Heilbroner v. Hancock
Heilbroner v. Hancock
Opinion of the Court
This was an action commenced on the fourth day of July, 1867, on a contract previously made between the parties for the hauling of goods from the town of Millican to the town of Sherman, in the State of Texas; by which contract it appears to have been stipulated that Hancock, the appellee,, should proceed from.
The appellee proceeded with his teams to Millican, with an order from the appellant to his shipping merchant, which reads as follows ; “ Messrs. Haswell & Son—You will please load P. Hancock’s three mule teams at three dollars and sixty cents per hundred pounds. In case the large case should be at your house, you will please load it on his wagons, and then let him pick the heaviest freight.
££G. & S. HEILBRONER.
t£If all our goods áre loaded, you will please load Mr. Hancock’s wagons with Messrs. Hall & Chapman’s goods.
££ HEILBRONER.”
On arriving at Millican, it appears there were no goods in the hands of Haswell & Son, either for G. & S. Heilbroner or Hall & Chapman.
Haswell & Son, the shipping merchants, offered to furnish Hancock with other freight to be delivered at intermediate points, to Lancaster at two .dollars and seventy cents, currency, per hundred pounds, and to Kaufman county at three dollars per hundred pounds, currency.
It is claimed that Hancock did not proceed so directly to Millican as he was bound to do by the terms of his contract; but it does not appear that the delay was unreasonable; nor is it claimed that the goods were not received because of it.
Hancock declined loading any other goods than those for which his order called, and brought his suit to recover the whole amount which he could have earned, under his contract. The defendants below demurred to the plaintiff’s original and amended petition, which demurrer was overruled by the court, and we think there
This case comes clearly within the principle cited, that where a merchant engages to furnish a given quantity of freight for a ship, for a particular voyage, and fails to do so, he must pay dead freight to the amount so agreed by him, deducting whatever may have been received from other persons for freight taken in lieu of that which the merchant had stipulated to furnish. (See Abbott on Ship., 4 Am. Ed., 277, 278 and 442.) Under this rule it would be held bad faith in the master of the vessel if, being disappointed in the freight he expected to ship, he should refuse to take in other cargo for the port to which he expected' to sail, or intermediate ports, and thus endeavor to throw the whole loss of the disappointment on the merchant.
Eor the reasons above given, the judgment of the district court
Reversed and remanded.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- G. & S. Heilbroner v. J. M. Hancock
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. The allegata and the probata must correspond. A plaintiff should not be allowed to set up one cause of action and prove a different one. No proof should be heard which does not correspond with, the allegations in the pleadings. 2. The defendants contracted with the plaintiff that the latter should proceed to the town of M., with his wagons and teams, and should thence transport, at a stipulated rate per hundred pounds, to the town of S., certain goods and merchandise, for which they furnished him an order to their forwarding merchant. The plaintiff proceeded to M. with his wagons and teams, but the shipping merchant furnished him no goods for the defendants, and informed him that the defendants had no goods there, but offered him other goods for transportation at current rates to intermediate points between M. and S. Plaintiff- refused to receive other freight than the goods he had contracted with defendants to haul, and after .returning empty brought this suit against defendants, claiming judgment for the amount of freight money his wagons could have earned at the stipulated rate, if the goods had been furnished. Held, that the suit was not properly brought; the plaintiff’s remedy was not the present suit for enforcement of the contract, but an action for breach of the contract and for the damages consequent thereto by reason of the failure to furnish the freight; and that under such circumstances, by analogy to the maritime law of affreightment, the plaintiff was bound to accept the freight offered him for intermediate points, and to abate pro tanto his demands against the defendants ; and it is immaterial in this respect whether he is or is not a common carrier.