## Facts

- A manufacturer arranged to exhibit a newly developed furnace and special burners at a trade convention in Atlantic City in October 1926.
- Before shipping, the shipper notified the express company that timely arrival was essential because the exhibit had to be installed by a specific date for the convention and would be useless if late.
- The carrier advised the shipper of the latest date by which the shipment should be tendered to ensure arrival by the required deadline.
- The shipper tendered the exhibit, packed in 21 boxes, to the carrier for delivery to Atlantic City.
- Upon arrival at the convention, the shipper discovered a critical box containing essential parts was missing; without it, the exhibit could not function.
- The carrier did not deliver the missing box during the convention; it was returned to the shipper after the event ended.
- The shipper sought reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenditures rendered wasted by the failed delivery (travel, lodging, booth rental, shipping costs, and the value of managerial time), rather than speculative lost profits.
- After a bench trial, the trial court awarded the claimed expenditures plus interest; the carrier appealed.

## Issues

1. Whether a carrier that has notice of a shipment’s special purpose and the consequences of delay is liable for the shipper’s actual losses from the delay, including reliance-type expenses.
2. Whether damages for delay are limited to the ordinary market-value measure for late delivery, or may include special damages within the parties’ contemplation based on notice.

## Decision

- The appellate court affirmed the judgment for the shipper.
- The court held that the ordinary market-value measure for delay does not control where the carrier had notice of special circumstances making delay unusually harmful.
- Given the carrier’s notice that the exhibit was time-sensitive and would be valueless if incomplete during the convention, the shipper could recover its reasonable reliance expenditures caused by the delay.

## Legal Principles

- The default measure of damages for a carrier’s unreasonable delay is the difference in market value between timely delivery and actual delivery.
- If the carrier has sufficient notice of special circumstances such that it is fairly presumed to have contracted in view of those circumstances, it is liable for the actual damages foreseeably resulting from delay.
- When expected profits are uncertain or not provable, a plaintiff may recover reasonable expenditures made in preparation for, or in reliance on, timely performance when those losses were within the parties’ contemplation at contracting.

## Conclusion

Because the carrier accepted the shipment with clear notice that timely delivery of all components was essential for a scheduled exhibition, it was responsible for the shipper’s wasted, reasonably incurred reliance expenses resulting from the failure to deliver a critical box during the convention.


Security Stove & Mfg. Co. v. Am. Ry. Express Co., 51 S.W.2d 572 (Mo. Ct. App. 1932)