Source: http://supreme.nolo.com/us/139/128/case.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-18 15:05:03+00:00

Document:
A carrier of livestock must be at all times in proper condition both to receive from the shipper and to deliver to the consignee according to the nature of the property to be transported as well as to the necessities of the respective localities in which it is received and delivered. It cannot, in addition to the customary and legitimate charges for transportation, make or allow any agent it employs to makes special charge for merely receiving or merely delivering such stock in and through yards provided for that purpose.
In respect to the mere loading and unloading of the stock at a particular city, the carrier is required by the nature of its employment to furnish such suitable and convenient appliances as are reasonably sufficient for the business at that place.
for the foreclosure of a mortgage or deed of trust given to secure the payment of bonds of that company for a large amount, in which suit a receiver was appointed, who took possession of the railroad, with authority to operate it until the further order of the court.
The present proceeding was begun on the 18th of June, 1886, by a petition filed in the foreclosure suit by Charles W. Keith, who was engaged in buying and selling on commission, as well as on his own account, livestock brought to and shipped from the City of Covington, Kentucky, over the Kentucky Central Railroad. The petition proceeded upon the ground that unjust and illegal discrimination had been and was being made against Keith by the receiver, acting under and pursuant to a written agreement made November 19, 1881, between the railroad company and the Covington Stockyards Company, a corporation created under the general laws of Kentucky, the yards of the latter company located in Covington and connected with the railroad tracks in that city, being the only depot of the railway company that was provided with the necessary platforms and chutes for receiving or discharging livestock on and from its trains at that city. The petition alleged that Keith was the proprietor of certain livestock lots and yards in that city immediately west of those belonging to the Covington Stockyards Company, and separated from them by only one street, sixty feet in width; that he was provided with all the necessary means of receiving, feeding, and caring for such stock as he purchased or as might be consigned to him by others for sale, and that his lots and yards were used for that purpose subsequently to March 1, 1886, and until, by the direction of the receiver, the platforms connecting them with the railroad were torn up and rendered unfit for use. The prayer of the petitioner was for a rule against the receiver to show cause why he should not deliver to him at some convenient and suitable place outside of the lots or yards of the said Covington Stockyards Company, free from other than the customary freight charges for transportation, all stock owned by or consigned to him and brought over said road to Covington.
The receiver filed a response to the rule, and an order was entered giving leave to the Covington Stockyards Company to file an intervening petition against the railroad company and Keith, and requiring the latter parties to litigate between themselves the question of the validity of the above agreement of 1881. The stockyards company filed such a petition, claiming all the rights granted by the agreement referred to, and alleging that it had expended $60,000 in constructing depots, platforms, and chutes as required by that agreement.
"in the best manner all livestock delivered to them by the party of the first part [the railroad company] at their own risk of damage while so doing, and in no event to charge more than sixty cents per car of full loads for loading, and sixty cents per car for unloading, and no charges to be made for handling less than full loads, as per way-bills."
make the yards of the stockyards company its "depot for delivery of all its livestock" during the term of the contract, and not build, "nor allow to be built, on its right of way, any other or yards for the reception of livestock." The delivery of stock in cars on switches or sidings provided for the purpose was to be considered a delivery of the stock to the stockyards company, which, from that time, was to be responsible for the stock to the railroad company. To protect the business of the stockyards company from damage in case the railroad extended its track over the Ohio River, the railroad company agreed that during the term of the contract, the rate of freight from all points on its road and connections should "not be less than five dollars per car more to the union yards of Cincinnati than the rate to Covington yards from the same points;" that its business arrangements with any other railroad or transportation line should be subject to this agreement, and that the yards of the stockyards company "shall be the depot for all livestock received from its connections for Cincinnati or eastern markets." The agreement, by its terms, was to remain in force for fifteen years.
In the progress of the cause, E. W. Wilson, by consent of parties, was made a co-petitioner and co respondent with Keith.
being so filed, it is ordered and decreed that, upon said Keith & Wilson putting the platform and chute erected by them on the land of said Keith adjacent to the livestock switch of said railroad company north of said stockyards, the said railroad company and said receiver shall receive and deliver all such livestock to said Keith & Wilson as shall be consigned to them or either of them, or be offered by them or either of them for shipment at said platform. The said Keith & Wilson shall provide an agent or representative at said platform to receive such cattle as they may be notified by said railroad company or said receiver are to be delivered to them thereat, and they shall give the said railroad company or said receiver reasonable notice of any shipment desired to be made by them from said platform to conform to the departure of livestock trains on said road."
danger or inconvenience to the public in the vicinity of the place of shipment or discharge, and as the appellant has voluntarily undertaken to discharge the duty in these matters that rests upon the railroad company, the contention just adverted to is in effect that the carrier may, without a special contract for that purpose, require the shipper or consignee, in addition to the customary and legitimate charges for transportation, to compensate it for supplying the means and facilities that must be provided by it in order to meet its obligations to the public. To this proposition we cannot give our assent.
When animals are offered to a carrier of livestock to be transported, it is its duty to receive them, and that duty cannot be efficiently discharged, at least in a town or city, without the aid of yards in which the stock offered for shipment can be received and handled with safety and without inconvenience to the public while being loaded upon the cars in which they are to be transported. So, when livestock reach the place to which they are consigned, it is the duty of the carrier to deliver them to the consignee, and such delivery cannot be safely or effectively made except in or through enclosed yards or lots convenient to the place of unloading. In other words, the duty to receive, transport, and deliver livestock will not be fully discharged unless the carrier makes such provision at the place of loading as will enable it to properly receive and load the stock and such provision at the place of unloading as will enable it to properly deliver the stock to the consignee.
subject, under similar conditions, to the same obligations, so far as the delivery of the animals which are safely transported is concerned, as in the case of goods. They are to be delivered at the place of destination to the party designated to receive them if he presents himself, or can with reasonable efforts be found, or to his order. No obligation of the carrier, whether the freight consists of goods or livestock, is more strictly enforced. *"
with authority to impose burdens of that kind upon shippers and consignees. The transportation of livestock begins with their delivery to the carrier to be loaded upon its cars, and ends only after the stock is unloaded and delivered, or offered to be delivered, to the consignee, if to be found at such place as admits of their being safely taken into possession.
other compensation than the customary charges for transportation.
* Myrick v. Michigan Central Railroad, 107 U. S. 102, 107 U. S. 107; Hall v. Renfro, 3 Met. (Ky.) 51, 54; Mynard v. Syracuse & Binghamton Railroad, 71 N.Y. 180; Smith v. New Haven & Northampton Railroad, 12 Allen 531, 533; Kimball v. Rutland & Burlington Railroad, 26 Vt. 247, 255; South & North Alabama Railroad Company v. Henlein, 52 Ala. 606, 613; Wilson v. Hamilton, 4 Ohio St. 722, 740; Ayres v. Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, 71 Wis. 372, 379, 381; McCoy v. K. & D. R. Co., 44 Ia. 424, 426; Maslin v. B. & O. R. Co., 14 W.Va. 180, 188; St. Louis & Southeastern Railway v. Dorman, 72 Ill. 504; Moulton v. Wt. Paul, Minneapolis &c. Railway, 31 Minn. 85, 87; Kansas Pacific Railway v. Nichols, 9 Kan. 235, 248; Clarke v. Rochester & Syracuse Railroad, 14 N.Y. 570, 573; Palmer v. Grand Junction Railway, 4 M. & W. 749.

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