VIRGINIA BREEDING AND TRAINING ASSOCIATION v. SOUTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY.
(Filed 13 April, 1910.)
Carrier of Goods — Live-stock Bills of Lading — Valuable Horse— Delivery — Special Contract — Measure of Damages.
A valuable race borse was shipped with knowledge by the carrier’s agent under its ordinary live-stock bill of lading, limiting the amount of recovery to $100, and under the terms 5f which the shipper assumed to indemnify the carrier against all claims arising from heat, etc. The carrier’s agent, knowing that the horse was shipped for races to be held at its destination at a certain time, made a special contract that it would reach its destination accordingly. The animal finally died from the effects of being overheated in the car, and then exposed to cold, and its ■ bad condition was at once made known to the agent at its destination before its removal: Held, recovery for full damages should be allowed, under Strmgfield v. R. R., ante, 125.
Appeal from Long, J., at February Term, 1909, of Guilfobd.
Civil action for damages to one borse, called “Jay Bird’s Delight,” shipped from Lynchburg to Greensboro, under a “live-stock contract” of carriage, which provided, among other things, that the shipper “will indemnify and save harmless the railroad company against claims arising out of loss or injury to said live stock accruing from * * * (c) heat, suffocation or other ill effects of being crowded in cars,” and which limited the amount of recovery to $100.
From verdict and judgment, defendant appealed.
The case is further stated in the opinion of Mr. Justice BbowN.
Justice & Broadhurst for plaintiff.
Wilson & Ferguson for defendant.
Bbown, J.
The evidence tends to prove that Jay Bird’s Delight was shipped with five other horses belonging to plaintiff, under an agreement with defendant’s agent at Lynchburg that they would be delivered at Greensboro-, N. C., ready for unloading on the morning of 7 October, provided they were loaded on the car by 3 :30 P. M., 6 October, at Lynchburg, and that they were loaded before that time; that these horses were race horses being transported to Greensboro for the Fair, and were of much greater value than ordinary animals; and that defendant’s agent at Lynchburg had knowledge of these facts.
The animals were not delivered as per agreement, but were held in Lynchburg until the night of 7 October, in the loaded' *346car exposed to great beat, succeeded by sudden cold, in conse- ' quence of wbicb Jay Bird’s Deligbt contracted pneumonia en route and subsequently died. Tbe condition of tbe borse on arrival at Greensboro was at once made known to defendant’s agents before removal.
This Court has not overruled Jones v. R. R., 148 N. C., 583, but as at present constituted reaffirmed it in Winslow v. R. R., 151 N. C., 250. A majority of tbe Court held that tbe facts in Stringfield v. R. R., ante, 125, took tbe case out of tbe rulings in those cases. In this case tbe animals were shipped under a special contract to deliver at a certain time, and tbe peculiar value of tbe animals made known to tbe defendant’s agent at Lynchburg.
. These facts, we think, bring tbe case within tbe scope of the String-field case, even from tbe minority point of view.
No error.