (circular 2417).

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Bluebook (online)
61 Tex. Civ. App. 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-pacific-railway-co-v-driskell-texapp-1910.