Where the final carrier named in the bill of lading on a through
interstate shipment employs a carrier not named in the bill nor
participant in the joint rate to switch the car for the rate named
in its tariff from a point on the lines of the former carrier to
the consignee's warehouse on the line of the latter, both within
the city named in the bill as destination, the first carrier is the
delivering carrier and the second merely its agent for the purpose
of delivery, so that the one is liable for loss of the goods while
in the hand of the other.
Oregon-Washinton R. Co. v.
McGinn, 258 U. S. 409,
distinguished. P.
268 U. S.
368.
161 Ark. 579 affirmed.
Certiorari to a judgment of the Supreme Court of Arkansas which
affirmed a judgment entered on a verdict against the railroad in an
action by the grocery company to recover damages for loss of a
carload of sugar.
Page 268 U. S. 368
MR. JUSTICE BRANDEIS delivered the opinion of the Court.
This action was brought in a state court of Arkansas by
Reynolds-Davis Grocery Company against the Missouri Pacific
Railroad to recover for the loss of part of a carload of sugar
shipped from Raceland, Louisiana to Fort Smith, Arkansas. on a
through bill of lading. The loss occurred within the City of Fort
Smith while the car was in the possession of the St. Louis-San
Francisco Railroad. This carrier had been employed by the Missouri
Pacific to switch the car from a point on its lines within the city
to the consignee's warehouse, which lay within the city on the
lines of the switching carrier. The Missouri Pacific, relying upon
Oregon-Washington Railroad & Navigation Co. v. McGinn,
258 U. S. 409,
requested the trial court to rule that, as the bill of lading
provided that no connecting carrier should be liable for any damage
which did not occur on its own lines, and delivery at the
consignee's warehouse was part of an interstate shipment, the
defendant was not liable, because it was neither the initial nor
the delivering carrier. The court refused to rule as requested; the
jury found for the plaintiff, and the judgment entered on the
verdict was affirmed by the Supreme Court of Arkansas. 161 Ark.
579. This Court granted a writ of certiorari, 265 U.S. 577.
The joint through rate covered delivery at the warehouse of the
consignee. The bill of lading named Morgan's Louisiana & Texas
Railroad & Steamship Company as the initial carrier and the
route designated therein named the Missouri Pacific as the last of
the connecting carriers. Its lines enter Fort Smith, but do not
extend to the consignee's warehouse. It employed the
Page 268 U. S. 369
St. Louis-San Francisco to perform the necessary switching
service. And it paid therefor $6.30, the charge fixed by the tariff
on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission. The switching
carrier was not named in the bill of lading, and did not receive
any part of the joint through rate. It was simply the agent of the
Missouri Pacific for the purpose of delivery. The Missouri Pacific
was the delivering carrier, and is liable as such.
Affirmed.
