Adams Express Co. v. Deutsch

Citations

• 28 Ohio C.C. Dec. 156
• 27 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 97

Syllabus

<p>CARRIERS — DEAD BODIES — UNDERTAKERS.</p> <p>Grant, Carpenter and Leighley, JJ.</p> <p>1. Express Company not Liable for Failure of Shipping Undertaker to Secure Deposit for his Charges in Preparing Corpse for Express Transportation.</p> <p>An express company is a commorí carrier and, being prohibited by interstate commerce regulations from shipping corpses, C. O. D. unless deposit is made' therefor at destination, express office, is not liable for failure to collect .amount of undertaker’s bill accompanying the body, especially since -the undertaker, shipping the body, is equally liable with the express company in not securing the deposit to meet his charges.</p> <p>2. Corpse Means Body in Coffin, not Body, Shroud and Coffin Separately.</p> <p>A corpse accepted by a common carrier for transportation means a dead body in its coffin. To segregate the one from the other violates ordinary thought and offends against decency and health; hence evidence, the effect of which is to show that a corpse' encased in a coffin was dresséd in a shroud and cast upon an express company transporting it an obligation to strip the body of its cerements and put them on the market in fulfillment of an assumed obligation to realize on an undertaker’s hill therefor sent C. O. D., is inadmissible.</p> <p>[Syllabus approved by the court.]</p>