Source: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/244/383.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-22 07:13:29+00:00

Document:
[244 U.S. 383, 384] Messrs. Alexander Britton, Joseph M. Bryson,Charles C. Huff, Alexander H. McKnight, and C. S. Burg for plaintiffs in error.
The record is silent as to the circumstances under which this second bill of lading was executed; and although it is alleged to have been issued in consideration of a special reduced rate theretofore duly filed with the Interstate Commerce Commission, there is nothing to indicate that it affected the through rate already agreed upon in [244 U.S. 383, 386] the original bill of lading. This lower rate referred to appears to have been merely the customary special rate offered in consideration of an agreed maximum valuation on the cattle per head. The same agreed value was stipulated in the original bill of lading, which expressly 'limits the liability of carriers in consideration of a lower rate being granted.' The Missouri, Kansas, & Texas Railway Company set up the same defense, alleging that it had accepted the shipment under the second bill of lading.
A jury trial having been waived, the case was heard by the court, and judgment rendered in favor of the Houston Company, but against the other two defendants in amounts which were found to represent the damage suffered in the course of the transportation through the negligence of their respective agents. Upon appeal by these defendants, the court of civil appeals of the third supreme judicial district affirmed the judgment, on the ground that the liability of the connecting carriers must be governed by the provisions of the bill of lading issued by the initial carrier,-(which did not require a written claim in thirty days),-and that the second bill of lading was void under the Carmack Amendment (-- Tex. Civ. App. --, 169 S. W. 1035). Upon denial of a petition for rehearing the case was brought here on writ of error.
The purpose of the Carmack Amendment has been frequently considered by this court. 2 It was to create in the initial carrier unity of responsibility for the transportation to destination. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Riverside Mills, 219 U.S. 186 , 55 L. ed. 167, 31 L.R.A.(N.S.) 7, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 164; Northern P. R. Co. v. Wall, 241 U.S. 87, 92 , 60 S. L. ed. 905, 907, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 493. And provisions in the bill of [244 U.S. 383, 387] lading inconsistent with that liability are void. Norfolk & W. R. Co. v. Dixie Tobacco Co. 228 U.S. 593 , 57 L. ed. 980, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 609. While the receiving carrier is thus responsible for the whole carriage, each connecting road may still be sued for damages occurring on its line; and the liability of such participating carrier is fixed by the applicable valid terms of the original bill of lading. 3 The bill of lading required to be issued by the initial carrier upon an interstate shipment governs the entire transportation. The terms of the original bill of lading were not altered by the second, issued by the connecting carrier. As appellants were already bound to transport the cattle at the rate and upon the terms named in the original bill of lading, the acceptance by the shipper of the second bill was without consideration and was void.
The railway companies contend that while the Carmack Amendment makes the receiving carriers pay for all liability incurred by the connecting lines, the question of whether there is any such liability or not must be determined by reference to the separate contracts of each participating carrier, and not to the contract of the initial carrier alone. If, as contended, a shipper must, in order to recover, first file his 'verified claim' with the connecting carrier who caused the injury, as provided in a separate bill of lading issued by such carrier, the shipper would still rest under the burden of determining which of the several successive carriers was at fault. Such a construction of the Carmack Amendment would defeat its purpose, which was to relieve shippers of the difficult, and often impossible, task of determining on which of the several connecting lines the damage occurred. For the purpose of Fixing the liability, the several carriers must [244 U.S. 383, 388] be treated, not as independent contracting parties, but as one system; and the connecting lines become in effect mere agents, whose duty it is to forward the goods under the terms of the contract made by their principal, the initial carrier. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Riverside Mills, 219 U.S. 186, 206 , 55 S. L. ed. 167, 182, 31 L.R.A.(N.S.) 7, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 164; Galveston, H. & S. A. R. Co. v. Wallace, 223 U.S. 481, 491 , 56 S. L. ed. 516, 523, 32 Sup. Ct. Rep. 205.
[ Footnote 1 ] The rights of the parties are not affected by the Act of March 4, 1915, chap. 176, 38 Stat. at L. 1196, Comp. Stat. 1916, 8604a, dispensing with the necessity of notice of claim in certain cases.
[ Footnote 2 ] Atlantic Coast Line R. Co. v. Riverside Mills, 219 U.S. 186 , 55 L. ed. 167, 31 L.R.A.(N.S.) 7, 31 Sup. Ct. Rep. 164; Adams Exp. Co. v. Croninger, 226 U.S. 491 , 57 L. ed. 314, 44 L.R.A.(N.S.) 257, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 148; Kansas City Southern R. Co. v. Carl, 227 U.S. 639 , 57 L. ed. 683, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 391; Georgia, F. & A. R. Co. v. Blish Mill. Co. 241 U.S. 190 , 60 L. ed. 948, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 541; St. Louis, I. M. & S. R. Co. v. Starbird, 243 U.S. 592 , 61 L. ed. 917, 37 Sup. Ct. Rep. 462, decided April 30, 1917.
[ Footnote 3 ] Georgia, F. & A. R. Co. v. Blish Mill. Co. 241 U.S. 190, 194 , 196 S., 60 L. ed. 948, 951, 952, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 541; Kansas City Southern R. Co. v. Carl, 227 U.S. 639, 648 , 57 S. L. ed. 683, 686, 33 Sup. Ct. Rep. 391. See also Southern R. Co. v. Prescott, 240 U.S. 632 , 60 L. ed. 836, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 469; Cleveland, C. C. & St. L. R. Co. v. Dettlebach, 239 U.S. 588 , 60 L. ed. 453, 36 Sup. Ct. Rep. 177.

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