Ferraris

Action to recover damages alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff on account of defendants’ negligence in transporting a car of bananas from New Orleans to Los Angeles. Judgment went for plaintiff, from which defendants appeal, claiming the evidence is insufficient to justify the finding of the court to the effect that the deterioration of the fruit, delivered to defendants at New Orleans in good condition, was due to the failure of defendants to keep the same under proper refrigeration.

[1] Testimony received on the part of plaintiff was to the effect that in shipping bananas in carload lots it is necessary to place them in charge of a messenger, as was done in this instance, whose duty it is to maintain a temperature inside the car of fifty-eight or sixty degrees, which is done by the opening and closing of plugs and vents, depending upon the outside temperature, which varies along the route of travel. The testimony also tends to show that the messenger in charge of the car properly looked after the ventilation thereof, which arrived in Los Angeles at 8:20 P. M., December 13, 1917, with the fruit in good condition; that the damage to the bananas occurred between the time of…