Citations
- 917 F.2d 1119
Full opinion text
RE, Chief Judge.
In this diversity action, plaintiffs-appellants, Carl Jerry Hampton, individually and on behalf of his deceased son, Carl Gerome Hampton (collectively, Hampton), Missouri residents, sued defendant-appellee, Federal Express Corporation, a Delaware corporation, in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri, seeking a total of $3,081,000, for personal injury, wrongful death, and loss of services.
Hampton alleged that Federal Express, a common carrier, negligently failed to deliver blood samples of Carl Gerome Hampton, a cancer patient in need of a bone marrow transplant, that had to be matched with a potential bone marrow donor. Hampton appeals from judgment of the district court which granted the partial summary judgment motion of the carrier, Federal Express, limiting Hampton’s recovery to $100 in damages.
The question presented is whether the district court erred in determining that the carrier, Federal Express, is entitled to partial summary judgment under the released value doctrine, limiting its liability to $100, the amount stated in the contract of carriage between it and the shipper.
Since, on the facts presented, the nature and extent of damages suffered by plaintiff Hampton were not reasonably foreseeable to the carrier, Federal Express, we affirm the judgment of the district court granting Federal Express’ motion for partial summary judgment.
I. BACKGROUND
In March, 1988, Carl Gerome Hampton, a 13-year old cancer patient at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska, was awaiting a bone marrow transplant. A transplant operation was scheduled at the University of Iowa Hospital in Iowa City, Iowa, where five potential bone marrow donors had been found.
On March 21, 1988, in order to match Carl with the most suitable donor, five samples of Carl’s blood were sent by the shipper, the Children’s Memorial Hospital in Omaha, to Dr. Nancy Goeken, at the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Iowa City. The shipper, the Children’s Memorial Hospital, entered into a contract with the carrier, Federal Express, for the transport of the blood samples.
In a paragraph entitled “Damages or Loss,” the contract of carriage, set forth in the airbill, stated:
We are liable for no more than $100 per package in the event of physical loss or damage, unless you fill in a higher Declared Value to the left and document higher actual loss in the event of a claim. We charge 30