BNUMBER:  B-260372
DATE:  October 31, 1995
TITLE:  Cartwright International Van Lines

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Matter of:Cartwright International Van Lines

File:     B-260372

Date:     October 31, 1995

DIGEST

Where pieces of bedroom set were delivered from nontemporary storage 
with wrong drawers and carrier did not complete a rider noting the 
damage, the carrier is liable for the damage as prima facie case of 
liability is established and prior settlement of Claims Group is 
reversed.

DECISION

The Chief of the Personnel and Recovery Division of the U.S. Army 
Claims Service  requests review of Settlement No. Z-2609168-106 which 
found the collection by the Army of $1,006 from Cartwright 
International Van Lines for transit loss in connection with a shipment 
of household goods of a service member to have been improper.  We 
reverse the settlement.

Cartwright picked up the shipment from nontemporary storage on April 
30, 1991, in Phoenix, Arizona, and delivered it on May 7, 1991, to 
Augusta, Georgia.  A six-piece bedroom set was delivered but with many 
drawers that did not belong to the set and did not match.  Two 
nightstands had four incorrect drawers, a chest had two wrong drawers 
out of five and all six drawers in a dresser were incorrect.  

Our Claims Group found that the Army had not established a prima facie 
case of carrier liability by failing to show the tender of the goods 
to the carrier in a certain condition.  Missouri Pacific R.R. v. 
Elmore & Stahl, 377 U.S. 134 (1964).  There was nothing in the file to 
show that the dresser was delivered without drawers.  If the drawers 
were not delivered, tender could be shown in the absence of a rider, 
because a dresser without drawers should be obvious at the time of 
pick up.  Here, however, each drawer hole had a drawer in it and there 
is nothing to show that the carrier was tendered anything other than 
what was delivered.  Accordingly, our Claims Group found that the 
carrier was due a refund of the amount offset for the bedroom set, 
$1,006.

The Army, in requesting reconsideration, argues that since Cartwright 
did not execute a rider showing that it picked up the wrong drawers at 
the nontemporary storage facility, tender of these items has been 
established.  Also, since Cartwright did not properly examine the 
items when they were picked up and complete a rider, the government 
cannot look to the NTS facility for recovery of the shipper's loss.  
Therefore, as the last carrier, Cartwright should bear the loss.  To 
hold otherwise, according to the Army, grants a benefit to carriers 
who fail to properly execute a rider.

The law is well settled that a carrier, though not an absolute 
insurer, is liable for damage to goods transported by it unless it can 
show that the damage was caused by (a) an act of God; (b) a public 
enemy; (c) an act of the shipper himself; (d) action by public 
authority; or (e) the inherent vice or nature of the goods.  See 
Missouri Pacific R.R., supra.  Since Cartwright did not complete a 
rider showing the damage, i.e., the improper drawers, when it picked 
up the items from storage and none of the above exceptions apply, as 
the last carrier, it is liable for the loss since the government has 
established a prima facie case of carrier liability.  57 Comp. Gen. 
415, 418 (1978).

Cartwright cites our decision Carlyle Van Lines, Inc., B-247442.2, 
Dec. 14, 1993, to support its argument that it should not be liable 
for delivering the item it obtained from the nontemporary storage 
warehouse.  In that decision we found that the carrier was not liable 
for delivering a rug merely described on the inventory as "Rug Red 
with Flowers" which the member stated was not the rug the member had 
tendered but that he had tendered an oriental rug valued at $3,400.  
We reached our decision based on the lack of evidence or receipts to 
establish exactly what was tendered.  Here, the member had the 
original receipt for the bedroom set and following inspection by the 
Army, it was concluded that the wrong drawers had been delivered.

 Accordingly, we reverse the settlement of the Claims Group.

/s/Seymour Efros
for Robert P. Murphy
General Counsel