Alexander H. Kerr & Co. v. Fooks

145 F. Supp. 503, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2632
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedOctober 30, 1956
DocketCiv. A. No. 716
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 145 F. Supp. 503 (Alexander H. Kerr & Co. v. Fooks) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alexander H. Kerr & Co. v. Fooks, 145 F. Supp. 503, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2632 (W.D. Ark. 1956).

Opinion

JOHN E. MILLER, District Judge.

Statement

This case was tried to the Court, without a jury, on October 2, 1956, and at the conclusion of the trial the Court took the case under advisement in order to study the exhibits introduced by the parties. And ' now the Court, having considered the pleadings, ore tenus testimony of the witnesses, exhibits, and briefs of the parties, makes and files herein its findings of fact and conclusions of law, separately stated.

Findings of Fact

1.

The plaintiff is a Nevada corporation. The defendants, B. T. Fooks, Guiñare Fooks, and Frances Sue Fooks are citizens of Arkansas and residents of the Western District of Arkansas, El Dorado Division, and are doing business as a partnership under the name Grapette Products Company. (Hereafter the Gra-pette Products Company will be referred to as the defendant.) The Grapette Company, Inc., is an Arkansas corporation doing business in the El Dorado Division of the Western District of Arkansas. The amount in controversy, exclusive of interest and costs, exceeds the sum of $3,000.

2.

After some preliminary negotiations, on December 31, 1952, the plaintiff entered into an agreement with defendant, said agreement being guaranteed by The Grapette Company, Inc., under which plaintiff agreed to sell to defendant thirty thousand gross of glass bottles manufactured especially for defendant, said bottles to be packed in labeled paper cartons. Among other things the contract provides:

"I.
“Sale of Goods
“The ‘Seller’ hereby agrees to sell to the ‘Buyer’ and the ‘Buyer’ hereby agrees to purchase from the ‘Seller’ thirty thousand (30,000) gross ‘Clown’ design bottles fourteen and seven -eights (14%) ounces in weight plus or minus one-half (%) ounce at the price of Seven Dollars and Nineteen Cents ($7.19) per gross packed in one dozen ‘C’ style cases; provided, however,- if the ‘Buyer’ desires a bottom pad added, making this an ‘L’ style case, then in such event the price shall be Seven Dollars and Thirty-three cents ($7.33) per gross, packed in one dozen ‘L’ style cases.
“The prices quoted above are f .o.b. Camden, Arkansas.
“II.
“Delivery and Payment
“Delivery shall be made at Camden, Arkansas as follows:
“Ten thousand (10,000) gross on a ‘make and ship’ basis, payable net cash thirty (30) days or one percent (1%) cash discount in ten (10) days from date of each invoice, with Los A.ngeles exchange.
“The balance of this order or twenty thousand gross shall be ware[506]*506housed by ‘Seller’ at its Sand Springs Oklahoma Warehouse up to July 15, 1953 at which time ‘Buyer’ agrees that it will have requested and taken delivery of said entire twenty thousand (20,000) gross. ‘Seller’ agrees to deliver entire amount (20,000) gross by July 15, 1953. If, however, the entire amount has not been produced by that date ‘Buyer’ may cancel such unmanufactured part, by notice in writing to ‘Seller’. Billing times for said twenty thousand (20,-000) gross shall be as follows: one-third (%) to be billed on May 20th, 1953, one-third (1/3) to be billed on June 20th, 1953, and the final one-third (1/3) to be billed on July 20th, 1953.”

Initial production did not begin until the molds for the bottles were received, and apparently the first bottles were produced on March 21, 1953 (plaintiff’s Exhibit No. 2). Thereafter plaintiff continued to produce the bottles under the contract.

On May 6, 1953, defendant placed an additional order with plaintiff for 20,000 gross of clown-design bottles. On June 23, 1953, defendant ordered 5,000 empty cartons from plaintiff to be used in replacing cartons that had been damaged in shipment, storage, etc. On June 26,1953, plaintiff acknowledged the order for 5,000 cartons, stating that “We have placed an order with our box supplier for cartons to be delivered Monday, June 29.” These cartons were ordered by plaintiff from Southwest Box Company on June 25, 1953 (plaintiff’s Exhibit 2-A), and apparently were delivered to plaintiff on July 1, 1953, along with another order of 23,000 cartons from Southwest Box Company (plaintiff’s Exhibit 2 indicates receipt of 28,123 cartons on July 1, and plaintiff’s Exhibit 2 indicates that plaintiff had requested shipment from Southwest Box Company of the 5,000 cartons on June 29 and also 23,000 cartons on July 1). It appears from plaintiff’s Exhibit 2 that these two orders were both filled on July 1.

However, for some unexplained reason only 2,500 of these cartons were shipped by plaintiff to defendant. In this connection, plaintiff’s Exhibit 2 shows the shipment of these cartons (see lower right-hand corner of page 2 of the Exhibit), but the exhibit does not show the date on which the shipment was made.

On July 13, 1953, at 9:32 a. m., defendant sent plaintiff the following telegram: “Stop manufacture Grapette Products clown bottles until further notice. Advise Western Union inventory glass on hand. Our warehouses are full.”

On July 14 defendant sent plaintiff the following telegram: “Do not ship bottles until further notice. Our warehouses and plant completely filled. No place to unload. Situation should be alleviated in week or ten days. You will be advised.” On the same day, Dolphus Mc-Cord, plaintiff’s Sales Representative, contacted Mr. B. T. Fooks, partner and General Manager of defendant, and informed him of the balance of cartons and bottles which plaintiff had on hand. Fooks informed McCord that the situation would be alleviated in a short time.

On August 7, 1953, M. R. Kerr, Vice President of plaintiff corporation, wrote Mr. Fooks as follows:

“We wish to review our initial order status with your good company. On July 13, our Oklahoma plant received the following wire and we quote:
“ ‘Stop manufacture Grapette Clown bottle until further notice. Advise warehouse inventory glass on hand.’
“Our Mr. R. F. Kalbus 'phoned you and gave you a preliminary analysis of our stock on hand and material inventory position; then our Mr. D. W. McCord made a trip into Camden to discuss your situation and await further instructions.
“A correct analysis of the balance remaining to be shipped against the original contract shows that, as of August 1, there is an open balance of 9691 gross yet to be delivered under [507]*507this contract. We have stock on hand, of filled glass, of 1381 gross and packing supplies on hand that would bring this up to approximately 6,000 gross.
“We were advised by Mr. McCord, after his personal visit to Camden, that this total quantity of 6,000 gross should be sufficient stock to meet the glass requirements of your company through the month of September along with the glass that you now have on hand.
“We were advised that you were going to analyze your production, sales and stock on hand and would then advise us of your findings so that we may intelligently schedule production and have ample stock on hand to meet your requirements as a result of this analysis. Therefore, we would appreciate your advising us of the results of this analysis if it has already been made.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
145 F. Supp. 503, 1956 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2632, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alexander-h-kerr-co-v-fooks-arwd-1956.