Singleton v. Atlantic Coast Line Railroad

The primary question of law may be stated as follows: Was the contract or lease valid and enforcible as a bar to recovery for the value of cotton negligently destroyed by fire?

The plaintiff insists that the contract or lease entered into by the parties in October, 1924, was contrary to public policy and void, for the reason that said contract permitted the defendant to relieve itself from the consequence of its own negligence. It is well settled here and elsewhere that a common carrier, while performing its duties to the public, cannot contract against its negligence. Mule Co. v. R. R., 160…