Blackstock v. . the New York and Erie Railroad Company
New York Court of Appeals
Appeal from the Superior Court of the city of New York. The action was brought against the defendant as a common carrier, for a delay in the carriage of a large quantity of potatoes in barrels and sacks, from Nornellsville in Steuben county, to the city of New York.
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Appeal from the Superior Court of the city of New York. The action was brought against the defendant as a common carrier, for a delay in the carriage of a large quantity of potatoes in barrels and sacks, from Nornellsville in Steuben county, to the city of New York. They were received by the defendant on different days in June, 1854, and would have been delivered, according to the usual course of business, within five days, but they were detained about seventeen days, and when delivered were found to have become unmerchantable, and were nearly worthless on account of the delay in their…
1Opinion of the CourtDenio, J.
The position that the defendants are not responsible, because the misconduct of their servants was willful and not negligent, cannot be sustained. The action is not brought on account of any injury done to the property by the engineers, but for an alleged non-performance of a duty which the defendants owed to the owner of the property. If their inability to perform was occasioned by the default of persons for whose conduct they are responsible, they must answer for the consequences without regard to the motives of those persons. In the common case of a contract for services, as for building a…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Weed v. . the Panama Railroad CompanyNew York Court of Appeals · 1858
- Denny v. Manhattan Co.New York Supreme Court · 1846
- Conger v. Hudson River RailroadThe Superior Court of New York City · 1857
- Harlow v. HumistonNew York Supreme Court · 1826
3Cited by22 opinions
- McGovern v. . City of New YorkNew York Court of Appeals · 1923
- Read v. St. Louis, Kansas City & Northern RailroadSupreme Court of Missouri · 1875
- Geismer v. Lake Shore & Michigan Southern Railway Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1886
- Canadian Industrial Alcohol Co. v. Dunbar Molasses Co.New York Court of Appeals · 1932
- Pittsburgh, Cincinnati & St. Louis R. W. Co. v. HollowellIndiana Supreme Court · 1879
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