Opinion · Supreme Court of the United States

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

52 S. Ct. 342

Type
Opinion
Court
Supreme Court of the United States
Jurisdiction
Federal
Date
1932-03-14
Topic
general

Mr. Chief Justice Hughes delivered the opinion of the Court. The American Grocery Company and others brought this action against the Mallory Steamship Company, the Galveston Wharf Company, and the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio Railway Company to recover the value of a carload of sardines destroyed by fire at Galveston, Texas, while en route to El Paso in that State. The goods had been shipped from Maine to El Paso on a through bill of lading issued by the Seaport Navigation Company and describing the route as “ Mallory, Southern Pacific.” The Mallory Steamship Company had transported the goods from New York to Galveston, and at the time of the fire the goods were on.the pier 'which that company had leased from the Galveston Wharf Company. The latter company, a chartered transportation company not named in the bill of lading, owned, in addition to certain piers, railroad trackage from these piers to connections with railroads running out of.

Citator

Cited by
25 opinions
GALVESTON WHARF CO.v. RY. CO.,285 U.S. 127(1932)
52 S.Ct. 342
GALVESTON WHARF CO. ET AL.v. GALVESTON, HARRISBURG SAN ANTONIO RAILWAY
CO. ET AL.
CERTIORARI TO THE SUPREME COURT OF TEXAS.
No. 411.
Argued January 22, 25, 1932.
Decided March 14, 1932.
1. Evidenceheldsufficient 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. 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 in so far as its terms are applicable and valid. P. 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, —heldapplicable to a wharf company, an intermediate common carrier furnishing a necessary link in the transportation, although not named in the bill. P. 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.ReynoldsCo.,268 U.S. 366, distinguished,)Page 128or (b) that, under its own filed tariff, it could be held only for negligence. Pp. 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 burnedin transituwhile on its
pier.
Mr. George S. Wright, with whomMessrs. Alex F. WeisbergandRhodes S. Bakerwere on the brief, for petitioners.

At the time of the damage the shipment was in the possession of the steamship company and not in the possession of the wharf company.

The holding of the Supreme Court of Texas to the effect that at the time of the fire the wharf company held the shipment as a connecting carrier is in direct conflict with the holding inMissouri Pacific Ry. Co. v.Reynolds-Davis Grocery Co.,268 U.S. 366.Texas Pac. Ry. Co. v.Scoggins Brown, 90 S.W. 321;St. Louis S.W. Ry. Co. v.Jackson,118 S.W. 853;Chicago, R.I. G. Ry. Co. v.Young Ball, 107 S.W. 127;Rio Grande Ry. Co. v.Kraft Medero,212 S.W. 981;Lancasterv.Hollebecke, 235 S.W. 1115;Texas Pac. Ry.Co. v.Henson, 132 S.W. 1118;Hooperv.Chicago N.W. Ry.Co., 9 Am. Rep. 443;Wilburv.Wabash Ry. Co. 129 S.W. 484;Atlanta Nat. Bankv.Southern Ry. Co., 106 F. 623.

If at the time of the fire the shipment was in possession of the wharf company, the provisions of its tariff filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission were a part of the contract between it and the carriers named in the bill of lading. The provision of such tariff to the effect that the wharf company should not be liable for damages to the shipment except for its negligence is valid, and as all claims of negligence were abandoned, the wharf companyPage 129was not liable for the loss. Neither the steamship company, named in the bill of lading as an intermediate carrier, nor the railway company, named in the bill of lading as the delivering carrier, was required to use the services of the wharf company in transferring shipments from the steamship company's docks to the cars of the railway company. They could have made arrangements for motor trucks or some other means of transportation to transfer such shipments. The shipper named in the bill of lading made a contract with the steamship company and the railway company under the terms of which those carriers agreed to transport his property from New York to El Paso. The shipper did not make any contract with the wharf company. The wharf company filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission tariffs covering certain services it was willing to render the steamship company and the railway company at Galveston.

These tariffs were furnished to the steamship company and the railway company prior to the shipment in this case. When the carrier named in the bill of lading employed the wharf company to render the loading and switching service, such employment was under this tariff, and the tariff provision limited the liability to negligence.Boston Maine R. Co. v.Hooker,233 U.S. 97;Chicago, R.I. P. Ry. Co. v.Cramer,233 U.S. 490;Cauv.Texas Pac. Ry. Co.,194 U.S. 427;Arthurv.Texas Pac. Ry.Co.,204 U.S. 506.

The principle is the same whether the limitation of the carrier's liability is contained in a tariff forming part of a switching contract or in a contract in the form of a bill of lading.

The fact that the bill of lading, to which the wharf company was not a party, does not contain any provision limiting the liability of the carrier therein named to a liability for negligence does not affect the validity of thePage 130provision of the contract between the carriers named in the bill of lading and the wharf company.Mr. John P. Bullingtonfor the Galveston, Harrisburg San Antonio Ry. Co., respondent.Mr. Roscoe H. Hupper, with whomMr. Burton H. Whitewas on the brief, for the Mallory Steamship Co., respondent.
MR. CHIEF JUSTICE HUGHES delivered the opinion of the Court.
The American Grocery Company and others brought this action against the Mallory Steamship Company, the Galveston Wharf Company, and the Galveston, Harrisburg San Antonio Railway Company to recover the value of a carload of sardines destroyed by fire at Galveston, Texas, while en route to El Paso in that State. The goods had been shipped from Maine to El Paso on a through bill of lading issued by the Seaport Navigation Company and describing the route as "Mallory, Southern Pacific." The Mallory Steamship Company had transported the goods from New York to Galveston, and at the time of the fire the goods were on the pier which that company had leased from the Galveston Wharf Company. The latter company, a chartered transportation company not named in the bill of lading, owned, in addition to certain piers, railroad trackage from these piers to connections with railroads running out of Galveston, including that of the Galveston, Harrisburg San Antonio Railway Company, that being the Southern Pacific line described in the bill of lading as the delivering carrier. There was no attempt to prove negligence on the part of any of the defendants. The District Court, a jury being waived, held that the goods had been delivered by the Mallory Steamship Company toPage 131the Galveston Wharf Company, that the latter was in possession of the goods as a common carrier, and that at the time of the loss they had not been delivered to the Galveston, Harrisburg San Antonio Railway Company. The judgment, entered in the District Court against the Wharf Company, was reversed by the Court of Civil Appeals which directed judgment against the Railway Company upon the ground that the Wharf Company was acting as a transfer agent for the Railway Company and was not liable for the loss.13 S.W.2d 983. The Supreme Court of the State reversed the judgment of the Court of Civil Appeals and affirmed that of the District Court.25 S.W.2d 588,36 S.W.2d 985. This Court granted a writ of certiorari.

The Wharf Company, petitioner, in the view that the question of the liability of carriers under an interstate bill of lading is governed by the Federal decisions,1contends that the state court erred in holding (1) that the possession of the shipment at the time of the fire had passed from the Steamship Company to the Wharf Company, (2) that the Wharf Company had possession as a connecting carrier and not as agent of the railroad carrier named in the bill of lading, and (3) that the Wharf Company was liable as insurer of the shipment when its filed tariff provided that it should not be liable save for its negligence. The American Grocery Company, plaintiff in the action (which joined in the Wharf Company's petition for certiorari) contends that it is entitled to recover "from some one of the three defendants in the trial court" and that it is the Steamship Company which should be held liable. The Railway Company, respondent, also urges that there had been no delivery of the goods by the Steamship Company, and further that, ifPage 132such delivery had been made, the Wharf Company held the goods as common carrier and not as the Railway Company's agent, and that the tariff of the Wharf Company was inapplicable.First. The Court of Civil Appeals, while reversing the judgment of the District Court, did not disturb the finding that the Steamship Company had delivered the goods to the Wharf Company, but on the contrary reaffirmed it. The Supreme Court held that this finding was supported by evidence and reached its conclusion upon that basis. The petitioners insist that the three courts were in error and that the finding is opposed to the undisputed evidence. We are unable to agree with this contention. The tracks of the Wharf Company were on the pier and there the Steamship Company and the Wharf Company had adjoining offices. The Wharf Company had its own force of men on the pier to handle the shipments for rail transportation. It was the practice to have cars spotted conveniently to receive the shipments according to the routing. The Steamship Company placed the goods on the pier in convenient locations where the Wharf Company, which according to custom had already received the billing and had full information of the shipments, could load them into the waiting cars.2In the instantPage 133case, it appeared that the ship had arrived early in the morning (January 13, 1926) and had been fully discharged by five-thirty o'clock in the afternoon; that, as the goods were unloaded, they were put in the usual manner in suitable locations for the picking up and loading into cars by the Wharf Company; that out of 1081 tons so discharged on that day and put in the designated places, the Wharf Company had actually loaded into cars all but 379 tons, and that carloads similarly routed, and placed in approximately the same location as the shipment here involved, had been so loaded. There was evidence that the latter shipment had been suitably placed on the wharf before four o'clock in the afternoon, and was ready by that time for loading by the Wharf Company and completely at its disposal,3but the Wharf CompanyPage 134stopped work about six-thirty o'clock without loading it, and that it was burned that night. Questions are raised with respect to notice of readiness for loading and as to the checking of the shipment, but it cannot be said that the testimony is so clear and definite on these subjects as to preclude a finding of delivery to the Wharf Company. No receipt had been given by the Wharf Company, but the state court found, upon evidence, that the Steamship Company did not require the Wharf Company to give receipts before it removed shipments from the wharf and that receipts were often given a considerable time after such removal. On points where the testimony permitted conflicting inferences, the state court was entitled to reach its conclusion that the shipment had been placed under the complete control of the Wharf Company to be handled according to its own convenience and hence should be deemed to have been delivered to the Wharf Company.4Second. The Wharf Company did not dispute that it was a common carrier. As such, it had facilities and rendered service. It is also manifest that it received the goods for transportation to the connection with the Railway Company that was to take them to destination. This service of the Wharf Company was that of a common carrier furnishing a necessary link in the transportation under the through bill of lading. The Wharf Company was thus in fact and in law a connection carrier, and that it was not named in the bill of lading is unimportant. The bill of lading, required to be issued by thePage 135initial carrier upon an interstate shipment, `governs the entire transportation and thus fixes the obligations of all participating carriers to the extent that the terms of the bill of lading are applicable and valid.'Georgia, Florida AlabamaRy. Co. v.Blish Milling Co.,241 U.S. 190,194,195. See, also,Kansas City Southern Ry. Co. v.Carl,227 U.S. 639,648;Great Northern Ry. Co. v.Galbreath Cattle Co.,271 U.S. 99,102. Under such a bill of lading, each connecting carrier may be sued for damages occurring while the goods are in its possession, and its liability `is fixed by the applicable valid terms of the original bill.' It may not vary the terms of the through bill.Missouri, Kansas Texas Ry. Co. v.Ward,244 U.S. 383,387;Texas Pacific Ry. Co. v.Leatherwood,250 U.S. 478,480;Cobbv.Brown, 193 F. 958. In this instance, the bill of lading provided that the carrier in possession of the property described "shall be liable as at common law for any loss thereof or damage thereto, except as hereinafter provided." The Wharf Company became subject to this liability and did not bring itself within any of the exceptions stated in the bill.

The Wharf Company was not entitled to escape this liability upon the ground that it was acting as the agent of the Railway Company. The case ofMissouri Pacific R. Co. v.Reynolds-DavisGrocery Co.,268 U.S. 366, upon which the petitioners rely, is not in point. There, the Missouri Pacific, the delivering carrier named in the bill of lading, had employed the St. Louis-San Francisco to perform a switching service in making the required delivery at the place of destination. The court held that the Missouri Pacific was the delivering carrier and was liable as such; it could not defeat that liability by the employment of an agent for service at the terminal. In the present case, the Wharf Company was the connecting carrier in possession of the goods at the time of the loss and was responsible accordingly.Page 136Third. Equally unavailing is the Wharf Company's defense based upon the provision of its filed tariff, that it should be liable only for negligence. The respondent, the Railway Company, insists that this limitation was by its terms applicable only in connection with the rate for the handling of traffic after it had been loaded into cars and that another rate without such limitation related to the service in loading the goods from the wharf into the cars. Apart from this contention, which is not without force, it is sufficient to say that the attempted limitation of liability in any event did not affect the plaintiffs who were entitled to the transportation of the goods under the conditions set forth in the through bill of lading pursuant to which the Wharf Company was performing its service. As we have said, the Wharf Company was not entitled to vary the liability, as determined by the terms of the through bill, by its arrangements with the Railway Company.Judgment affirmed.
  1. Page 131Southern Ry. Co. v.Prescott,240 U.S. 632,636;Georgia,Florida Alabama Ry. Co. v.Blish Milling Co.,241 U.S. 190,194,195;Missouri Pacific R. Co. v.Reynolds-Davis GroceryCo.,268 U.S. 366. ↩
  2. Page 132 The testimony of the General Manager of the Wharf Company contains the following:

    "It is our privilege to begin loading as soon as it is put on the wharf, unless a hold order is put on some specific shipment, which happens only occasionally. So that as soon as freights were deposited on the wharf by the forces of the Mallory, there was nothing to prevent our forces from immediately picking it up and trucking it to the cars. That was all left to the judgment and discretion of the Galveston Wharf Company's supervisor of forces on the docks. It was not a matter within the control of the Mallory Line. . . . As the freights were placed on the wharf by the Mallory Line, it was purely a matter of the Wharf Company to determine just how and when to load the particular shipment in the usual manner. . . . It is the Mallory Line's usual performance to deposit it on the floor, and it is picked up and loaded into the cars by the Galveston Page 133 Wharf Company. As to the particular time it is picked up, that is wholly in control of the Wharf Company. After it had been placed, and it was O.K.'d to go, we were at liberty to pick it up and send it forward at any time we got ready, and it was not necessary for us to ask permission of the Mallory Line about it. Unless there is some special feature connected with it, as a hold order, the usual course is to load it and get rid of it. So far as the actual physical handling of the shipment from the time it is put, and assuming that it is ready to go, that is under the control of the Wharf Company." ↩
  3. Page 133 There was testimony by the chief dock clerk of the Steamship Company as follows:

    "After we placed the shipment in the designated territory, that is all we have to do with it. If we have broken cases, we set them aside, and the Mallory Line coopers come along and put them into condition, and we are through with it, and it is ready for the Wharf Company to load out. . . . Some of these packages were broken, not a large amount. They were put into condition that day. I would say that this particular carload of sardines was ready to be put on the cars before 4:00 o'clock. After that time we had nothing to do with it. The Mallory Line was through with it. As to whether any of the representatives of the Wharf Company or railroad company had examined this shipment, I say they had. When the damaged cases were recoopered, they put the O.K. mark on them after we recoopered them." ↩
  4. Page 134 SeePrattv.Railway Co.,95 U.S. 43,46;Merriamv.Hartford New Haven R. Co.,20 Conn. 354;Conversev.Norwich New York Transportation Co.,33 Conn. 166;WashburnCrosby Co. v.Boston Albany R. Co.,180 Mass. 252;62 N.E. 590;Texas Pacific Ry. Co. v.Clayton,173 U.S. 348;TexasPacific Ry. Co. v.Reiss,183 U.S. 621;Texas Pacific Ry.Co. v.Callender,183 U.S. 632;Oregon-Washington R. N.Co. v.McGinn,258 U.S. 409,413. ↩