Action Time Carpets, Inc. v. Midwest Carpet Brokers, Inc.

271 N.W.2d 36, 24 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1103, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1160
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedSeptember 15, 1978
Docket47893
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 271 N.W.2d 36 (Action Time Carpets, Inc. v. Midwest Carpet Brokers, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Action Time Carpets, Inc. v. Midwest Carpet Brokers, Inc., 271 N.W.2d 36, 24 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1103, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1160 (Mich. 1978).

Opinion

SCOTT, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment entered against defendant Midwest Carpet Brokers, Inc. (Midwest), in an action for breach of contract brought by plaintiff Action Time Carpets, Inc. (Action Time). We affirm in part and reverse in part, and remand for further proceedings.

In December 1972, Midwest entered into a contract with the Darrel Farr Development Corporation (Farr) to furnish and install 7,000 yards of carpet in a 96-unit apartment building Farr was constructing in St. Cloud, Minnesota. Samuel J. Peraro, Midwest’s president, delayed ordering the required carpet until the date of Midwest’s performance was established more specifically, since he did not want to tie up corporate funds in inventory over a long period of time.

In a January 29, 1974, letter, Farr advised Midwest that the installation of the carpet was to commence on February 15, 1974. Peraro received this letter on February 1, 1974, and immediately contacted Samuel J. Cavallaro, a self-employed manufacturer’s representative who represented *38 plaintiff Action Time. On the same day, Cavallaro came to Midwest’s shop where Peraro asked him if he could copy the texture and color of a certain carpet Peraro desired to order. Cavallaro then telephoned Action Time at its office in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Action Time stated that the carpet would have to be specially dyed and that it could fill the order if the colors could be matched. Cavallaro told Action Time that this was a “rush order” since Peraro had told him the carpet was needed immediately. According to Peraro, immediately after the telephone call was completed Ca-vallaro told him that it would take a week to ten days to get the carpet after the color was verified. Peraro then gave Cavallaro samples of the carpet to be matched for color, and Cavallaro sent the samples by airmail to Action Time the same day with a note asking Action Time to “rush” the specially-dyed samples back.

Action Time sent the samples back to Cavallaro, who brought them to Peraro’s shop on February 12, 1974. Peraro approved of the special dyes and signed a purchase order on one of Midwest’s own purchase order forms. The purchase order called for 7,000 square yards of carpet— 3,500 yards of gold and 3,500 yards of orange. Written in the blank to the right of the printed words “Date Required” were the words “at once.” The purchase order also contained the written words “W/Letter of FHA Approved.”

Upon completing the purchase order, Ca-vallaro called Action Time and told them that the color was approved and that he was mailing a written order. After receiving Midwest’s purchase order, Action Time obtained a credit approval of Midwest and sent the order to Masterpiece Finishing, Inc. in Dalton, Georgia. Action Time did business by contracting with carpet manufacturers to fill its orders. The manufacturing records show that the order was completed in mid-March.

At the end of February, 1974, Farr can-celled Midwest’s contract since Midwest had not begun installation in St. Cloud. Upon learning of the cancellation, Peraro claims to have telephoned Cavallaro and Action Time on March 1 or 2, 1974, to cancel Midwest’s contract with Action Time. The cancellation was not confirmed later in writing. Around March 14,1974, Peraro was notified by Action Time that the carpet was ready. He responded that it was no longer needed.

On April 3,1974, Action Time’s attorneys notified Midwest that it had breached the contract and that Action Time intended to resell the goods at a private sale and intended to hold Midwest responsible for damages. On April 10, 1974, William Brooks, Action Time’s president at the time of the transaction, wrote a similar letter to Peraro.

Action Time sold a large quantity of the carpet which it claimed was identified to the Midwest contract. It then sued Midwest pursuant to Minn.St. 336.2-706(1) for damages measured by the difference between the resale price and the contract price, plus incidental damages.

At a trial to the court without a jury the district court held that Action Time was entitled to receive $3,705.56, which constituted “the difference between the contract price of carpet and the resale price of carpet identified to the contract, less any expenses saved because of defendant’s breach.”

On appeal, Midwest raises the following issues:

(1) Whether the trial court erred in finding that the time taken for the manufacture of the carpet was not unreasonable and in receiving evidence regarding the usage in the carpet industry of the term “at once”;

(2) Whether the trial court erred in failing to find that Action Time had not identified conforming goods to the contract;

(3) Whether the trial court erred in failing to find that the private sales of carpet were not made in “good faith” or in a “commercially reasonable manner;”

(4) Whether the trial court erred in finding that all the carpet identified to the contract was sold.

*39 1. In determining that Action Time did not breach the contract, the trial court found that the “time taken for the manufacture of the carpet was not unreasonable * * Midwest contends that this find-

ing was erroneous since the purchase order called for delivery “at once” and since the parties allegedly orally contracted for delivery within 7 to 10 days. Midwest also argues that the trial court erred in admitting evidence of custom and usage in the carpet industry that the phrase “at once” meant “as soon as possible.”

Action Time correctly asserts that the controlling legal principles are contained in the Uniform Commercial Code’s parol evidence rule with respect to the sale of goods, which is codified at Minn.St. 336.2-202, as follows:

“Terms with respect to which the confirmatory memoranda of the parties agree or which are otherwise set forth in a writing intended by the parties as a final expression of their agreement with respect to such terms as are included therein may not be contradicted by evidence of any prior agreement or of a contemporaneous oral agreement but may be explained or supplemented
(a) by course of dealing or usage of trade (section 336.1-205) or by course of performance (section 336.2-208); and
(b) by evidence of consistent additional terms unless the court finds the writing to have been intended also as a complete and exclusive statement of the terms of the agreement.” (Italics supplied.)

In its attempt to establish that the parties agreed that the carpet was required to be delivered within 7 to 10 days, Midwest relies upon a representation by Cavallaro to Peraro on February 1 that Action Time could get the carpet to Midwest within 7 to 10 days from the time the color was verified and approved by Peraro and upon the fact that Action Time was told during the negotiations that this was a “rush” order. These conversations and representations, however, were made prior to the signing of the purchase order and thus were properly disregarded by the trial court, since Minn.St. 336.2-202 provides that terms contained in an agreement “may not be contradicted by evidence of any prior agreement or of a contemporaneous oral agreement * * * >>

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Bluebook (online)
271 N.W.2d 36, 24 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 1103, 1978 Minn. LEXIS 1160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/action-time-carpets-inc-v-midwest-carpet-brokers-inc-minn-1978.