Contempo Metal Furniture Co. Of California, a Calif. Corp. v. East Texas Motor Freight Lines, Inc., Dba Etmf Freight System

This is an action under the Interstate Commerce Act for damages arising out of ETMF Freight System’s delivery of steel tubing to Contempo Metal Furniture Company in a rusted and pitted condition. ETMF appeals the district court’s judgment for Contempo, arguing that: (1) the court erred in awarding Contempo damages for freight charges paid to ETMF and labor expended in attempting to use the tubing in manufacture; and (2) the court abused its discretion in denying ETMF’s motion for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence that Contempo had failed to make some of the tubing available to ETMF for salvage and had destroyed the salvage value of the remaining tubing. We affirm.

I

Facts

ETMF delivered to Contempo in California some steel tubing that Contempo had bought from a firm in Illinois. En route, the tubing was damaged by rain, and it arrived in a rusted and pitted condition. Contempo rejected the merchandise. Thereafter, ETMF subjected the steel tubing to a “pickling” process that removed the visual manifestations of the damage.

ETMF redelivered the tubing, and Con-tempo accepted it without inspection or exception. When Contempo chromed the tubing in order to make chairs…