Southern Railway Co. v. Finley & Seymour

Citations

• 127 Va. 132
• 102 S.E. 559
• 1920 Va. LEXIS 39

Syllabus

<p>1. Connecting Carriers—Liability of Connecting Conner Under the Can-mack Amendment.—The Carmack amendment (U. S. Comp. St., secs. 8604a, 8604aa), providing that a shipper may sue the initial carrier either for its own default or for the default of any connecting carrier, contains a proviso,' “that nothing in this section shall deprive any holder of such * * * bill of lading of any remedy or right of action- which he has under the existing law.” Thus, while the initial carrier may be supd, either for his own negligence or for that of any connecting carrier each of the connecting carriers may be sued for his own default or negligence.</p> <p>2. Connecting Carriers—Liability of Connecting Carrier Under the Carmack Amendment.—While the receiving carrier is thus responsible for the whole carriage, each connecting carrier may be sued for damages occurring on its line; and the liability of such participating carrier is fixed by the applicable valid terms of the original bill of lading.</p> <p>3. Variance—How and When Objection Made.—The established rule in Virginia is that objection for a supposed variance between- the allegations and the proof should be made in the trial court, and that- the appropriate method of making such objection is to move to exclude the -evidence.</p> <p>4. Variance—Amendments.—Code of 1919, sec. 6250, provides that, if a variance between the evidence and the allegations appear, the court, if it considers that substantial justice will be promoted and that the opposite party cannot be prejudiced thereby, may allow the pleadings to be amended, or, instead of having - the pleadings amended, may direct the jury to find the facts, and, if it consider the variance such as could net have prejudiced the opposite party, may give judgment according- to the right of the case, and Code 1919, sec. 6104, provides that .the court may at any time, in the furtherance of justice and upon, such terms as it may deem just, permit pleadings to be amended, and that at