Hampton v. FedEx

1. Case Name, Citation and Court
Hampton v. Federal Express Corporation, 917 F.2d 1119 (8th Cir. 1990)

2. Key Facts
a. Carl Gerome Hampton was a thirteen year old boy that was diagnosed with cancer and needed a blood transplant.
b. Carl was a patient at Children’s Memorial Hospital in Omaha, Nebraska. This hospital sent five samples of Carl’s blood to the Veterans Administration Medical Center in Iowa City so they could find a match between five other people for a bone marrow transplant.
c. FedEx has a contract with the shipper, Children’s Memorial Hospital, and in this contract it states that FedEx is only limited to $100 worth of liability if in the event the package gets lost or damaged.
d. This event did occur and the package never got to the Veterans Administration Medical Center. Carl Gerome Hampton died shortly after because there was no attempt at a transplant.
e. Carl Jerry Hampton, Carl Gerome’s father, filed a suit against FedEx for alleging causes of action for personal injury, wrongful death and loss of services. He asked for $3,081,000.
3. Issue
Should the United States Court of Appeals give Carl Jerry Hampton his money for the loss of his son’s blood by Federal Express Corporation and the eventual death by Carl Gerome Hampton?
4. Decision and Applicable Law

The court of appeals saw in favor of the defendant, Federal Express Corporation based on the fact that they did not know the importance and intentions of the package. Thus, making Federal Express only liable for the contract negotiation of $100. Under federal common law, “[a] common carrier may not exempt itself from liability for its negligence; however, a carrier may limit its liability.”

5. Reason
a. Because of contract law, the agreement was made between only the shipper and the carrier. The shipper being the Children’s Memorial Hospital and the carrier being FedEx. Mr. Hampton was never part of this negotiation, thus making his loss irrelevant past $100 for the shipping flaw. Also, the shipper could have placed additional money on the liability that would cost the shipper more, but this was not done.
b. The contract was followed by the shipper and carrier. Everything was settled legally.
c. FedEx had no knowledge of how important the contents in the package were.
d. FedEx did not show any negligence upon the situation.
e. IF FedEx had known about the contents in the package then they may have never taken the package at all or charged a higher fee to the shipper making the liability higher.
f. The risk of losing the package was not known by the carrier, including the chance for death.