Aldrich v. Southern Railway Co.
Aldrich v. Southern Railway Co.
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was delivered by
For several seasons prior to 1909-10, the plaintiff had engaged in- buying cotton seed and shipping them to Mexico; over the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, for sale for planting purposes. Defendant’s agent at *429 Barnwell solicited the business, and plaintiff told him that, if defendant would give him, better rates than the Coast Line, he would ship over defendant’s road.
It appears from the evidence that it is quite difficult, if not impossible in some cases, for the local railroad agents to figure out from the schedules or rates filed and published, the correct rate applicable to' interstate shipments; and it is especially difficult, when the matter is complicated, as it was in this case, by the fact that the units of weight and value in the twee countries are' different, and the rate of exchange between them is variable. Hence the defendant’s local agent referred the matter to the general freight agent, who testified that he was employed especially for that purpose.
On October 16, 1909, he wrote plaintiff that the rate on seed in carload lots, from Barnwell, S. C., to Torreón and Gomez P'alacio', Mexico, was 90 J4 cents, per hundred pounds. According to the schedule of rates filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission at that time, and published, the correct rate was 97^4 cents per hundred pounds.
Sometime after receiving this letter, plaintiff made requisition on defendant’s local agent for a number of empty cars to be loaded for shipment. On October 26 or 27, after plaintiff had loaded two. cars, and was loading the third, defendant’s local agent informed him that an error had been made in quoting- the rate, and that it was. 10 cents a hundred more than the rate quoted. That would have made the rate 100*4 cents per hundred. Plaintiff told the agent that he could not use that rate, and, thereafter, he shipped the seed in the two cars, which he had already bought and paid for, to. an oil mill in Columbia, S. C., and sold them at a loss. Thereafter, on October 30, but after plaintiff had sold the seed which he intended to' ship, to Mexico, defendant’s general freig'ht agent informed plaintiff that the correct rate was 97J4 per hundred. Plaintiff would have paid the correct rate if he had been informed what it was before he had sold the seed.
*430 This action was brought to recover damages for loss of profits on the sale of twenty-five carloads of seed contemplated and contracted for. Plaintiff testified that he paid not exceeding $24 per ton for the seed he bought, and that they were worth $37.50 per ton in Mexico'. He also' testified that he actually bought and paid for only the two carloads mentioned, and that the persons with whom he had contracted to1 buy other seed released him from liability on his contracts. He claimed damages for the loss of profits on twenty-five carloads; but the Court instructed the jury that he could recover only the damages which he actually sustained. The verdict was in his favor for $390. In view of the evidence of the plaintiff above stated, and the instruction above stated, and the amount of the verdict, we conclude that the jury awarded damages only for the loss of profits on the two carloads of seed which plaintiff actually bought and paid for and tendered to- defendant for shipment.
We think the Court was right in this ruling and instruction. No1 error in quoting* a rate which has been filed with the commission and published will be allowed to prevent a carrier from- collecting the correct rate applicable to an interstate shipment. Gulf etc. R. Co. v. Hefley, 158 U. S. 98, 39 L. ed. 910; Texas etc. R. Co. v. Mugg, 202 U. S. 242, 50 L. ed. 1011; Texas etc. R. Co. v. Abilene Cotton Oil Co., 204 U. S. 426, 51 L. ed. 553. Such an error is not binding *431 upon either carrier or shipper, because both are presumed to know the correct rate. United States v. Miller, 223 U. S. 599, 56 L. ed. 569; Chicago etc. R. Co. v. Kirby, 225 U. S. 155, 56 L. ed. 1038; Adams Express Co. v. Croninger (U. S.), decided January 6, 1913, advance sheets L. ed. No. 6, p. 148; Kansas City Southern R. Co. v. Carl, 227 U. S., decided March 10, 1913, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 397. Nor does such an error subject a carrier to liability for damages resulting from any action taken by an intending shipper in reliance upon the quoted rate. Illinois Central R. Co. v. Henderson Elevator Co. (U. S.), decided January 6, 1913, advance sheets L. ed. No. 6, p. 176. In the Carl case, the Court said: “Neither the intentional nor accidental misstatement of the applicable published rate will bind the carrier or shipper. The lawful rate is that which the carrier must exact and that which the shipper must pay. The shipper’s knowledge of the lawful rate is conclusively presumed, and the carrier may not be required to surrender the goods carried upon the payment of the rate paid, if that was less than the lawful rate, until the full legal rate has been paid. Texas etc. R. Co. v. Mugg, supra. Nor is the carrier liable for damages resulting from a mistake in quoting- a rate less than the full published rate. Illinois C. R. Co. v. Henderson Elevator Co., 226 U. S. 441, decided January 6, 1913, advance sheets L. ed. No. 6, p. 176. Nor can a carrier legally contract with a particular shipper for an unusual service, unless he make and publish a rate for such service equally open to all. Chicago etc. R. Co. v. Kirby, supra.” It follows, therefore, that, if plaintiff’s, right to' recover had depended solely upon defendant’s error in quoting- the rate and on the action which he claims to have taken on the faith of the quoted rate, his complaint should have been dismissed.
*432
In Galveston etc. R. Co. v. Wallace, supra, the railroad company was sued in the State Court as the “initial carrier,” under the Carmack amendment, for a loss which occurred on a connecting line. Objection was made to' the jurisdiction of the State Court on the ground that section 9 of the original act to regulate commerce provided that persons damaged by a violation of the statute “might make complaint before the commission * * * or in any District or Circuit Court of the United States.” But the Court said that “damage caused by failure to' deliver goods is in no way traceable to' a violation of the statute, and is not, therefore, within the provisions of sections 8 and 9 of the act tO' regulate commerce.” With regard to the matter of jurisdiction the Court also said: “Where the statute creating- the right provides an exclusive remedy, to be enforced in a particular way, or before a special tribunal, the aggrieved party will be left to the remedy given by the statute which created the right. But jurisdiction is not defeated by implication. And, considering the relation between the Federal and State government, there is no presumption that Congress intended to prevent State Courts from exercising the general jurisdiction already possessed by them, and under which they had the power to' hear and determine causes of action created by Federal statute.”
*435 This case does not fall within the principle of the Reid case (223 U. S. 424, 56 R. ed. 257). In that case, the State Court undertook to enforce a State statute which imposed a penalty on common carriers for refusal to receive and transport goods when tendered. At the time the goods were tendered for shipment, the carrier had not filed and published a through rate as required by the act to regulate commence, which also provided that no1 carrier should engage in interstate transportation until such schedule or rates were filed and published, and penalized the violation of the inhibition. It clearly appeared, therefore, that the State statute was in conflict with the Federal statute, and commanded the doing of -that which the latter forbade. Necessarily the State statute was held to be void on the principle that, when Congress assumes control of any subject of interstate commerce, all conflicting State laws on the same subject are superseded. This is a necessary consequence of the supremacy of an act of Congress over the subject. For the same reason, a statute of Minnesota, which penalized interstate carriers for failure to furnish cars on demand for the initiation of interstate shipments, was held void in Chicago etc. R. Co. v. Hardwick Farmers’ Elevator Co., 226 U. S. , decided January 6, 1913.
This case rather falls within the principle announced in Missouri, P. R. Co. v. Larabee Flour Mills Co., supra, in which the Supreme Court of Kansas was sustained in compelling a carrier by mandamus to transfer and return loaded and unloaded cars from the line of a connecting carrier to the flour mill of the shipper, on demand and payment of the customary charges therefor, although both carriers were engaged in interstate commerce, and three-fifths of the output of the mill was shipped out of the State. The Court held that the State Court had jurisdiction to compel the performance of the duty, which was a common law duty, in the absence of regulation of the same subject by congressional authority. There is nothing in the act to regulate commerce *436 which exempts a common carrier oí interstate commerce from the common law liability for damages for refusing to receive and transport a shipment properly tendered, and there is nothing in the action of the State Court enforcing that liability which conflicts, with any provisión of that act. Therefore, under the authorities above cited, and the cases following, there was no error in overruling the objection to the jurisdiction of the Court. Reid v. Colorado, 187 U. S. 137, 47 L. ed. 108, 23 Sup. Ct. Rep. 92; Missouri, K. & T. R. Co. v. Haber, 169 U. S. 613, 42 L. ed. 878, 18 Sup. Ct. Rep. 488.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Aldrich v. Southern Railway Company.
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Carrier — Freight Rates. — An error in quoting interstate rates which has been filed with the interstate com,mission and published- should not prevent a carrier from collecting the rate fixed by the commission. 2. Ibid. — Ibid.—Where a carrier refuses to transport freight except for an unlawful rate, it is liable to the shipper for damages. 3. Ibid. — Ibid.—Loading cotton seed into cars at carrier’s station into cars furnished by it at the shipper’s request is sufficient to warrant the inference of tender for shipment, and the quoting by carrier of ■an unlawful rate is sufficient to justify the inference of a refusal to ship except upon payment of such unlawful rate. 4. Ibid. — Jurisdiction.—The -Court of Common Pleas has jurisdiction of an action to recover damages for overcharges for an interstate shipment. 5. Damages resulting from overcharges on an interstate shipment are not special. 6. Ibid. — Measure of damages in such case is not the difference between the rate quoted and the correct rate. 7. Evidence. — Letter of a carrier’s agent quoting an incorrect rate on an interstate shipment is competent on- the issue of damages for charging an incorrect rate. 8. Ibid. — Market Value. — One knowing the market value of a commodity in a foreign market by his having been there, having sold the commodity there through others and accepting their reports of sales, may testify as to such value.