Blackford v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co.
Blackford v. St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion of the Court by
Affirming.
The appellant and plaintiff below, G. L. Blackford, on April 11, 1916, shipped from Hot Springs, Arkansas, to Louisville, Kentucky, seven race horses, among which was one named “Bookie.” The appellee, St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Company, was the initial carrier, while the delivering one was the appellee, Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company; which took possession of the shipment at Memphis, Tennessee. In the early afternoon of April 13 the shipment, which was made in an Arms palace car, of the largest and best equipped size and especially designed for the shipment of horses, arrived in the city of Louisville. The rate which was quoted by the agent at Hot Springs to plaintiff for the shipment, and which was paid by him, was $176.10, but it was afterward discovered that this sum lacked $85.80 of being the rate for that character of shipments between the two points mentioned, which rate was on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission and in effect on the date of the shipment. Upon the arrival of the stock in Louisville the Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company declined to permit the horses to be unloaded until the balance of the freight, $85.80, was paid. This was not done until the next morning, when the stock was unloaded at Douglas Park, in that city, and two days thereafter, on April 16, the horse “Bookie” developed a case of
It is also alleged that because of the long haul the horses became “droopy” and Bookie was especially in that condition when the shipment arrived at Louisvlle, and “Plaintiff states that said shipment was not unloaded and cared for and not delivered by the defendant, Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, and that it did not allow this plaintiff to unload and care for said stock until the morning of April 14, 1916, and some nineteen hours after the arrival at South Louisville, Kentucky, as aforesaid, being allowed by said defendant to remain confined in the car in which it arrived at South Louisville during this interim.”
Demurrers filed by each defendant were overruled, and in separate answers they denied the allegations of the petition and pleaded contributory negligence; in a third paragraph they relied upon the fact that the rate for this character of shipments had been filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission and that the total amount of it was, according to the schedule so filed, the sum of $261.90, instead of $176.10, the amount paid by plaintiff at the beginning of the shipment. A reply com-' pleted the issues, and upon a trial of the case the court gave to the jury a peremptory instruction to find for the defendants, which was done, and the petition was dismissed. To reverse that judgment this appeal is prosecuted.
A part of section 6 of the Interstate Commerce Act is: “That every common carrier subject to the provisions of this act shall file with the commission created by this act, and print and keep open to public inspection schedules showing all the rates, fares and charges for transportation between different points on the route of
The common carriers subject to the provisions of that act are interstate carriers, and it is not disputed in this case but that the shipment was an interstate shipment. Neither is it disputed—but if so it is established without contradictory proof—that at the time of the shipment involved there had been filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission, in compliance with the Interstate Commerce Act, a schedule for rates of this character of shipment between Hot Springs, Arkansas, and Louisville, Kentucky, and it is likewise admitted that the freight between the two points mentioned on this character of shipment under the schedule so filed was $261.90 instead of $176.10, the amount paid at Hot Springs. A fact equally well established is that the agent at Hot Springs made a mistake in naming the total amount of freight between the two points. It has been frequently determined by the Federal courts, as well as this court, since the passage of the Interstate Commerce Act, that both shipper and carrier are bound by the schedule of rates in the report filed with the commission, and that to charge any less rate, whether through mistake or otherwise, would .be giving a preferential one, and therefore illegal and void. Chesapeake & Ohio Ry. Co. v. Maysville Brick Co., 132 Ky. 643; Illinois Central R. R. Co. v. Henderson Elevator Co., 138 Ky. 220, 226 U. S. 441; Louisville & Nashvillee R. R. Co. v. Coquillard Wagon Works, 147 Ky., 530; Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co. v. Allen, 152 Ky. 145; Gulf, Colorado & Sante Fe Ry. Co. v. Hefley, 158 U. S. 98; Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Mugg, 202 U. S. 242; Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Abilene Cotton Oil Co., 204 U. S. 426; Texas & Pacific Ry. Co. v. Cisco Oil Mill, 204 U. S. 449; Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v. Alvers Commission Co., 223 U. S. 573; Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Henderson Co., 226 U. S. 441; Kansas Southern Ry. Co. v. Carl, 227 U. S. 639; Pennsylvania R. R. Co. v. International Coal Co., 230 U. S. 187, 197; Boston & Maine R. R. Co. v. Hooker, 233 U. S. 97, 110-113; George N. Pierce Co. v. Wells, Fargo & Co., 236 U. S. 278, 284; Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co. v. Maxwell, 237 U. S. 94, and Southern Railway v. Prescott, 240 U. S. 632.
Prom these authorities it is clearly established that in this case it was the duty of the carrier to collect and the duty of the shipper (plaintiff) to pay the freight demanded for the character of shipment as specified in the schedule of rates filed with the commission, and the fact that a mistake had been made in the naming of that rate by the agent at Hot Springs can not relieve either party from the obligation imposed upon them to perform their respective duties in the premises. Having the right as well as being under a legal duty to collect the balance due on the shipment, of $85.80, the defendant, Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company, had a lien upon the shipment for that balance, and it could decline to deliver the horses until it was paid. Boggs & Russell v. Martin, 13 B. Mon. 239; Thomas v. Frankfort & Cincinnati Railroad Co., 116 Ky. 879; Corpus Juris, vol. 10, page 460, and a number of the cases supra. This being the condition of the law, the defendants were clearly within their legal right in declining to deliver the shipment until the balance of the freight bill was paid. Indeed if they had not collected that bill they would have subjected themselves to a penalty for discrimination, and they were not bound to part with possession of the shipment and thereby release their lien by accepting the promise or other obligation of the plaintiff to subsequently pay it.
It is insisted, however, that under the rule laid down in Hutchinson on Carriers, vol. 2, sec. 646, and the case of Kelly v. Adams Express Co., 134 Ky. 208, it was the duty of the defendant, Louisville & Nashville Railroad Co., after being informed that the horse, “Bookie,”
Wherefore, the judgment must be and it is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.