Reply: If a consignee refuses to accept goods shipped under a non-negotiable bill of lading they may be returned to the consignor. The carrier is not bound to act as agent or intermediary for the settlement of any differences between the two. Here our correspondents have simply extended a credit of $200 to the shipper. If he does not voluntarily meet the obligation the amount may be recovered by suit.
RAILROADS MUST PAY VALUE AT DESTINATION FOR DAMAGES ON LOST LUMBER.
Question.—Should the railroad in settling claims for shortage of lumber pay for it at our cost price or at the current market price?
Reply: Unless the contract between the shipper and carrier provides for some other measure of damages, the principal amount to be paid by the carrier when the lumber is lost or destroyed is the market value at destination. If the freight has not been paid in advance it is to be deducted from market value. There is to be added, on the other hand, interest at the legal rate from the day on which delivery should have been made to the day of settlement; and there is to be added also any incidental expense to which the consignee may have been put as a direct result of the carrier’s failure to do his duty. This is the only way in which the consignee can be placed in as favorable a position as he would have occupied if the carrier had done his duty, the only way in which the whole of the loss can be placed upon the carrier, who has caused it; and this is what the law aims to do in every case.
SUIT CAN BE INSTITUTED IN NEW JERSEY ON JUDGMENT OBTAINED IN ANOTHER STATE.
Question.—Some time ago I secured a judgment in Pennsylvania against a party who now lives in New Jersey, and has some property there. Can I make collection in New Jersey?
Reply: A judgment of a Pennsylvania court can be enforced by a levy on property in New Jersey, without regard to the place of residence of either the plaintiff or defendant. If this judgment was secured in Pennsylvania it is without force in New Jersey. In that case, however, another suit can be started in New Jersey, and the proceedings will be brief and inexpensive; he will have to prove merely that suit was previously brought in Pennsylvania, in a court of competent jurisdiction, and judgment rendered in his favor. Judgment in New Jersey will follow immediately and as a matter of course; under that judgment he can levy on property in New Jersey.