Merchants' Dispatch Transportation Co. v. Hallock

Citations

• 64 Ill. 284

Syllabus

<p>1. Common carriers—when their liability as carriers terminates. It is the settled doctrine of this court that the liability of a railroad company as a common carrier terminates, when the consignee or some one for him is not present on the arrival of the goods to receive them, with the delivery of the goods in a safe warehouse, and notice to the consignee of their arrival is not required to be given.</p> <p>2. The same rule applies to other corporations using railroads as a means of conveyance, where, by their usage, they merely undertake to deliver the goods at their depots.</p> <p>8. And where it is the usage of such a company, upon the request of the consignee, to deliver goods upon their arrival to teamsters not in the employ of the company, and who deliver them to the consignee at his expense, collecting their charges from him, in the absence of such a request the company terminates its liability as a carrier by the storage of the goods in their warehouse provided for the purpose, if the same is safe and suitable. Such a company differs from an express company, in that the latter have teams and vehicles by which they receive and deliver goods, such being their established usage.</p>