ALLIED VAN LINES, INC., APPELLANT,
v.
ILA M. BRATTON AND ROBERT T. COTTERMAN, APPELLEES
PER CURIAM.
We have studied the briefs and record in this case and conclude therefrom that while the issue involved was a close one, it was properly one for the jury rather than for a directed verdict.
The other appellate points have been given serious consideration and found to be without merit.
Accordingly, the judgment appealed from is affirmed.
CROSS and DOWNEY, JJ., concur. WALDEN, C. J., dissents, with opinion.
WALDEN, Chief Judge
(dissenting):
I would reverse and remand with instructions to reduce the plaintiff’s judgment from $10,630 to $4,500. Plaintiff was a shipper of household goods and defendant was a public carrier. The goods were destroyed in interstate transit. Plaintiff sued the carrier. The bill of lading contained a clear and proper limitation of liability provision (which would limit the carrier’s liability to $4,500). Plaintiff signed the bill of lading and acknowledged at trial that she knew it was a contract but said she didn’t know about the limitation of liability proviso.
In my opinion the trial court erred in denying the carrier’s motion for directed verdict and erred in presenting the question to the jury on the plaintiff’s assertion of mistake.
And so, without elaboration, it is my view, as a matter of law, that the plaintiff was bound by the limitation of liability provision in the contract.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
Citator
Cited By
-
Allied van Lines, Inc. v. Ila M. Bratton, 351 So. 2d 344 (Fla. 1977)…ained in a Bill of Lading issued by a carrier and signed by the shipper, on the ground that the shipper did not read the document and therefore did not assent to its provisions? The Fourth District Court of Appeal [Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Bratton, 330 So. 2d 521 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976)] and the Second District Court of Appeal [Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. McKnab, 331 So. 2d 319 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976)] answered this question in the affirmative. Conflict is asserted with Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company v. Dexter, 5…
-
Dedmon v. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co., 408 So. 2d 822 (Fla. 3d DCA 1982)…judgment for State Farm [*823] on the “directed verdict” was to enter a judgment n.o.v. . The Florida Supreme Court consolidated for review Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. McKnab, 331 So. 2d 319 (Fla. 2d DCA 1976), and Allied Van Lines, Inc. v. Bratton, 330 So. 2d 521 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). The Court, holding that a party to a written contract cannot defend against its enforcement on the sole ground that he signed it without reading it, quashed the District Court’s opinion in Bratton, but holding that such a contra…