Teller & Co. v. American Railway Express Co.

Citations

• 78 Pa. Super. 300
• 1922 Pa. Super. LEXIS 104

Syllabus

<p>Carriers — Shippers — Stoppage in transitu — Bills of lading< — i Sales Act — Practice Act.</p> <p>The right of stoppage in transitu can only be exercised by one who has sold goods on credit to a buyer who is or becomes insolvent and it is not unreasonable that a carrier before it undertakes to obey such an order should have notice that the sale was on credit, that is, that the goods had not been paid for, and that the buyer was insolvent. Both conditions are necessary to justify a stoppage of goods in transitu, and it is not unreasonable that the notice of the seller’s claim to exercise his right should set them forth.</p> <p>Where, however, a carrier has assumed to act in pursuance of a notice lacking such definite information, and the facts actually justify such stoppage in transitu, because the sale was on credit and the buyer was insolvent, it cannot thereafter justify delivery in contravention of such order, on the ground that the notice under which it acted was not such as it might have required.</p> <p>Where the statement of claim avers delivery to a carrier and order to stop the goods in transit accepted by the carrier and the carrier’s negligent failure to comply therewith, a judgment on the affidavit of defense raising a question of law was improperly entered, on the ground that the stoppage order failed to state, as required by section 59 of the Sales Act, that the buyer was insolvent and had not paid the seller for the goods. Having assumed to act on the order, the carrier cannot justify its failure to carry it out on the ground that it might have required more specific information.</p> <p>The Act of Congress of August 29, 1916, regulating interstate bills of lading provides that where a carrier delivers goods to one who is not lawfully entitled to the possession of them the carrier shall be liable to any one having a right of property or possession in the goods if he delivered the property otherwise than as authorized under the provisions of the law