Kettenhofen v. Globe Transfer & Storage Co.

Citations

• 70 Wash. 645
• 127 P. 295
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1100

Syllabus

<p>Carriebs — Of Goods — Who Are — Contract—Construction. The defendant, a forwarder of goods, is a common carrier, and liable as such for loss of goods by fire, and not merely as a warehouseman, where it orally contracted for a through shipment from plaintiff’s residence in a car of its own procurement and under its own control at a fixed rate, which was less than the railroad’s rate for car load lots and more than the rate on less than car load lots, the custom of the defendant being to assemble goods in a warehouse for its own convenience without storage charges, until car load lots could be forwarded to its own agent, who paid the railroad freight and attended to the receipt and distribution of the goods; and it is immaterial that it did not own any railroad line.</p> <p>Same — Loss of Goods by Fire — Storage by Carrier — Liabimty. A common carrier is liable as such for the loss of goods destroyed by fire in its warehouse, where the goods were delivered for transportation and not for storage, the storage being for its own convenience.</p> <p>Same — Value of Goods — Evidence—Sufficiency. A finding that household goods destroyed by fire in a warehouse were of the value of $700, is sustained by evidence of the plaintiff that they were worth $1,000, that being the cost price paid from one to three years previously, from which the court arbitrarily deducted 30 per cent, where the defendant admitted they were worth $500, and offered no evidence as to the value.</p>