Bragg v. Taylor

Headnote

Carriers — express company — liability for value of goods damaged by fire while in warehouse awaiting instructions as to delivery.

Bragg v. Taylor, 205 App. Div. 59 , affirmed.

Appeal, by permission, from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the first judicial

départment, entered April 13, 1923, unanimously affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict. The action was to recover the value of goods, delivered to defendant, a common carrier, and damaged by fire while in one of defendant’s warehouses. The answer set forth two special defenses. The first defense was that the shipment, when damaged, was being held by the defendant in its warehouse in New York in accordance with the instructions of the plaintiff for her convenience; that the defendant was not acting as a carrier but as a warehouseman at the time of the damage; that the damage was not caused by any negligence or fault on the part of the defendant, and that the defendant is not liable therefor. The second defense was that the shipment with the shipper’s authorization was made under an agreed valuation of not exceeding fifty cents per pound; that the plaintiff received the benefit of the lower rates of transportation for a shipment of such value and cannot now assert that the shipment was of a greater value than that represented at the time of shipment.