American Express Co. v. Lesem

Citations

• 39 Ill. 312

Syllabus

<p>1. Express companies—their liability under a “O O. D.f and. herein of parol evidence in respect thereof. When an express company gives a receipt for a package for transportation, in which the letters O. 0. D. are used, and a certain sum is also stated in connection therewith, in a suit against the company by the consignor to recover the value of the package, which was delivered to the consignee without the amount being collected, parol evidence is admissible to prove the meaning of those letters.</p> <p>2. And if an express company, or other common earner, resort to enigmas in the conduct of their business they shall not, alone, be permitted to afford the solutions.</p> <p>3. But it is not competent, in such case, for the company to prove hy parol that goods which had on prior occasions been sent by the same consignor to the same consignee, and the receipt given therefor using the same letters, were delivered to the consignee without payment being first required, upon an understanding to that effect between him and the consignor, as such an arrangement in regard to prior transactions did not preclude the company from contracting not to deliver the goods until the money .was paid, and such proof would change the legal import and effect of the written contract, which cannot be done by parol. i</p> <p>4. In this case, which was of the character mentioned, the agent of the company testified that the letters “ C. O. D.” meant that the company was to collect of the consignee, on delivery, the amount due from him, and marked on the package, and to return such amount to the consignor. “ And this,” the court say, “is the experience of the whole business community employing such an agency.” “ The letters are the initials, and so understood, of the words ‘ collect on delivery,’ and this undertaking, by those letters, the company assumed, and they must be held to a strict performance thereof.”</p> <p>5. Pleading—necessity of averring the meaning of characters or letters. In