Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Ingraham
Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co. v. Ingraham
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff, L. H. Ingraham, is a farmer and .stock raiser in Sebastian County, Arkansas. He owns fine horses which he exhibits at fairs. In September, 1912, he shipped nine horses from Port Smith to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, over the St. Louis & San Francisco Eailroad to Wister, thence over the Chicago, Eock Island & Pacific Eailway to destination, for the purpose of exhibiting his stock at the fair at Oklahoma City, and he remained there with Ms stock during' the progress of the fair, a period of two weeks. He then shipped the horses from Oklahoma City to Muskogee, to exhibit at the fair there, and at the end of the week shipped them back to Fort Smith. One of his horses, a very fine one, wMch is shown to be of the value of at least six hundred dollars, was found to be sick after the stock reached Muskogee and continued ailing until it died a few days after reaeMng Fort Smith. Before the horse died, it was found that the ailment was pulmonary pneumonia, and the plaintiff asserts and undertook to prove that the disease was contracted by reason of Change from the well ventilated car, especially designed for the shipment of livestock, which was used in the shipment from Fort Smith to Oklahoma City, to a common. box car wMch plaintiff was compelled to use in shipment from Oklahoma City to Muskogee. The car which was used in the .shipment from Fort Smith remained in the hands of the defendant company and the latter’s agent at Oklahoma City refused to surrender the car for plaintiff’s use in shipping the stock to Muskogee over the line of the M., K & T. Ey. Co.
The plaintiff predicates his right to recover from defendant the value of the horse on the latter’s refusal to surrender the car to another carrier. The car was one furnished by a corporation domiciled at Chicago, known as the Arms Palace Horse Car Company. That company furnished cars to shippers of livestock upon regular tariff rates, a schedule of-which rates had been filed by the company with the Interstate Commerce Commission. The shipper is required to pay for the use of the car in addition to the freight tariff charged by the railroad company, but the railroad company usually procured the car from the Arms Palace Horse Car Company upon the request of the shipper. Usually time is required for the carrier to procure the palace horse car. Ou this occasion, plaintiff applied to the soliciting freight agent of the Frisco Railroad at Fort Smith for one of the palace stock cars, and the latter undertook to procure it for him in time for shipment on September 17. Plaintiff claims that the agent of 'the Frisco entered into an oral agreement with him to furnish the oar for the trip from Fort Smith to Oklahoma City, thence to Muskogee, and thence back to Fort Smith, and that plaintiff was to have the use of the oar thirty days for payment at the rate of $16 in addition to the regular freight tariff. The Frisco agent wired to the headquarters of the Arms Palace Horse Car Company, and, in accordance with the request, a oar was furnished in which to ship plaintiff’s stock. When he applied to the proper agent of the Frisco to ship his stock, a bill of lading was issued to him in regular form showing a consignment of the nine horses from Fort Smith to Wister Junction over that road, and thence over the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway to Oklahoma City. The bill of lading recited the railroad freight tariff and also the $16 to be paid for the use of the palace horse car.
The tariff sheets of the palace horse car company on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission show the regular tariff rate of $16 for a continuous trip of four hundred miles and provide that all of the rates prescribed in the schedule were payable to the initial carrier. The schedule contains the following provision: “These tariff rental charges do not apply on any Arms car leased by contract in writing, signed by the Arms Palace Horse Car Company, and submitted by lessee to the railroad company agent when loading oar, as evidence of his right to unconditional and exclusive use of car during the time specified in contract, and for making any necessary notation with reference thereto on the billing. ’ ’
When the car reached Oklahoma City, the horses were delivered to plaintiff in good condition and the ear was stored on a spur of defendant company where other cars of that kind were stored. Plaintiff remained there two weeks exhibiting his stock and decided to ship to Mnskogee over the M., K. & T. railroad line. Plaintiff applied to the car clerk of defendant company at Oklahoma City for release of this car, bnt the clerk declined to release the car unless a contract in writing with the Arms Palace Horse Car Company was exhibited in accordance with the printed schedule. It was too late then for the M., K. & T. railroad to get a car of this description in time for plaintiff to ship his stock for exhibition at the fair at Mnskogee and plaintiff decided to ship in an ordinary box car, in which he prepared temporary stalls.
Our conclusion is that the defendant was within its rights in refusing to release the car. The fact, as claimed by plaintiff, that the motive of defendant’s agent in refusing to surrender the car was bad, in attempting thus to' force the plaintiff to reship to Muskogee over defendant’s line, does not render the defendant liable where it is not legally bound to release the car. Therefore, according to the undisputed evidence in the case, there is no liability.
The judgment is reversed and the cause dismissed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.