Buller

This is an action for damages incurred when a trailer load of steel pipe toppled into a ravine while it was being hauled by tractor on October 21, 1965, from Richmond, California, to the Fricot School for Boys (near San Andreas) in Calaveras County, California. Defendant Dale Buller, doing business as Napa Drayage and Warehouse Co. (hereinafter “Buller”) appeals from a judgment of the Calaveras County Superior Court awarding plaintiff BBD Transportation Co., Inc., a corporation (hereinafter “BBD”), damages in the amount of $9,357.24.

The trial court, sitting without a jury, found that both plaintiff and defendant were radial highway common carriers, that BBD was the prime hauler of the load of pipe for the customer, and that on or about October 20, 1965, BBD and Buller entered into an oral subhaul agreement whereby Buller was to haul the load from Richmond to its destination. From these findings, the court concluded that Buller was by virtue of section 2194 of the Civil Code an insurer of the safety of the goods and that since the obligation was thus founded upon statute, the three-year period of limitations of section 338 of the Code of Civil Procedure was applicable.…