Keller v. Baltimore & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 174 Pa. 62
• 34 A. 455
• 1896 Pa. LEXIS 845

Syllabus

<p>Carriers of live stock — Bill of lading — Contract—Liability of carrier beyond its own line — Common carrier — Question for jury.</p> <p>A carload of horses was received by the defendant, a railroad company, at a point in Ohio. The plaintiff was named in the bill of lading as the consignee, and Frankford, Philadelphia, as the destination of the car. The defendant’s railroad does not extend to Frankford. Its terminus for the delivery of freight is at a point in Philadelphia, several miles from Frankford. When the horses reached the defendant’s terminus in Philadelphia, a delivery of them was tendered to the plaintiff’s agent, and upon his request that they be carried to Frankford the car was delivered to another railroad company to be taken to Frankford. The written contract of shipment was to carry the horses “to the freight station, Phila., Pa., ready to be delivered to the consignee or his order, or to such company or carrier (if the same is to be forwarded beyond such station) whose line maybe considered a part of the route to the destination of said stock,” and it provided that the responsibility of the defendant as a carrier should cease at the freight station where delivery was made, or ready to be made, to the consignee, owner or carrier. Held, (1) that prima facie the duty of the defendant as a carrier ended when the horses were tendered to the agent of the consignee at the freight station, and from that time its responsibility was that of a forwarder only; (2) that if the contract was so modified by agreement of the agents of the parties at the time of the shipment as to impose on the defendant a liability as carrier beyond its station in Philadelphia, it was for the plaintiff to establish this fact by proof, and the testimony relating to it was for the jury.</p>