St. Louis, Alton & Terre Haute Railroad v. Montgomery

Citations

• 39 Ill. 335

Syllabus

<p>1. Carriers—warehousemen—in which character a railroad company liable. The technical liability of a common carrier does not attach until the delivery to him of the property is complete.</p> <p>3. If, for example, the same person is common carrier and warehouseman, and he receives goods to be forwarded when he has orders from the owner, his liability in the mean time is that of a warehouseman and not that of a common carrier.</p> <p>3. So where A delivered to a railroad company, for transportation, a quantity of hay, which was placed on' platform cars; the next day, when the company was about to send it forward, A requested that it should not be taken away until he could first see the party to whom it was sold, which request was complied with, and the next day the hay was ignited by sparks from a passing locomotive, and a portion of it . burned. In an action by A against the company for the value of the hay thus burned: Held, that, from the moment A requested the hay to be detained, the liability of the company was that of a warehouseman only.</p> <p>4. Same—degree of care required of each. A common carrier is liable for all losses not arising from the \act of God\ or the public enemy.</p> <p>5. A warehouseman must exercise reasonable care, but he is not an insurer against all losses except those arising from the “act of God” and the public enemy; he is only liable for losses which might have been guarded against by the exercise, on his part, of ordinary care and diligence.</p> <p>6. Same—what constitutes negligence. In this case, the mere leaving of the hay where the owner requested it might be left, and subject to no more hazards than the owner knew it must be subject to, was not a want of ordinary care on the part of the company.</p> <p>7. In such case, the railroad company were still bound to use all possible diligence to prevent the escape of fire from their trains in passing the loaded cars.</p> <p>.8. Burden of proof—as to question of care and diligence. In