Story Case

The Blue Valley Fruit Company, located at Walton, Missouri, consigned to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway Company, fifty crates of pineapples for shipment to its branch house in South Dakota. The goods were accepted Monday morning. The same morning, Louis Werner consigned to the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway Company one hundred crates of strawberries, to be shipped north. Both the pineapples and the strawberries were shipped, but in separate refrigerator cars. These cars were always repacked with ice at Crete, Nebraska, where a large artificial ice plant was operated. But on the day of shipping, a strike had occurred at the ice plant, and a shortage of ice existed. There was barely enough ice to repack one refrigerator car. The station agent decided to place ice in the car which held the strawberries, as they were more perishable than the pineapples; the weather was hot, and the pineapples, not being properly iced, deteriorated in value during transportation. The Blue Valley Fruit Company sued the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railway Company for discrimination in favor of Louis Werner. Did the company have a legal right so to discriminate?

Ruling Court Case. The New York Central & Hudson Railway Company Vs. Patrick Turney, Volume 76 New York Reports, Page 305

Patrick Turney delivered to the railroad, a car of cabbages for transportation to New York. The cabbages, in the ordinary course, should have arrived in New York in eleven hours. In this case there was a delay of some ten hours, in consequence of which the produce was frozen. The plaintiff sued the railroad company for his loss. At the trial, the railroad company sought to escape liability, on the ground that this car was switched upon a side track and blocked up by cars, subsequently arriving, so that it was impossible to move it until the others were sent forward.

Justice Danforth said: "On receiving the freight, it was the duty of the railroad company to forward it immediately to its destination. There was no sudden or great emergency that made it impossible to forward the cabbages. The only excuse offered by the company was that the car was blocked by others, which could not be altogether conveniently moved. This was insufficient. It is the duty of a carrier to give preference to perishable property, in case he is unable to carry all the property offered for transportation." Judgment was given for the plaintiff, Frank Turney.

Ruling Law. Story Case Answer

It has been established that the carrier may, in certain cases, give preference of service to certain classes of freight. Not only must he, when occasions demand it, ship live stock before dead freight, but he must also exercise his discretion in choosing between different classes of inorganic, or dead freight. For instance, perishable freight must have preference over that which is not perishable.

A more difficult case arises when the carrier is confronted, as in the Story Case, with two kinds of perishable merchandise. In such a case, the railroad company will be excused, if it uses reasonable discretion.

The judgment of the railroad company, in the Story Case, could not be criticised.