Gray v. Minneapolis & St. Louis Railroad

Reciprocal Demurrage Act— Case Followed. Action in the municipal court of St. Paul under Laws 1907, c. 23, to recover $6 damages, and $100 as attorney’s fee to be taxed as costs, for delay in the delivery of three carloads of freight. The amended answer alleged that the only trains operated by defendant through the towns of Belview and Hazel Run, whence the freight was shipped, were interstate trains between Watertown, South Dakota, and Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, picking up freight at intermediate stations; that to have stopped the trains at the above stations and taken on the cars within the times mentioned in the complaint would have seriously interfered with interstate commerce, and that Laws 1907, c. 23, was unconstitutional and void. A demurrer to the answer on the ground that it stated no defense was sustained, Finehout, J. The case was tried before the same judge, who ordered judgment in favor of plaintiff for $6 damages, and $50 attorney’s fee to be taxed as costs. From the judgment entered pursuant to the order, defendant appealed.