Court Opinion

ID: 9829506
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 19:22:11.038676+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:43:02.181281
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
Appellant contends, in its motion for rehearing, that we were in error in holding that the provision in the uniform receipt, that the express company was not to be liable for articles of extraordinary value unless listed separately on such receipt, was unlawful and void because the provisions of this requirement were not called to the shipper’s attention. We have concluded, on a re-examination of the case, that we did not go far enough. We are now of the opinion that the provision in the uniform receipt was unlawful and .void, regardless of what notice the shipper may have had. This case involves an interstate shipment of goods, governed by the provisions of the Carmack Amendment. Title 49, § 20, par. (11), U.S.C.A. This amendment has itself been twice amended by what is known as the first and second Cummins Amendments, and now reads in part as follows :
“Any common carrier, railroad, or transportation company subject to the provisions of this-chapter receiving property for transportation from a point in one State * * * to a point in another State * * * shall issue a receipt or bill of *712lading therefor, and shall be liable to the lawful holder thereof for any loss, damage, or injury to such property, caused by it or by any common carrier * * * to which such property may be delivered, * * * and no contract, receipt, rule, regulation, or other limitation of any character whatsoever, shall exempt such common carrier * * * from liability hereby imposed; * * * and any such limitation, without respect to the manner or form in which it is sought to be made is declared to be unlawful and void: * * *. Provided, however, That the provisions hereof respecting liability for full actual loss, damage, or injury, notwithstanding any limitation of liability or recovery or representation or agreement or release as to value, and declaring any such limitation to be unlawful and void, shall.not apply, first, * * * second, to property * * * received for transportation concerning which the carrier shall have been or shall be expressly authorized or required by order of the Interstate Commerce Commission to establish and maintain rates dependent upon the value declared in writing by the shipper or agreed upon in writing as the released value of the property, in which case such declaration or agreement shall have no other effect than to limit liability and recovery to an amount not exceeding the value so declared * *
It is clear from the above that a railway express agency, which takes goods for interstate shipments, is liable for any loss, damage or injury to such property, caused by it, with the one exception, that a shipper can not recover a greater value than that placed on the goods at the time they were turned over to the agency for transportation. Here the shipper valued the cartons at $200 and has only recovered $174.
We have not found, nor have we been cited to, any case holding that a provision in a uniform receipt that the carrier will not be liable for articles of unusual value unless listed on the receipt is a valid provision. In our opinion, it is an attempt on the part of a carrier to limit its liability in a manner which is positively prohibited by the Carmack Amendment.
The only case holding any such provision valid, that we know of, is the case of Hecker Products Corp. v. Transamerican Freight Lines, Inc., 296 Mich. 381, 296 N.W. 297, 300, and in that case the carrier was a motor carrier, not equipped to carry articles of unusual and extraordinary value, and the court held that the provision was not one limiting its liability, but one that prohibited the shipment of such articles by motor freight lines. The court said: “We hold that reports valued at $5,000 were articles of extraordinary value. Valuable papers and articles of extraordinary value were not rated in the tariff on file with the Interstate Commerce Commission. The provisions in regard to non-liability for documents and articles of extraordinary value were not of limitation but exclusion. Under the circumstances plaintiff can not recover.”
Here the Railway Express Agency did handle articles of extraordinary value and, therefore, the provision was not one of exclusion but one of limitation of liability, which is not authorized by the Carmack Amendment.
There can be no question of this interpretation of the Carmack Amendment when its history is considered. By the first Cummins Amendment, 38 Stat; 1196, 49 U.S.C.A. § 20(11) note, it was provided, “that if the goods are hidden from view by wrapping,, boxing, or other means, and the carrier is not notified as to the character of the goods, the carrier may require the shipper to specifically state in writing the value of the goods, and the carrier shall not be liable beyond the amount so specifically stated, in which case the Interstate Commerce Commission may establish and maintain rates for transportation, dependent upon the value of the property shipped as specifically stated in writing by the shipper.” When the second Cummins Amendment was adopted, 41 Stat. 456, 49 U.S.C.A. § 20(11) note, this provision was in effect repealed and does not now appear. Under the first Cummins Amendment appellant’s contention that the valuables shipped by Hueber, being boxed and hidden from view, were governed by a different rule from articles which could be seen by the carrier and their nature determined, might have been maintained, but the second Cummins Amendment, leaving out all reference to articles boxed and hidden from view, indicates that Congress intended to put all articles on the same basis, whether hidden from view or not.
Appellant could not limit its liability by the provision contained in the uniform receipt.
Appellant’s motion for a rehearing is overruled.