Opinion

The San Guglielmo

  • 249 F. 588
  • 1918 U.S. App. LEXIS 2260
Court
Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit
Filed
Mar 13, 1918
Status
Published
Author
Hough
On the bench
Hough, Ward
Cited by
29 cases
Authority
More cited than 17.2%

The opinion

HOUGH, Circuit Judge

(dissenting). The point insisted on by the majority seems to me most frankly put in The Westminster, 127 Fed. 681 , 62 C. C. A. 406 , where it is said:

‘•The notice stipulated for is not of the fact of damage, * * * put of the intent to hold the carrier liable for it, which, on failure to give notice, the latter, in view of the stipulation, may well regard as being- waived.”

Taking cognizance of the methods, and the only possible methods, of receiving most cargo from most ships (and the San Guglielmo in particular), the majority hold in substance that a shipper’s right to recover for obviously damaged cargo depends on whether a carter or driver is able nicely to distinguish between notice of fact of damage, and notice of claim for damage. If he takes away the goods without using the correct legal formula, his employer’s rights are gone.

From this doctrine and the decision applying it I dissent, believing that the only justification for the attempted limitation of carrier’s liability is that the carrier is reasonably entitled to knowledge of demands that may be made; more than that is unreasonable. Nor do I think that The Queen of the Pacific, supra, requires or supports the present ruling. The test of reasonableness is there laid down, and that criterion, if applied here, would result in affirmance of decree.

This is a copy of a public record, reproduced as it was published. It is not legal advice, and it may not be the version a court would rely on. Check the official source before you cite it.

A word about cookies

We need a few to keep you signed in and the library working. The rest help us see which pages people use and where they get stuck. They stay off unless you say yes.