United States Supreme Court Cases & Opinions

U.S. Supreme Court

Galveston Wharf Co. v. Galveston, H. & S.A. Ry. Co., 285 U.S. 127 (1932)

Galveston Wharf Co. v. Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Co.

No. 411

Argued January 22, 25, 1932

Decided March 14, 1932

285 U.S. 127

Syllabus

1. Evidence held sufficient to support a finding by a state court that goods constituting a through water-and-rail shipment had been delivered by the water carrier, a steamship company, to a wharf company, by being unloaded on the wharf company's pier and left there under the full control of the wharf company, to be handled and forwarded by it at its own convenience. P. 285 U. S. 132.

2. A through bill of lading issued by the initial carrier upon an interstate shipment governs the entire transportation and fixes the obligations of all participating carriers insofar as its terms are applicable and valid. P. 285 U. S. 134.

3. A clause in a bill of lading issued by the initial carrier for a through shipment, providing that the carrier in possession of the goods should be liable as at common law for any loss or damages, held applicable to a wharf company, an intermediate common carrier furnishing a necessary link in the transportation, although not named in the bill. P. 285 U. S. 135.

4. The wharf company could not escape liability in such case upon the grounds (a) that, by arrangement with the connecting carrier to which it was to deliver the goods, it was but the agent of the latter (Missouri Pac. R. Co. v. Reynolds Co., 268 U. S. 366, distinguished),

Page 285 U. S. 128

or (b) that, under its own filed tariff, it could be held only for negligence. Pp. 285 U. S. 135-136.

Affirmed.

Certiorari, 284 U.S. 608, to review a judgment reversing that of the Court of Civil Appeals of Texas, and affirming that of a District Court of the State holding the petitioner Wharf Company liable for goods that were burned in transitu while on its pier.

Page 285 U. S. 130