Meek v. Union Pacific Railroad

Citations

• 95 Kan. 111
• 147 P. 1112
• 1915 Kan. LEXIS 176

Syllabus

<p>SYLLABUS BY THE COURT.</p> <p>1. Stock Cattle — Failure of Carrier to Deliver to Purchaser— Measure of Damages. The measure of damages for the failure of a common carrier to deliver goods is the value of the goods at the time and place of destination in the condition in which they should have been delivered, and the owner is entitled to recover such valu§ less the charges for transportation and delivery.</p> <p>2. Same — Statement of Facts — Measure of Damages. On the 31st of October, 1912, the plaintiff purchased on the market at Kansas City, through a commission company, forty head of stock cattle, weighing in the aggregate 25,510 pounds, for which he agreed to pay an average price of $5.12 per hundred. They were shipped over defendant’s railway, consigned to the plaintiff at Idana in Clay county. Through the negligence of the defendant they were never delivered. Forty-seven days later the plaintiff, through the same commission company, purchased thirty-five head of stock cattle weighing in the aggregate 22,910 pounds, and paid therefor the market price at that 'time for that class of stock cattle, which was $5.85 per hundred. Held, that he can not maintain an action based upon the right to recover the difference between the market price of the cattle purchased on the 31st day of October and the price at which similar cattle could have been purchased on the same market forty-seven days later.</p> <p>3. Same — Plaintiff Entitled to Nominal Damages Only. Having paid nothing for the cattle wrongfully converted, and nothing for their transportation, the plaintiff, upon the facts of -the case, was entitled to recover only nominal damages.</p>