Debate whether or not Fedex should be liable for the alleged loss of valuable rare coins when Fedex did not know what the package contained

CASE 47.3 FEDERAL COURT CASE Common Carrier Shipment Rykard v. FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. 2010 U.S. Dist. Lexis 11097 (2010) United States District Court for the Middle District of Georgia "Therefore, plaintiff cannot recover for any dam- Issue ages sustained as a result of the alleged lost pack- Is FedEx liable to Rykard for loss of the coins? age of rare coins." -Land, District Judge Language of the Court In this case, plaintiff Rykard attempted to ship Facts a prohibited item without disclosing the ship- Billy Rykard allegedly shipped rare coins from ment contents to FedEx. Plaintiff also improp- Midland, Georgia to Columbia Collectibles, LTD erly packaged the shipment in a DHL box. By (Columbia), located in Patchogue, New York by these actions, plaintiff violated the terms of FedEx Ground Package System, Inc. (FedEx). Rykard the liability limitations in the tariff. Therefore, had packaged and taped the shipment in a DHL box plaintiff cannot recover for any damages sus- (DHL is a competitor shipper to FedEx) instead of a tained as a result of the alleged lost package of FedEx package and did not notify FedEx that that the rare coins. package contained rare coins. When the coins were not received by Columbia, Rykard sued FedEx in Decision U.S. district court to recover damages. The U.S. district court held that FedEx was not lia- FedEx asserted 2 defenses. First, the tariff con- ble for the alleged loss of the rare coins. tract stated that a shipper was prohibited from shipping money, cash, currency, or rare coins and that FedEx would not be liable for the loss of Critical Legal Thinking Questions such items. Second, the contract also stated that Should Rykard expect FedEx to be liable for the FedEx would not be liable for losses attributable alleged loss of valuable rare coins when FedEx did to improper packaging, marking, and labeling of not know what the package contained? Is it ethical shipments. for FedEx to limit its liability