B. J. Shelton Co. v. Theo. Muckle Engineering Co.

218 P.2d 1057, 121 Colo. 509, 1950 Colo. LEXIS 346
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedApril 3, 1950
Docket16276
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 218 P.2d 1057 (B. J. Shelton Co. v. Theo. Muckle Engineering Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
B. J. Shelton Co. v. Theo. Muckle Engineering Co., 218 P.2d 1057, 121 Colo. 509, 1950 Colo. LEXIS 346 (Colo. 1950).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion of the court.

The parties to this action appear here in the same relative positions as in the trial court, and we will hereinafter refer to them as plaintiff and defendants.

In its complaint plaintiff alleged the corporate capacity of the defendant company; that it had assumed all the assets and liabilities of the individual defendants, who were conducting a partnership business at the time of the transaction which is the subject matter of this controversy; and it further alleged:

“That heretofore on or about January 17, 1947, the defendants did order from plaintiff one thousand, motors with cord attached, to be manufactured by plaintiff at an agreed price of $2.45 per motor plus cord.

“That plaintiff, pursuant to said order, has manufactured, especially for defendants, the said motors, and has offered and does herein renew its offer to deliver said motors to defendants, but that defendants have failed and refused to pay for the same or to accept delivery thereof.

“That defendants are indebted to plaintiff in the amount of $2450.00.”

On motion of defendants, a bill of particulars was ordered by the trial court to be filed, and plaintiff, in compliance therewith, identified the correspondence between the parties which formed the basis of the contract upon which this suit was brought. Nothing contained in said bill of particulars altered the nature of the action.

Defendants filed their answer denying ail allegations contained in the complaint, except the corporate capacity of the parties, and setting up affirmative defenses. They also filed counterclaims for damages for breach of warranty, and for failure of plaintiff to deliver motors alleged to have been ordered by them. It [511]*511is unnecessary to consider further the defenses or counterclaims pleaded by defendants since no evidence was offered in support thereof.

The trial was to a jury, and at the conclusion of plaintiff’s evidence defendants’ attorney moved for dismissal of the action upon two grounds, as follows: “First, there has been no contract established upon which plaintiff can base a case. And, secondly, that this is an action for the price, and the [plaintiff] failed to establish the essentials of that particular requirement of the Uniform Sales Act.”

In ruling upon the motion for dismissal, the trial court said: “The motion for dismissal in reference to the ground that no contract has been established will be denied. The Court is still of the opinion there was no—that the plaintiff’s evidence fails to show all the necessary elements for a suit for the recovery of the purchase price, namely the sixth element Mr. Isaacson referred to. So the Court will grant the motion for dismissal.” Thereupon counsel for defendants moved for dismissal, without prejudice, of defendants’ counterclaims. This motion was granted.

Section 63 (3) of the Uniform Sales Act, chapter 228, Session Laws of Colorado, 1941, page 848, provides: “Although the property in the goods has not passed, if they cannot readily be resold for a reasonable price, and if the provisions of Section 64 (4) are not applicable, the seller may offer to deliver the goods to the buyer, and, if the buyer refuses to receive them, may notify the buyer that the goods are thereafter held by the seller as bailee for the buyer. Thereafter the seller may treat the goods as the buyer’s and may maintain an action for the price.” (Italics supplied.)

The trial court, in mentioning the “sixth element,” referred to the notification to the buyer by the seller, that the goods were held by the latter “as bailee for the buyer,” and treated the action as a suit to collect the purchase price, upon a contract to sell goods under [512]*512which the seller agreed to transfer the property in the goods to the buyer at the agreed price of $2.45 per motor. The trial court further held that the provisions of the Uniform Sales Act, above quoted, were controlling, and that since there was no evidence that the seller had notified the buyer that the goods were being held as bailee for him, no action for the contract price could be maintained. Plaintiff specifies error on this ruling of the trial court.

Plaintiff’s evidence was, in substance, that only five hundred of the motors had actually been manufactured. Counsel for plaintiff made an offer of proof relating to damages allegedly sustained by his client in connection with the five hundred motors not completed, upon the alleged breach of contract by the defendants. The offered evidence would have established, with reference to said five hundred motors, that plaintiff would have made a profit of $1.00 per motor for the five hundred motors which were not in fact manufactured. It was contended, “that, the evidence of cost, less salvage, plus the expected profits, is a provable element of damage as to the latter five hundred motors.” Defendants’ attorney objected to the offer upon the ground that such evidence was immaterial in an action for the recovery of the purchase price of goods sold; that plaintiff’s action was such an action; that plaintiff had made an election and could not change its cause of action to one for damages for a breach of contract. The offer of proof was denied, and plaintiff specifies error thereon.

No request was made by plaintiff to amend its complaint. It contends that there was a sufficient notification to defendant buyer that the goods purchased were being held by the seller as bailee, and its counsel further contends that under the provisions of section 64, chapter 228, Session Laws of Colorado, 1941, page 849, it was entitled to such damages as it might be able to establish, resulting from the neglect or refusal of defendants to accept and pay for said motors. Plaintiff asserts [513]*513that, having proved a breach of contract, it was entitled to remain in court regardless of what should be found to be the “proper measure of damages.” Said section 64, supra, provides as follows:

“(1) Where the buyer wrongfully neglects or refuses to accept and pay for the goods, the seller may maintain an action against him for damages for nonacceptance.

“(2) The measure of damages is the estimated loss directly and naturally resulting, in the ordinary course of events, from the buyer’s breach of contract.

“(3) Where there is an available market for the goods in question, the measure of damages is, in the absence of special circumstances, showing proximate damage of a greater amount, the difference between the contract price and the market or current price at the time or times when the goods ought to have been accepted, or, if no time was fixed for acceptance, then at the time of the refusal to accept.

“(4) If, while labor or expense of material amount are necessary on the part of the seller to enable him to fulfill his obligations under the contract to sell or the sale, the buyer repudiates the contract or the sale, or notifies the seller to proceed no further therewith, the buyer shall be liable to the seller for no greater damages than the seller would have suffered if he did nothing towards carrying out the contract or the sale after receiving notice of the buyer’s repudiation or countermand. The profit the seller would have made if the contract or the sale had been fully performed shall be considered in estimating such damages.”

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Related

Walnut Creek Pipe Distributors, Inc. v. Gates Rubber Co.
228 Cal. App. 2d 810 (California Court of Appeal, 1964)
B. J. Shelton Co. v. Theo. Muckle Engineering Co.
218 P.2d 1057 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1950)

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Bluebook (online)
218 P.2d 1057, 121 Colo. 509, 1950 Colo. LEXIS 346, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/b-j-shelton-co-v-theo-muckle-engineering-co-colo-1950.