Hall & Long v. Railroad Cos.
Supreme Court of the United States
Error to the Circuit Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. list 11 & Long allowed this suit in their names, for the use of certain insurance companies, against the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company, to recover the value of cotton shipped by them on the road of the defendant as a common carrier, which was accidentally consumed by fire, while being transported, and “ became and was a total loss.”
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Error to the Circuit Court for the Middle District of Tennessee. list 11 & Long allowed this suit in their names, for the use of certain insurance companies, against the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad Company, to recover the value of cotton shipped by them on the road of the defendant as a common carrier, which was accidentally consumed by fire, while being transported, and “ became and was a total loss.” The cotton had been insured by Hall & Long against loss by fire, in the companies for whose use the suit was brought, and these companies had paid the amount insured by them,…
1Opinion of the CourtJustice Strong
It is too well settled by the authorities to admit of question that, as between a common carrier of goods and an underwriter upon them, the liability to the owner for their loss or destruction is primarily upon the carrier, while the liability of the insurer is only secondary. The contract of the carrier may not be first in order of time, but it is first and principal in ultimate liability. In respect to the ownership of the goods, and the risk incident thereto, the owner and the insurer are considered but one person, having together the beneficial right to the indemnity due from the carrier…
2Cited by121 opinions
- United States v. Aetna Casualty & Surety Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1950
- Missouri Pacific Railroad v. Elmore & StahlSupreme Court of the United States · 1964
- Phœnix Insurance v. Erie & Western Transportation Co.Supreme Court of the United States · 1886
- St. Louis, Iron Mountain & Southern Railway Co. v. Commercial Union InsuranceSupreme Court of the United States · 1891
- Mobile & Montgomery Railway Co. v. JureySupreme Court of the United States · 1884
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