DeBow v. Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway
DeBow v. Vicksburg, Shreveport & Pacific Railway
Opinion of the Court
1. Service of process on a non-resident railroad corporation may be legally perfected, so as to give jurisdiction to a court of this State for the rendition of a judgment, by handing a copy personally to an agent who maintains an office in this State, furnished to him by the corporation, and who represents it in soliciting freight and other business. Bell v. New Orleans &c. R. Co., 2 Ga. App. 812 (59 S. E. 102). The court did not err, after hearing evidence, in finding against the traverse and the plea to the jurisdiction.
2. A mere general limitation in a bill of lading, as to the value of property shipped, amounting to no more than an arbitrary preadjustment of value, will not serve to exempt the carrier from liability for the true' value, if the property he destroyed by negligence of the carrier. Central of Ga. Ry. Co. v. Hall, 124 Ga. 322.
3. While “an interstate carrier may, by a fair, open, and reasonable agreement, limit the amount recoverable by the shipper to an agreed value made for the purpose of obtaining the lower of two or more rates proportioned to the amount of the' risk” (Adams Express Co. v. Croninger, 226 U. S. 492, 33 Sup. Ct. 153, 57 L. ed. 314, 44 L. R. A. (N. S.) 257), and “knowledge of the shipper that the rate, is based on value is to he presumed from the terms of the bill of lading, and of the published schedule filed with the interstate-commerce commission, and the effect of so filing the schedule makes the published rates binding upon shipper and carrier alike” (Boston & Maine Railroad Co. v. Hooker, 233 U. S. 97 (34 Sup. Ct. 526, 58 L. ed. 868, L. R. A. 1915B, 450, Ann. Cas. 1915D, 593), requirements of the interstate-commerce law as to the
4. Where an interstate carrier issued a circular and published a general order providing that all shipments of hogs intended for exhibition at fairs and expositions should be carried thereto at the full tariff rates, but that if returned in thirty days they should be returned free from further freight charges, on presentation of the paid freight-bill showing that the shipment moved over the carrier’s lines on the first movement, and of a certificate from the proper officers of the fair, showing that the hogs had been regularly exhibited and had not changed ownership, and thereafter a hog was shipped to a fair on the carrier’s line, for the purpose of exhibition, and the shipper complied in all respects with this order, and the carrier accepted the hog for return shipment in accordance with the agreement to return it free from further freight charges, and, while in course of transportation, the hog received injuries which caused its death, the shipper, if the injuries resulted from negligence of the carrier, was not bound by an arbitrary prearranged valuation upon such property, printed in a bill of lading issued to him, acknowledging receipt of the hog for return shipment free of additional freight charges, and he was entitled to recover full damages for the loss sustained by him by reason of such negligence.
5. The court erred in limiting the plaintiff’s recovery to the sum of $10, named in the bill of lading as the limit of recovery for a hog, and in directing a verdict for that amount. It was therefore error to overrule the plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.
Judgment on main bill of exceptions reversedon cross-bill affirmed.
070rehearing
ON MOTION FOR REHEARING.
concurring specially. It appears that J. D. B. DeBów, the plaintiff in this case, delivered to the Western Railway of Alabama, at Montgomery, certain property, the value of which is sued for, and received from that road a through bill of lading for its transportation to the fair grounds at Shreveport, La. The defendant company, by its return bill of lading, consigned the property to DeBow at Montgomery, “D. H. to Meridian a/cLa.
1. Assuming that the defendant was an initial carrier, I do not agree with its contention that by reason of the quoted clause in the bill of lading, limiting liability to acts of its own negligénce, it was relieved from liability for negligence of its connecting carriers. Prior to the passage' of what is known as the Carmack amendment to the Hepburn interstate-commerce act (34 Stat. 595, 3591, § 7, pars. 11, 12), and the enactment of the Georgia statute relative to intrastate shipments in conformity thereto (Civil Code of 1910, § 2777), it was the rule that a common: carrier was not bound to issue a bill of lading for transportation of freight beyond its own terminus; and if it did so, it might stipulate, as a condition to the undertaking, that its liability should extend only to injuries occurring on its own lines. Central R. Co. v. Avant, 80 Ca. 195 (5 S. E. 78); R. & D. R. Co. v. Shomo, 90 Ga. 496, 500 (16 S. E. 220); Kavanaugh v. Southern Ry. Co., 120 Ga. 62 (2), 65 (47 S. E. 526, 1 Ann. Cas. 705). Whether under the Federal statute a common carrier can now refuse an interstate shipment designated for a point beyond its own lines was left an open question by the Supreme Court of the United States in Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Riverside Mills, 219 U. S. 186 (31 Sup. Ct. 164, 55 L. ed. 167, 31 L. R. A. (N. S.) 7); but
2. It also appears to be true that the act of Congress as amended, stipulating that “nothing in this act shall prevent the carriage, storage, or handling of property free or at reduced rates for the United States, State or municipal governments, or for charitable purposes, or to or from fairs and expositions for exhibition thereat,” etc., permits the shipper and the carrier to enter into a special contract governing the terms of such a shipment, and that since such a shipment does not fall within the provisions of the act regulating the publication of rates and schedules (see ruling to that effect by Interstate Commerce Commission, Watkins on Shippers & Carriers (2d ed.) 847), no presumption arises “from the terms of the bill of lading and of the published schedule filed with the interstate-commerce commission” that knowledge was had by the shipper that the rate was based on value.
3. What appears to be the main difficulty involved in this case lies in the question as to whether or not under the facts, the defendant was in fact an initial carrier. Grave doubt upon this question is likewise shared by Wade, C: J. All of the judges agree that if the defendant be not an initial carrier, then there would be nothing in the acts of Congress or in the record which would prevent giving effect to the provision in the defendant’s contract of shipment limiting its liability to acts of its own negligence. In their brief, counsel for the defendant say that “He [the shipper] received from said road [meaning the Western Eailway of Alabama at Montgomery] its bill of lading, which provided for carriage from Montgomery to Shreveport at the full rate, and it was expressly agreed that there would be no charge for the return carriage.” An examination of the bill of lading, however, does not disclose any provision or agreement whatever relative to a return ,shipment.- It is true that the record discloses that the Western Eailway of Alabama, which issued the original outgoing contract of shipment, had in fact previously filed with the interstate-commerce commission a classification sheet showing its tariff rates of
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.