Yone Suzuki & Co. v. Central Argentine Ry. Ltd.

19 F.2d 645, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1186
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedMarch 4, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 19 F.2d 645 (Yone Suzuki & Co. v. Central Argentine Ry. Ltd.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Yone Suzuki & Co. v. Central Argentine Ry. Ltd., 19 F.2d 645, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1186 (S.D.N.Y. 1927).

Opinion

BONDY, District Judge.

Four libels: against the Central Argentine Railway, Limited, for demurrage and expenses incurred in discharging coal at Buenos Aires, were consolidated and tried together.

The Central Argentine Railway Company bought coal e. i. f. from Gano Moore Company. Thereafter Gano Moore Company entered into a charter party with each, libelant for the transportation of the eoal from Hampton Roads to Buenos Aires. Each charter party contained a cesser clause, providing that the liability of the charterer should terminate as soon as the cargo is loaded and the freight paid, and that the steamer should have a lien upon the cargo for all freight, demurrage, and all sums of money which-may become due the steamer under the contract of affreightment.

In the ease of each shipment there jsvas issued to Cano Moore Company a bill of lading providing for the delivery of the coal to order or assigns, he or they paying freight for the same as per charter party, all the terms and exceptions of which were incorporated by reference in the bills of lading. Cano Moore Company paid the freight, and upon payment for the eoal indorsed and transferred the bills of lading to the railway company, which on the arrival of - the ships at Buenos Aires directed and accepted delivery thereof.

The railway company contends that, all the terms and exceptions of the charter parties having been incorporated in the bills of lading, the provisions of the cesser clause inured to the benefit of the railway company, as assignee of Gano Moore Company, and that the railway company, therefore, is free from all liability for demurrage. It bases its contention upon the opinion of the federal Court of Appeals of the City of Buenos Aires in The Moncalieri, 1924 A. M. C. 1012, in which the court stated that the cesser clause implies an agreement to exclude all personal action against the shipper or his assignees, they succeeding to all the shipper’s rights, and that in any ease the libel-ants failed to prove that the railway company had not supplied sufficient ears for the coal, and failed to prove that the ship had the necessary equipment to permit her discharge at the charter rate.

Witnesses for libelants, well qualified as experts, testified that, notwithstanding that opinion, under the Argentine law an indor-see of a bill of lading incorporating the terms of a charter party containing a cesser clause does not become entitled to the exemption from personal liability granted to the charterer; that the cesser clause applies only to the liability of the charterer, and has nothing whatsoever to do with the obligation of the receiver of the cargo under the bill of lading; and that the fact that.under the Argentine law the master cannot retain possession of the cargó, even in eases in which a lien for demurrage has been given by contract, does not affect the' receiver’s liability in personam for freight or demurrage.

They also testified that what the court said about the cesser clause was obiter dictum, that Argentine is a eode country, that its Constitution and Codes constitute its law, and that the decisions of its courts do not constitute any part of its law, and are not. binding as precedents on any court.

There is no reason to believe that any other-appellate court in the Argentine will consider” itself hound by an opinion rendered without; [648]*648the citation of any authority, and so contrary to the evident intention of the parties and to the interpretation of the cesser clause by the courts of the leading mercantile countries.

Under the circumstances, I find that the court did not correctly interpret the meaning of the cesser clause, and that the Argentine law is the same as the law of the United States and England; that is, that an indorsee of a bill of lading incorporating the provisions of the charter party has the benefit only of those provisions of the charter which relate to the cargo, and therefore cannot resort to a cesser clause in the charter party to avoid liability for demurrage. See Yone Suzuki v. Central Argentine Railway Co. (D. C.) 275 F. 54; Taylor v. Fall River Ironworks (D. C.) 124 F. 826; Scrutton on Charter Parties and Bills of Lading (12th Ed.) p. 67; Carver’s Carriage by Sea (7th ' Ed.) §§ 160, 607, 651.

i It follows that the railway company' is not relieved by the cesser clause from liability for demurrage, whether its rights be determined under the laws of the United States, where the charter parties were entered into, the bills of lading transferred, and the title to the coal passed to the respondent, or under the laws of the Argentine Republic, where the cargoes were delivered.

The respondent contends that the ships did not have any lien on the cargoes in Buenos Aires, and that they therefore did not surrender anything as a consideration on which to base an implied promise by the railway company to pay demurrage. See Yone Suzuki v. Argentine Ry. Co. (D. C.) 275 F. 54. This contention is based on section 958 of the Argentine Commercial Code, which provides that the master cannot retain goods on board as security against freight.

Section 200 of the Argentine Commercial Code expressly provides that transported goods shall be bound for the payment of freight, expenses, and dues incurred in transportation.

Sections 958 and 1083 provide that the ' master is entitled to demand from the freighters, owners, or consignees the unloading of the vessel and the payment of freight and expenses on the termination of the time for unloading, and that, if difficulties arise over the discharge, the judge may authorize the deposit of the goods, subject to the right of the shipowner over them, or to demand at the time of delivery of the cargo that they deposit or give security for the amount of the freight and expenses, and in default thereof the master can apply for the arrest of the shipped goods while they are in control of the owners or consignees. See, also, Argentine Civil Code, §§ 558, 559. 908, 920.

Argentine lawyers testified that the above sections make the consignee liable in perso-nam for the obligations laid upon the cargo in the charter party for demurrage, lighter-age, and other expenses incurred in transportation, and that the surrender of the lien does not prevent the person holding both the right to the lien and the right in personam from‘exercising his right in personam.

The Argentine laws, not only recognize the lien, but expressly provide remedies to enforce rights given by reason of the lien, and expressly impose a liability in personam on the consignee.

The coal was owned by and carried for the benefit of the railway company. .It directed and accepted delivery under bills of lading which incorporated the terms of charter parties expressly giving the steamers a lien upon the cargoes for demurrage and all sums which may become due the steamers under the contract of affreightment, and the libelants delivered the coal without asserting their right to apply for the embargo of the coal or to demand a deposit thereof. The court, therefore, finds that the railway company impliedly promised to pay and is liable for the demurrage. See Neilsen v. Jesup (D. C.) 30 F. 138; The Hams Maersk (C. C. A.) 266 F. 806; Taylor v. Fall River Ironworks (D. C.) 124 F. 826; Yone Suzuki v. Central Argentine Ry. Co. (D. C.) 275 F. 54; Carver’s Carriage by Sea, §§ 603, 637, 639, 677; Scrutton on Charter Parties, arts. 134, 135.

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Bluebook (online)
19 F.2d 645, 1927 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1186, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/yone-suzuki-co-v-central-argentine-ry-ltd-nysd-1927.