Berry v. Southern Railway Co.

Citations

• 30 S.E. 14
• 122 N.C. 1002
• 1898 N.C. LEXIS 385

Syllabus

<p>Action for Damages — Common Carrier — Receipt of Goods — Liability of Carrier — Presumption.</p> <p>1. A shipper of goods wrote to the freight agent of a railroad • company, “Will yon please . . . have these three pieces marked according to the address already tacked on and forward immediately to Newport, R. I.? Will you mark them prepaid? I will be at the depot tomorrow and get the bill of lading and pay the freight.” Held, that such letter was a direction for immediate shipment and did not make the marking of the pieces as prepaid 'a condition precedent to the.shipment.</p> <p>2. The delivery of a bill of lading is not necessary to make a carrier liable as such for goods sent to it for shipment.</p> <p>3. When goods are delivered to a carrier for shipment, the presumption is that they are received for shipment and not for storage, and the burden is upon the company to show that it received the goods as a warehouseman and not as a carrier.</p> <p>Eaibcloth, C. J., dissents.</p>