Security Stove & Manufacturing v. American Railway Express

Facts

Plaintiff manufactured a combination oil and gas furnace to exhibit at the American Gas Association Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The plaintiff secured a space at the convention and contacted defendant to ship the furnace. On September 18, 1926, plaintiff wrote to defendant’s office requesting transportation of the furnace from Kansas City, Missouri to Atlantic City for delivery by October 8th. The defendant advised that it would need the furnace by October 4th to make the delivery on time. On October 1st, the plaintiff wrote defendant advising that the furnace could be picked up on October 2nd. On October 2nd, the plaintiff called defendant’s office and let them know the shipment was ready. Defendant picked up the shipment that day. The furnace was broke down into 21 numbered packages.

On October 11th, the plaintiff’s president arrived at the convention to find the shipment placed in its booth. However, one of the packages was missing. The missing package contained the gas manifold which controlled the flow of gas to the burner and was the most important part of the exhibit. After some communication between the parties, the package was located at defendant’s “over and short bureau” in St. Louis. Defendant advised that the package would be to Atlantic City by October 13th, however, it did not arrive by the time the plaintiff left on October 14th. The package was returned to plaintiff a week later.