Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. v. Chicago & Erie Railroad

Supreme Court of the United States
Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. v. Chicago & Erie Railroad, 235 U.S. 371 (1914)
35 S. Ct. 131; 59 L. Ed. 275; 1914 U.S. LEXIS 978

Berwind-White Coal Mining Co. v. Chicago & Erie Railroad

Opinion

Memorandum opinion by direction of the court by

Mr. Chief Justice White.

The judgment which is under review awarded demur- *375 rage on carloads of coal shipped by the plaintiff in error from West Virginia to Chicago, there to be reconsigned. (171 Ill. App. 302.) There are only two alleged Federal' contentions:

1. That allowing the demurrage conflicted with the Act to Regulate Commerce because no tariff on the subject was filed or published. The fact is that the railroad had complied with the law as to filing tariff sheets and had also long . before the time in question filed a book of rules of the Chicago Car Service Association, of which it was a member, relating to liability for demurrage and a few days after had written the Commission a letter stating that the de-' murrage charge would be one dollar per day. The argument is that such documents were not sufficiently formal to comply with the law and hence afforded no ground for allowing demurrage. But the contention is without merit. The documents were received and placed on file by the Commission without any objection whatever as to their form and it is certain that as a matter of fact they were adequate to give notice. Equally without merit is the insistence that there was no proof that the documents were posted for public inspection. Texas & Pac. Ry. v. Cisco Oil Mill, 204 U. S. 449; Kansas City So. Ry. v. Albers Comm. Co., 223 U. S. 573, 594; United States v. Miller, 223 U. S. 599.

2. Conceding that a tariff concerning demurrage was filed, it is insisted it only authorized demurrage at destination and the cars never reached, their destination, but were held at a place outside of Chicago. The facts are these: The storage tracks of the railroad for cars billed to Chicago for reconsignment were at Hammond, Indiana, a considerable distance from the terminals of the company nearer the center of the city, but were convenient to the belt line by which cars could be transferred to any desired new destination, and the holding on such tracks of cars consigned as were those in question was in accordance with *376 a practice which had existed for more than twenty years. Under these circumstances the contention is so wholly wanting in foundation as in fact to be frivolous.

Affirmed.

Reference

Full Case Name
Berwind-White Coal Mining Company v. Chicago and Erie Railroad Company
Cited By
41 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Filing with the Interstate Commerce Commission the book of rales as to demurrage of the Car Service Association, of which the railroad is a member, with a statement as to what its rates will be, held, in this case, to be a compliance with the provisions of the Act to Regulate Commerce requiring filing of tariff sheets, no objection having been taken as to form, and it appearing that the documents were adequate to give notice and that there was proof of posting. Although cars billed for reconsignment may not have actually reached the point named as destination, demurrage may attach for the time held after reaching the point convenient to the belt line for transfer where, under usual practice for many years, cars so billed were held for reconsignment.