Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Gerson & Sons
Supreme Court of Alabama
Appeal from the Circuit Court of Montgomery. Tried before.the Hon. John R. Tyson. The plaintiffs, Gerson & Sons, brought this suit before a justice of the peace against the Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., to recover for negligent injury of an animal.
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Appeal from the Circuit Court of Montgomery. Tried before.the Hon. John R. Tyson. The plaintiffs, Gerson & Sons, brought this suit before a justice of the peace against the Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., to recover for negligent injury of an animal. The whole of the complaint is : “A. Gerson, Samuel Ger-son and Nathan Gerson, partners under the firm name of A. Gerson & Sons, claim of theL. & N. R. R. Co., a corporation, fifty dollars damages, for the negligent injury by the defendant of an iron gray mare, on or about the last of October, 1890, the property of plaintiffs, which the…
1Opinion of the CourtHaralson, J.
This is not an action against the defendant corporation as a common carrier, for a failure to deliver the animal to the consignee in safety, free from injury to it in its transportation. The defendant is not referred to at all in the complaint as a carrier, common or private. All carriers without hire may be said to be private carriers. Compensation in some form, either by the payment of its price, or a promise express or implied to pay it, is essential to constitute a common carrier. If one undertakes to carry goods for another gratuitously, he is a mere mandatory, and liable only for gross…
2Cases cited4 opinions
- Montgomery & Eufaula Railway Co. v. KolbSupreme Court of Alabama · 1882
- Melbourne & Troy v. Louisville & Nashville RailroadSupreme Court of Alabama · 1889
- Western Railway v. HarwellSupreme Court of Alabama · 1892
- Louisville & Nashville Railroad v. Grant & RichardsonSupreme Court of Alabama · 1892
3Cited by1 opinion
- Louisville N. R. Co. v. Benton Mercantile Co.Supreme Court of Alabama · 1929