Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. McCorquodale
Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Co. v. McCorquodale
Opinion of the Court
Appellant contracted with appellees to receive from them at Temple, Texas, on the nineteenth day of May, 1884, five hundred and ninety-three cattle, and furnish cars and transportation to Fort Worth. At the time agreed upon, appellees had their cattle at the place appointed, and tendered them to appellant for shipment, in accordance with the contract. Appellant refused to receive the cattle, until the evening of the twenty-third of May, and this suit was brought to recover three thousand four hundred and eighty-eight dollars damages alleged to have been sustained b3r appellees, in consequence of appellant’s failure to comply with its contract.
The jury returned a verdict of three thousand four hundred and twenty-two dollars and eleven cents, upon which judgment was entered, but, on suggestion of the court, appellees entered a remittitur for one hundred and twenty-five dollars.
It is contended under the second and ninth assignments of error, that the appellant is not liable for damage to, and deterioration in the value of the cattle, while being held at Temple awaiting shipment.
Appellant had contracted to receive and ship the cattle on the nineteenth, and failed to comply with its contract. As a natural person would be, so it certainly is liable for any damage resulting to appellees, by reason of its breach of contract. Railway Company v. Nicholson, 61 Texas, 495. On the afternoon of the eighteenth, appellees informed appellant’s agent at at Temple, that they were ready to deliver the cattle the next morning, according to contract, and the agent instructed them to have the oattle at the pens next morning, and cars would be ready to ship them. When the cattle were tendered next
It is also contended that the court erred in refusing to permit; appellant to prove that the cattle claimed to have been damaged, had been sold by appellees before they were shipped, to a party in Fort Worth, and that the reason the purchaser did not take them when they arrived in Fort Worth, on the twenty-fourth of May was, because they were not the grade of cattle represented by appellee, and not because they had been damaged by the delay in shipping. How, we can not see what this testimony had to do with determining the issue in this case. If there was a contract, and a breach of that contract without a legal excuse for such breach, the only remaining question was, the extent of damage to these particular cattle. The question whether, or not, appellees had complied with their contract with a third party that the cattle were of a particular grade, could shed no light on any issue in this case, and we think the court did not err in the ruling here complained of.
The court permitted appellees to prove, over the objection of appellant, that there were about forty empty stock cars in appellant’s yard at Temple when the1 cattle arrived there, and that these cars remained there until the twenty-third, when the cattle were shipped in a part of these same cars, and this is assigned as error.
Appellant attempted to explain its failure to receive and
There being no error in the judgment of the court below, we are of opinion that it should be affirmed.
Affirmed.
Opinion adopted June 5, 1888.
Stayton,
Chief Justice.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- The Gulf, Colorado & Santa Fe Railway Company v. John McCorquodale
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1= Act of God—Common Carrier.—In an action against a railway company for damages, for failure to furnish ears, and to receive and transport cattle, the contract being that the cattle should be received on May 19.1884, and delay was made until May 33, and a break was caused in the track on May 31, by a violent rain storm, the break being at a place which would have been passed had the cattle been shipped at any time before the morning of the twenty-first of May; Held, that the break in the track on twenty-first, after the breach of contract, was no defense to the action; and that the railway company was liable for ail damages caused by its breach. 2. Testimony not Relevant.— It was irrelevant upon the question of damages to show that the plaintiff had contracted for the sale of the cattle at their destination, and that they were refused, because not such as had been represented, and not for or on account of their condition. Such testimony did not tend to show the amount or limit of damages suffered. 3. Same — Immaterial.—It was not material error to admit testimony that the defendant company had an ample supply of ears empty and idle at a station near the point of shipment. The defendant having pleaded and introduced testimony tending to show a crowded condition of business at the time, on the road.