Court Opinion

ID: 9808673
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 20:46:39.311159+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:17:07.743013
License: Public Domain

CiARK, C. J.,
concurring: The Hepburn amendment to section 20 of the Interstate Commerce Act (IJ. S.. Comp. Stat. Supp. 1907, p. 906) provides that the initial carrier is liable for any loss, damage or injury to the goods caused by it or any connecting carrier, and makes void any contract, receipt, rule or regulation which attempts to exempt the carrier from this liability. 12 Ann. Cases, 1133, and cases cited. In R. R. v. Crenshaw, 5 Ga. App., 675, it is held that the State courts have jurisdiction of an action arising under the Hepburn Act, and that any limitation of value or preadjustment of damages by a stipulation restricting the recovery of damages to an amount less than the actual loss caused by the carrier’s negligence, is void under this act. To same effect, Latta v. R. R. (U. S. C. C. A.), 172 Fed., 850. Under these decisions the doctrine laid down in Hart v. R. R., 112 U. S., 331, is reversed by the Hepburn Act, which restores in its integrity the common-law rule that a common carrier cannot contract to be relieved in whole or in part from liability for damages caused by its negligence. The Pennsylvania Court in Grogan v. Express Co., 114 Pa., 523, 60 Am. Rep., 360, even prior to the. Hepburn Act, refused to follow the decision in Hart v. R. R., supra, and many other courts of repute did the.same; and it may be said with some confidence that the best legal thought of the country sustained them. The effect of the Hart case, supra, if unreversed, would have been to place the business interests of the country in the power of the common carriers, for the shipper .cannot contract on equal terms with them. The law must, as of old, forbid unjust and unequal stipulations in the contract of carriage.
Independent of, and anterior to, the Hepburn Act, it was held that a provision limiting liability to an agreed amount is invalid if the injury was caused by the carrier’s negligence. It was so held in England, Alabama, California, Colorado, District of Columbia, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, North Carolina (McConnell v. R. R., 144 N. C., 90, and cases there cited; Everett v. R. R., 138 N. C., 681. Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. See eases collected 12 Ann. Cas., 1131-1333.