Atwood Cotton Breeding Farms v. Midway Farmers' Co-Operative Soc.

42 S.W.2d 796
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedSeptember 25, 1931
DocketNo. 890.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 42 S.W.2d 796 (Atwood Cotton Breeding Farms v. Midway Farmers' Co-Operative Soc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Atwood Cotton Breeding Farms v. Midway Farmers' Co-Operative Soc., 42 S.W.2d 796 (Tex. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

LESLIE, J.

The appellee, Midway Farmers’ Co-operative Society of Dawson county, Tex., a corporation, plaintiff in the trial court, brought ■this suit against the appellant, Atwood Cotton Breeding Farms of Ellis county, Tex., a corporation, alleging in substance that, on or about February 1, 1930, appellee purchased in Dawson county, Tex., from the appellant, 600 bushels of cottonseed, and agreed to pay therefor in Lamesa, Tex., $1,-410 upon delivery, freight prepaid; that the seed were understood to be for planting purposes, and were to be free from cockleburs and other foreign substance rendering them unfit for the ■ purposes intended; that the seed were shipped to Dawson county, consignee shipper’s order, notify Midway Farmers’ Co-operative Society, bill of lading with draft attached for the amount of the contract price of the seed; that the appellee paid the draft in Dawson county, Tex., and there received the bill of lading, as well as the title and possession of the seed. Said draft, bill of lading, etc., carried proper in-dorsements . and transfers from the shipper to the purchaser.

It was further alleged that the seed were to be state Certified Texas Special Field Culled Kasch cottonseed, and to conform to certain standards of quality, but that, after they were paid for and received, it was ascertained that the appellant had failed to carry out the contract and that the seed were of a quality and grade inferior to that contemplated by the contract, and therefore unfit for planting purposes, which rendered the seed worthless to the appellee and entitled it to a recovery of the purchase price, etc., of the seed, or such portions thereof as it was unable to market.'

The appellant filed its plea of privilege in due form to be sued in Ellis county, where the shipment originated. This plea was controverted by the appellee, who set up that the appellant was a private corporation, and that it had made with the appellee a written contract performable in Dawson county, Tex., and establishing the venue of this suit in said county.

At the hearing upon the plea of privilege, the trial judge overruled the same, and this appeal follows.

By various propositions the appellant con *797 tends that the venue of this cause should be in Ellis county, the domicile of the defendant. Its various contentions are to the effect that, since the Midway Farmers’ Cooperative Society signed an order for cottonseed which it bought from the appellant, another corporation, subject to acceptance and confirmation of said appellant corporation, and both the written order and written confirmation of said sale, provided that all payments on account of the contract due either “the seller or buyer” were payable in Ellis county, the residence of the defendant; and, since the order and confirmation further provided that the whole agreement was contained therein, and that no oral statement of any agent could vary the same, and in the absence of any pleading or proof of fraud inducing the contract, the trial court should have sustained the plea of privilege and transferred the cause of action to Ellis county. Stated more briefly and in different language, the propositions are to the ■ effect that, since the appellant and appellee agreed in writing that “all amounts due seller or buyer account of this contract are payable at the office of Atwood Pedigreed Seed Farms at Ennis, Texas, at par,” the venue of the suit should have been laid in Ellis county instead of Dawson county, as was done; that, such being the written agreement between the parties, both of which are corporations, the fact that a part of the cause of action, if any, may have arisen in Dawson county, would not and could not be any limitation on the agreement that both parties had the right to mate and did make.

No question of fraud is presented by 'the record, and that phase of the case will not be discussed.

For the purpose of passing upon the issues arising out of the venue question, the plaintiff’s pleadings and the controverting affidavit to the plea of privilege are deemed sufficient as a basis for claiming the venue of the suit in Dawson county under exception 5 to the general venue statute (Rev. St. 1925, art. 1995); that exception being: “If a person has contracted in writing to perform an obligation in a particular county, suit may be brought either in such county or where the defendant has his domicile.”

From the testimony it appears that the appellee, Midway Farmers’ Co-operative Society, a corporation, signed an order for the cottonseed which it purchased from the appellant, the Atwood Cotton Breeding Farms, another corporation, subject to the acceptance and confirmation of said appellant corporation, and both the -written order and written confirmation of said sale provided that all payments on account of the contract due either the seller or the buyer were payable in Ellis county, the county of appellant’s residence. If this represents substantially the entire, transaction, and the shipment and delivery of the cottonseed had been made in pursuance thereof, there would be considerable doubt as to the correctness of the order of the trial court in overruling the appellant’s plea of privilege, for we find in the original order and confirmation the following language relative to the character of seed and performance of the contract. The seed were to be: “Field Culled Kasch cottonseed at $2.35 per bushel, delivered to me at Rosser, Texas, and Ennis, (Ellis County) Texas, with freight charges fully prepaid to my station. All amounts due seller or buyer account this contract payable at Ennis, Texas.”

From the appellant’s standpoint,, there is nothing else in the contents of the initial order and confirmation that would suggest that the contract of purchase and sale of the cottonseed was anything other than as indicated by these instruments." The testimony shows that the order was developed and agreed upon by negotiations that took place between the agent of the Atwood Cotton Breeding Farms and the, agent of the Midway Farmers’ Co-operative Society, in Dawson county, when the agent of the former called upon the agent of the latter in said county. It was out of such negotiations that the order and confirmation were submitted to the home office of the Ellis county corporation.

However, it further appears from the plaintiff’s pleadings, its controverting affidavit, and the undisputed testimony, that the actual agreement and understanding carried out by the parties, and which resulted in the sale and delivery of the cottonseed, were entirely different to that indicated by the above initial negotiations. What occurred was this: The appellant, Atwood Cotton Breeding Farms, shipped the carload of cottonseed in question to Lamesa, Dawson county, Tex., consignee shipper’s order collect, notify Midway Farmers’ Co-operative Society, and attached to a draft for the purchase price the bill of lading issued by the carrier of the seed. When the draft and bill of lading reached the bank at Lamesa, the appellee, upon being notified, paid the same. By virtue of said instruments, with the seller’s usual indorsements thereon, title and possession of the seed were obtained by the purchaser.

Such a transaction has been many times held to constitute a contract in writing by the seller to deliver to the buyer at destination the subject-matter of the contract, and that suit for a breach of such contract may be brought by the buyer against the seller in the county of destination. Marcus v. Armer, 117 Tex. 368, 5 S.W.(2d) 960, 961, 60 A. L. R.

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Related

Peyton Packing Co. v. Sweetwater Cotton Oil Co.
70 S.W.2d 829 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1934)

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42 S.W.2d 796, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/atwood-cotton-breeding-farms-v-midway-farmers-co-operative-soc-texapp-1931.