Louisville, Nashville & Great Southern Railroad v. Katzenberger
Louisville, Nashville & Great Southern Railroad v. Katzenberger
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
Katzenberger, the plaintiff below, purchased a
It is proper t.o state, that the ticket given for the berth by the conductor of the- Pullman car, had in print on the face of it the following: “Wearing apparel or baggage placed in the car will be entirely at the risk of the owners.” This ticket, however’, as shown, only being the ticket of the Pullman Car Company, and the railroad company not being a party to it, or so shown, farther than the fact that the sleeper was pari; of its train, can have no bearing on the present case, where the suit is against the railroad company alone. What effect it might have
The suit being against the railroad company as a carrier of passengers, the question is as to the measure of liability incurred by such' company where its passenger exercises his option to ride on a sleeper of the Pullman Car Company, whose cars, by contract with the railroad company, make part of its train, and is thus contracted for in view of the convenience of its passengers, as well as the increased profit to the company, by reason of being able to furnish such a comfort and convenience, thereby increasing, at competing points at least, its patronage over any road that should fail to furnish such advantages.
At one time it was held t-h&t the proprietors of public conveyances which carried passengers, were not responsible as common carriers for the baggage or luggage of passengers, unless a distinct price was paid for its carriage. It is said, however, in Hutchison on Carriers, section 678, “But now it is too well established to be controverted, that in the carriage of the passenger’s baggage, the carrier incurs the full responsibility of the common carrier of goods, and becomes an insurer of its safety against any accident which is not the act of God or the public- enemy, or the fault of the owner or passenger himself. For this is cited numerous cases: Macrow v. Railroad Company, 6 L. Rep., 2 B., 612; Great Western Railroad Company v. Goodman, 12 Com. B., 313; Marshall v. Railroad Company, 21 Com. B., 655; Butcher v. Railroad Company 16 Com. B., 13; and Story on
“The general adoption of the rule,” says Mr. Hutch-ison in a note to page 535 of his work on Carriers, “is no doubt attributable to the evident necessity which those who travel are under to carry baggage, and to the fact that the contract to carry baggage was necessary to make the contract to carry the passenger at all advantageous. Nor can there be any hardship or injustice in such a rule, as it is in the power of the carrier to charge such rate for passage as will compensate him for the responsibility he assumes of the passenger’s baggage.” We add, a very small charge would prove, in the long run, profitable to the railroad, losses from this source not being great, and the articles embraced in the term luggage not generally of great value. It is. also well settled, and that in accord with the nature of the contract, that all reasonable liberality is allowed to the passenger in control of his luggage for the purpose of its usé upon the journey, without releasing the carrier from his obligation to ‘see to its safety. Especially- would this be true as to the character of luggage involved in this case, a valise containing clothing for „ use on the journey: Hutchison on Carriers, sec. 694, et seq. There appeal’s no special custody of the Jiaggage in this case, more than the fact of taking it into the Pullman car and delivering it to the porter, who placed it on a seat opposite' the owner. But the main argument of the learned counsel in this case
The question pressed on us, that the sleeping car in question was owned by the Pullman Car Company, provided at its own expense with a conductor and porter, to whom was committed the immediate control of its interior arrangements and management, was thoroughly considered by the Supreme Court of the United States, in its application to the responsibility of the railroad company, in the case of Pennsylvania Company v. Roy, 12 Otto, 102 U. S., 452, et seq.
This case, it is true, was an action for injuries sustained to the person, but sustained by reason of the supposed f,or assumed defective construction of the sleeper in which the passenger was riding at the time. In fact, he was riding at the time in a different sleeper from the one in which he had his berth, with a friend, and, therefore, a stronger case than the
The circuit court of the northern district of Illinois, before which the case was tried, charged the ■jury, that “ the defendant has offered to prove that the car .in which the plaintiff was injured, was not the actual property of the defendant, but was the property of another corporation. But I instruct you, as part of the law in this case, that if the car composed part of the train in which the plaintiff and other passengers were, to be transported upon their journey, and the plaintiff, while in that, without any fault of his own, and by reason either of the defective construction of the car, or by some negligence on the part of those having .charge of the car, was injured, then the defendant is liable. The Supreme Court, Harlan J., delivering the opinion, held this charge correct, saying, “The court only applied to a new state of facts principles very generally recognized as fundamental in the lp,w of passenger carriers. Those thus engaged are under an obligation, arising out of the nature of their employment, and on grounds of public policy vigorously enforced, to provide for the safety of passengers whom they have assumed for hire to carry from one ,'place to another.” “ As between the parties now before the court,” the court say, “ the
We think these principles sound, and meet the reasonable demands of a proper public policy in such cases. The carriage of the baggage, being but an incident to the contract of carriage of the passenger, and part of that contract: Hutchison on Carriers, sec. 678. The same principle thus .applied is applicable to the incident as to the .principal contract. The defendant company can not esicape the liability incurred by its contract, by any device or arrangement with the Pullman Car Company by which its cars are contracted for in aid of the business of the railroad company. The latter muát respond to its obligations as a carrier of passengers, whether it carry on the sleeper of the. Pullman Car Company, or in its own coaches provided by itself. We do not feel' called upon to review the various cases cited by de
We affirm the judgment and approve the conclusions of the report.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Louisville, Nashville & Great Southern Railroad Company v. Z. Katzenberger
- Status
- Published