Deaver v. Bedford
Deaver v. Bedford
Opinion of the Court
The defendants, as consignees of a ship which arrived at New Orleans, received goods which had been shipped for the plaintiff, who resides at St. Louis, and sent them to him by a boat from that town, the master of which stated, that he was requested to bring such goods as might be in New Orleans for the plaintiff. The boat was lost on the way; and the present suit was brought for the- value of the goods, on the ground, that the defendants, as negotiorum gestores, had been guilty of a gross neglect in keeping the goods a long time, without apprising the plaintiff of their arrival. There was a judgment for the defendants, and the plaintiff appealed.
It does not appear to us, that the court erred. The loss of the goods was in consequence of a fortuitous event — the loss of the boat by its running on a snag. This was not attributable to any neglect of the defendants, in not sending the goods sooner, for the risk of the voyage must have been the same on an earlier one. Damages are not claimed for the neglect to make insurance, for the word insurance is not to be found in the whole record, nor appears to have been uttered below. Had such a claim been made, the plaintiff ought to have accompanied it with some evidence of the usage of commerce in New Orleans, as to goods sent up the river by steamboats. But there is not a tittle of evidence on that head. As the neglect to insure was not urged, it
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Larkin Deaver v. George Bedford and another
- Status
- Published