Pennsylvania Railroad v. Whitney & Kemmerer

Citations

• 73 Pa. Super. 588
• 1920 Pa. Super. LEXIS 74

Syllabus

<p>Railroads — Carriers—Liability for freight charges — Consignors and consignee — Interstate commerce — Affidavit of defense.</p> <p>A shipper who calls upon a public carrier to perform his duty and transport goods to a consignee by him designated, is primarily liable for the lawful charges resulting from the transportation.</p> <p>The carrier has no right to designate the consignee, nor has he any right to refuse to accept the goods, until he has had an opportunity to inquire whether the consignee will receive them. Even where there is a clause in the bill of lading, providing that the goods are to be delivered to the consignee, upon the presentation of the receipt and payment of the freight, if the carrier delivered the goods without collecting the freight, the consignor still remains liable to the carrier for his lawful charges.</p> <p>The fact that the consignee may also become liable does not cancel the primary obligation of the shipper.</p> <p>In an action by a railroad company to recover demurrage charges on an interstate commerce shipment, where the statement sets forth that it received for shipment certain cars of coal from the consignor, which the consignee refused to accept, the consignor is liable for the demurrage charges, and an affidavit of defense is insufficient, which admits that the cars were shipped at the order of the defendants and does not specifically deny that they were the shippers of the coal.</p> <p>The fact that the coal was shipped by another company at the order of the defendants did not constitute a defense, in that the affidavit admitted that the defendants had ordered the coal company to make the shipment, which would confer upon that company authority to name the defendants as consignors. Even if the coal company had made the shipment in its own name, it was the agent of the defendants, and the latter were undisclosed consignors, and consequently liable for the demurrage which accrued when the consignee refused to accept the shipm