Whitehall Packing Co. v. Safeway Truck Lines, Inc.

Whitehall is a beef slaughtering concern with its offices in Whitehall, Wisconsin. Whitehall engaged Safeway to transport a consignment of 40 barrels of fresh meat to Howard Johnson’s in New York, with an additional consignment of 105 quarters of fresh carcass meat consigned to the Meilman Packing Company, also in New York.

The meat was loaded in the Safeway truck on July 17, 1969. The hanging meat was placed in the front of the truck, and the barreled meat was loaded in the rear. While the original bills of lading were not introduced at trial, two documents entitled “Memorandum” which…