Attala Warehouse & Compress Co. v. J. N. Alexander Mercantile Co.

102 So. 779, 103 So. 779, 139 Miss. 615, 1925 Miss. LEXIS 116
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 26, 1925
DocketNo. 24571.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 102 So. 779 (Attala Warehouse & Compress Co. v. J. N. Alexander Mercantile Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Attala Warehouse & Compress Co. v. J. N. Alexander Mercantile Co., 102 So. 779, 103 So. 779, 139 Miss. 615, 1925 Miss. LEXIS 116 (Mich. 1925).

Opinion

*622 Anderson, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

J. N. Alexander Mercantile Company, a corporation under the laws of this state engaged in the mercantile business at Kosciusko, in Attala county, including; the purchase and sale of cotton, sued appellant, Attala Warehouse &. Compress Company, a corporation under the laws of this state, also located at Kosciusko, for damages claimed to have been suffered by appellee on account of appellant’s broach of contract in failing to “line up” for sampling, grading, inspection, sale and compression for shipment eight hundred and twenty-six bales of cotton belonging to appellee which had been stored in appellant’s warehouse for said purposes. There was a trial before a jury and a verdict for appellee, followed by a judgment, from which appellant prosecutes this appeal.

At the conclusion of the evidence appellant requested a directed verdict in its favor, which was refused by the court. In our view this is the only assignment of error that should be considered. The controlling facts in the case are substantially as follows: During the cotton season of 1919-20 appellant was engaged in warehousing and compressing cotton, and in connection therewith when its patrons desired to make sales of cotton stored with it, appellant, on their “turn down orders,” undertook and agreed to separate and line up their cotton so that it could be sampled, graded, and inspected by prospective buyers, and when sales were made to compress such cotton for loading and shipment; and to promptly and within a reasonable time execute such “turn down orders.” When its patrons stored cotton with it for said *623 purposes, appellant g;ave a receipt in the following form, filling out the blanks therein and signing the same:

“Attala Warehouse and Compress Company, number -, Kosciusko, Mississippi, (date) Received of the J. N. Alexander Mercantile Company, one bale of cotton, marked A, number-, weight-, remarks-,

“ (Signed)

“Attala Warehouse & Compress Co.

“By D. W. Musselwhite> Weigher.

“Not responsible for loss or damage by fire or water, but will provide insurance when requested. This bale of cotton to be delivered only on return of this receipt and the payment of charges.”

The stipulations in such receipts, however, did not embody, as will be seen, the undertakings and obligations of appellant with reference to executing the “turn down orders” of its patrons. Appellee’s evidence tended to show, however, that that obligation and duty went with every storage of cotton by its patrons; that if not express it was at least a tacit agreement between the parties. It was a part of appellant’s services to its patrons covered by its charges. During the cotton season of 1919-20 appellee stored with appellant something like two thousand bales of cotton. The suit in this case grows out of the handling of two separate lots of cotton by appellant, one for four hundred and twenty-six bales and another for four hundred bales.

Appellee gave appellant first a “turn down order” for four hundred and twenty-six bales of cotton. Appellee alleged in its declaration, and its evidence tended to show, that appellant breached its contract of storage and handling in failing within a reasonable time to line up this four hundred and twenty-six bales of cotton for sampling, grading, inspection, sale, and compression; that on account of appellant’s failure to perform its contract in that respect, appellee shipped the four hundred and twenty-six bales of cotton flat to Stewart-Gwynne & Co., Memphis, Tenn., that is, they shipped it without its having been compressed, and Stewart-Gwynne & Co. sold *624 it on appellee’s account in the Memphis market, where it was compressed and handled as it should have been compressed and handled by appellant at Kosciusko. The freight on this cotton from Kosciusko to Memphis was one thousand two hundred seventy-five dollars and ninety-one cents, and the charges for loading it out for shipment were two hundred and thirteen dollars making a total of one thousand four hundred eighty-eight dollars and ninety-one cents. These charges alone constituted the damages claimed by appellee on account of appellant’s alleged breach of its contract with reference to the four hundred and twenty-six bales of cotton. The whole transaction with reference to this lot of cotton, including the shipment by appellee to Stewart-Gwynne & Go. at Memphis, took place more than three years before the beginning of this suit by the appellee. During the same cotton season, but later in the season, appellee gave appellant a “turn down order” for four hundred bales of its cotton for delivery to A. B. Falk. Appellee charged in its declaration, and its evidence tended to show, that appellant breached its contract to promptly and within a reasonable time line up this lot of cotton for the purpose of inspection, sampling, compression, and delivery, and that on account of such failure on the part of appellant appellee suffered damages for which it sued as follows: Appellee’s bank had furnished the money to buy this lot of cotton for which appellee was indebted and on which it was paying-; interest. That the delay on the part of appellant caused appellee to pay on the said indebtedness additional interest of five hundred eighty-two dollars and eighty cents. That also during the time of such delay appellee had to keep the cotton insured, which cost him two hundred twenty-nine dollars and fourteen cents. The cause of action as to this lot of cotton accrued to appellee within three years of the suit. In addition to the general issue, appellant pleaded specially the three-year statute of limitations as to the damages claimed on account of appellant’s breach of contract in failing to deliver the four hundred and twenty-six bales of cotton *625 within a reasonable time. The cause of action as to this lot accrued more than three years before suit was begun.

We will consider first the question whether the claim of appellee for damages growing out of the handling of the four hundred and twenty-six bales of cotton was barred by the statute of limitation. Appellant contends that the three-year statute of limitation applies, while appellee contends that the six-year statute apjjlies. The three-year statute provides, among other things, that actions “on any unwritten contract, express or implied, shall be commenced within three years next after the cause of such action accrues and not after.” Section 3099, Code of 1906; section 2463, Hemingway’s Code. The six-year statute provides that all actions for which no other period of limitation is prescribed shall be commenced within the six years next after the cause of such action accrued and not after. „ Section 3097, Code of 1906; section 2461, Heming*way’s Code. The warehouse receipts issued by appellant to appellee for the cotton in question are exhibited with the declaration. Appellee contends that they are the basis of its action; that therefore the contract between the parties was in writing, and the six-year statute of limitation applies. On the other hand, appellant contends that the warehouse receipts do not contain the contract upon which appellee sued, but that it rests entirely in parol.

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Bluebook (online)
102 So. 779, 103 So. 779, 139 Miss. 615, 1925 Miss. LEXIS 116, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/attala-warehouse-compress-co-v-j-n-alexander-mercantile-co-miss-1925.