Transmarine Corp. v. R. W. Kinney Co.

11 P.2d 877, 123 Cal. App. 411, 1932 Cal. App. LEXIS 1017
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 11, 1932
DocketDocket No. 8074.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 11 P.2d 877 (Transmarine Corp. v. R. W. Kinney Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Transmarine Corp. v. R. W. Kinney Co., 11 P.2d 877, 123 Cal. App. 411, 1932 Cal. App. LEXIS 1017 (Cal. Ct. App. 1932).

Opinion

ROBINSON, J., pro tem.

The appeal in this action, taken by bill of exceptions, is from a judgment entered in the superior court in favor of the plaintiff in the sum of $2,058.33 upon causes of action for freight claimed to be due under the terms of certain identical bills of lading which provided as follows:

“It is hereby expressly agreed that the freight (as stated herein) whether prepaid by the Shipper or to be collected at destination, becomes wholly due and belongs absolutely to the Carrier upon the receipt of the goods into the custody of the Carrier or its agents, and if prepaid is not to be *414 returnable, and if collect, is payable ship and/or cargo lost or not lost.” (Tr., p. 41, fol. 123.)

The facts pertinent to a decision by this court are as follows: Republic Iron & Steel Company, shipped by rail from Youngstown, Ohio, to Port Newark, New Jersey, five • carloads of wrought iron pipe. At Port Newark the shipment was received by Atlantic Port Railway Corporation, a switching or terminal caííier, and delivered to respondent. The latter accepted the shipment for transportation to San Francisco and Oakland, California, by water. Two of the carloads were received by the respondent on March 8, two on March 9 and one on March 11, 1926. Formal issuance of bills of lading showing appellant R. W. Kinney ■ Co., Inc., as consignee was made on March 13, 1926, each of which bills of lading contained the following clause:

“In accepting this Bill of Lading, the Shipper, Owner, Consignee and/or Holder thereof, agree to be bound by all of its terms and conditions, whether written or printed, as fully as if they were all signed by such Shipper, Owner, Consignee, and/or Holder.”

The steamship “Suduffeo,” operated by the respondent, sailed with the shipment on March 13, 1926, for San Francisco. On the following day, by wireless, she reported all was well and gave her position, approximately 130 miles south of Scotland Light Ship. That was the last heard of or from the “Suduffeo”.

A complaint containing two similar causes of action was filed in the Superior Court of the City and County of San Francisco on March 11, 1930. Each cause of action sets up the corporate existence of the parties, alleges that the plaintiff chartered, controlled and operated the steamship “Suduffeo”; that on or about March 13, 1926, plaintiff received the respective shipments of wrought iron pipe from the Republic Iron & Steel Company, consigned to the defendant, R. W. Kinney Co., Inc., for transportation to San Francisco under an agreement in writing (bills of lading) by which the defendant made the promise and agreement which is hereinabove quoted from the bills of lading.

Other averments allege the loading of the goods aboard the steamship “Suduffeo”, the subsequent loss of the ship and cargo, and the demand for, and nonpayment of, the freight.

*415 A general and special demurrer was interposed by the defendant. The point made on general demurrer was that the complaint was fatally defective in failing to show that the cause of the loss of the shipment was one for which the carrier, under the contract of carriage, was excused from liability. The special demurrer attacked the complaint for uncertainty as to the identity of the contract. Both were properly overruled.

By use of inappropriate language, the defendant in its amended answer attempts to deny most of the allegations of the complaint upon “no knowledge or information sufficient to form a belief”, etc. Under the provisions of section 437 (2) of the Code of Civil Procedure and the decisions thereon, such attempted denial is insufficient, and admits the allegations. (Brooks v. Nelson, 95 Cal. App. 144 [272 Pac. 610]; Aronson & Co. v. Pearson, 199 Cal. 295, 298 [249 Pac. 191] ; Nave v. Graham, 37 Cal. App. 332 [174 Pac. 76]; 21 Cal. Jur., pp. 151-153; Davidson Inv. Co. v. Dabney, 103 Cal. App. 392 [184 Pac. 673].) However, the answer does not deny that any sum as freight became due from the defendant to the plaintiff. At the trial, and upon this appeal, stipulations were entered into between the parties admitting the following facts:

(1) The corporate existence of each of the parties;
(2) That the second cause of action should be controlled by proof upon the first cause of action;
(3) That at all times mentioned in the complaint, plaintiff chartered, controlled and operated the steamship ‘ Suduffco ’ ’, and that plaintiff placed said steamship on general berth and undertook to transport merchandise for shipment between Atlantic and Pacific ports, and was a common carrier of merchandise by sea;
(4) That on March 13, 1926, said steamship “Suduffco” left Port Newark for Pacific Coast ports with a cargo of merchandise;
(5) That before starting the voyage the plaintiff at Newark received from Republic Iron & Steel Company, Youngstown, Ohio, the shipment referred to in the first cause of action, the same being consigned to the defendant at San Francisco and Oakland, California;
(6) That the shipments consigned to it were transported from Youngstown to the ship by railroad carriers engaged *416 in interstate commerce in so transporting said shipments; that none of these railroads was under any common control, management or arrangement for a continuous carriage or shipment; that the terminal railway carrier at Port Newark, the Atlantic Port Eailway Corporation, shared in rail rates under Interstate Commerce Commission jurisdiction;
(7) That under the established shipping custom and practice between railroads and steamship companies engaged in intercoastal or foreign service, when shipments are not prepaid the terminal carrier collects from the ocean carrier receiving the shipments, the railroad freight charges, and makes its accounting with connecting railroads. The shipments here involved were forwarded collect and the freights were paid by plaintiff to the terminal carrier, and said carrier in turn paid said charges, less its share, to the various connecting carriers; that plaintiff made such payment more than three years prior to the commencement of this action;
(8) That the merchandise was loaded aboard the “Suduffco” prior to March 13, 1926;
(9) That during the voyage said steamer and said merchandise were lost at sea;
(10) That after receipt by plaintiff of the merchandise, it issued freight bills and bills of lading covering each separate shipment in the five railroad freight cars; that said bills of lading were of the regular current form used by plaintiff, and were signed by plaintiff’s auditor, dated March 13, 1926, and forwarded to the shippers;
(11) That after the' loss" of said ship, plaintiff demanded and was refused payment of freight charges;
(12) That E. W.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Merced Irrigation District v. County of Mariposa
941 F. Supp. 2d 1237 (E.D. California, 2013)
United States Credit Bureau, Inc. v. Cheney
235 Cal. App. 2d 357 (California Court of Appeal, 1965)
Vanciel v. Kumle
160 P.2d 802 (California Supreme Court, 1945)
Bacon v. Kessel
87 P.2d 857 (California Court of Appeal, 1939)
Overton v. White
64 P.2d 758 (California Court of Appeal, 1937)
Consolidated Irrigation District v. Crawshaw
20 P.2d 119 (California Court of Appeal, 1933)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
11 P.2d 877, 123 Cal. App. 411, 1932 Cal. App. LEXIS 1017, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/transmarine-corp-v-r-w-kinney-co-calctapp-1932.