Southern Express Co. v. Byers

Background

A man shipped a casket and grave clothes from Asheville, North Carolina, to Hickory Grove, South Carolina, for his wife’s burial. The delivery was delayed. He sued the express company and recovered $250 in state court. The carrier introduced a bill of lading that limited liability to $50 and produced a receipt showing it had paid $64.17 for the coffin; the carrier also said it had filed rate schedules with the Interstate Commerce Commission, but the trial court excluded those schedules.

Reasoning

The Court considered whether a person may recover only for mental suffering caused by delayed delivery of an interstate shipment. It explained the long-standing common-law rule that mere mental pain without injury to person, property, health, or reputation is not compensable. The Court also said the excluded rate schedules were important to evaluate the bill-of-lading liability limits. Because the claim sought only emotional distress and no other compensable loss, the Court held the jury should have been told to rule for the carrier and found it was error to leave the matter to the jury.

Real world impact

The decision reverses the judgment and sends the case back for further proceedings consistent with this ruling. People seeking only emotional damages for late interstate shipments will generally not be able to recover. Carriers’ written liability limits and filed rate schedules will be important defenses in similar cases and must be considered by trial courts.

Dissents or concurrances

Two Justices (McKenna and Holmes) joined only in the result, agreeing the judgment should be reversed but not adding further opinion.