Pacific Electric Railway Co. v. Petroleum Midway Co.

Appeal by plaintiff Pacific Electric Railway Company from a judgment for the defendant Petroleum Midway Company, Ltd., in an action brought to recover judgment for $657, claimed by plaintiff as owing from defendant for demurrage charges on certain carloads of freight consigned to the defendant.

The record fairly justifies the following brief statement of the material facts necessary to a consideration of the legal question which, in our opinion, is determinative of this appeal.

Plaintiff and appellant is’ a public carrier with tracks located in and about Wilmington, California. The defendant and respondent operates an oil refinery at Wilmington. During the month of June, 1923, an ocean freighter carry ing a consignment of manufactured steel for respondent, instead of docking at its usual wharf at San Pedro, where the respondent expected to receive the steel, unloaded its cargo at East San Pedro, and delivered to the Union Pacific Railroad Company the steel in question to be delivered over its rails to respondent at "Wilmington. It required thirty-two ears to carry the steel, these cars being loaded and delivered in lots of six to eight ears at a time. The Union Pacific moved the…