Russell v. Mobile & Ohio Railroad

Citations

• 87 Miss. 806

Syllabus

<p>1. Carriers. Railroads. Injury to freight. Presumption. Code 1892, § 4301.</p> <p>Under Code 1892, § 4301, providing that if one common carrier receive freight from another for transportation and delivery in this state under any contract for continuous carriage, which reaches the consignee in a damaged condition, the last carrier shall, within thirty days after demand, furnish the consignee true copies of all records and memoranda touching the respective transfers and handling of the freight while in transit, and that otherwise it shall be presumed to have caused the damage, but proof shall be admissible to show damage, loss, or destruction by reason of the nature of perishable goods, and all damage not discoverable by outside inspection, the statutory presumption is conclusive, save in the two excepted cases.</p> <p>2. Same. Actions. Instruction.</p> <p>Where, in an action under the statute, there was evidence warranting a finding that the damage to plaintiff’s shipment of fruit was due exclusively to long delay in shipment, and not at all to the nature of the fruit as perishable, the court should have instructed that, if the jury believed, from a preponderance of the evidence, that the damage was due to the delay in shipment, and not to the nature of the fruit as perishable, they should find for plaintiff.</p>