Chief Freight Lines Co. v. Holiday Inns of America, Inc.

GUITTARD, Justice.

This is a suit by a consignee against a motor carrier for damage to freight as it was. being unloaded from carrier’s truck. The principal question is whether the carrier’s strict liability as a qualified insurer under the Interstate Commerce Act, 49 U.S.C., § 20(11), had terminated by tender to the consignee for unloading before the damage was done. We hold that it had so terminated.

The freight in question, a crated 550-pound refrigerator “reconstituting unit,” was shipped on a uniform bill of lading from Hudson, New York to the consignee, Continental Trailways, at its bus…