A CARRIER SHOULD PAY VALUE AT DESTINATION FOR LUMBER LOST.
Question.—On what basis must a railroad company settle a claim by a consignee on lumber damaged or lost? Must the consignee supply the original invoices, or is he entitled to the selling price in his market?
Reply: If the contract does not provide otherwise, a carrier who fails to deliver goods must, as a rule, pay to the consignee the value of the goods at the time and place at which delivery should have been made. The carrier is to retain his freight charges out of this amount, of course, if freight has not been paid in advance. This is the only rule by which the whole of the loss can be placed upon the carrier, where it belongs. If he had done his duty and delivered the goods the consignee could have sold them at the prices there and then prevailing. If the carrier pays the consignee less than this amount the consignee himself must bear part of the burden of the carrier’s negligence. Of course, if the contract provides that settlement shall be upon some other basis, original cost, for example, the contract will be enforced. The only other exception to the rule is that which arises when the goods have already been sold for an amount which is not so great as the market price at the place and time at which delivery ought to have been made. If delivery had been duly made, in such a case the owner of the goods could not have taken advantage of ruling market prices; he had already bound himself to deliver the goods at a price which proves to be less than the market on the day fixed for delivery, and this selling price is all that he can claim. The object in every case, except where there has been a special contract of carriage, is to place the owner of the goods as nearly as possible in the same position he would have occupied if the carrier had done his duty and to put upon the carrier, where it belongs, the whole burden of his negligence and breach of contract.
Opinion No. 73.