Baker v. Pottmeyer

75 Ind. 451
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1881
DocketNo. 8087
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 75 Ind. 451 (Baker v. Pottmeyer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Baker v. Pottmeyer, 75 Ind. 451 (Ind. 1881).

Opinion

Woods, J.

Complaint in two paragraphs by the appellant, praying an injunction against the appellees. Each paragraph is based upon and alleges breaches of an agreement of the parties, of the tenor following, to wit:

“This agreement witnesseth that John Pottmeyer has this day sold and delivered to Patrick Campbell and John Baker the following property, to wit: One pair of black horses and harness now used on said team, one ice-wagon, all the ice now held and owned by said Pottmeyer in the ice-houses situate on his lot, No. 125 of the town of West Logan, and. in the ice-house situate near the covered Eel river bridge, on the south side of Eel river, and the ice in the ice-house near the Forest mill-dam, and the ice in the ice-house near the Wabash dam; all the tools and appliances owned and used by said Pottmeyer in cutting, packing and delivering ice ; also the ice-house owned by said Pottmeyer, situate near the Wabash dam, on the north side of the Wabash river, on land owned by Hamilton, and the ice-house owned by said Pottmeyer situate near the Forest mill-dam, on land owned by the city of Logansport; for which said property said Campbell and Baker agree to pay said Pottmeyer the sum of forty-one hundred dollars,” [in instalments here specified]. ‘ ‘ Said Campbell and Baker are to have the use of all the aforesaid ice-houses, in which the aforesaid ice, hereby purchased, is stored and packed, free from rent from this time till December 1st, 1877, and the said Pottmeyer agrees to pay the ground rent on the said two ice-houses hereby purchased until December 1st, 1877 ; and the said Pottmeyer hereby binds and obligates himself to the said Campbell and Baker, or either of them, that he will never again, within the city of Logansport, in any manner, either pack, sell or deliver ice, except for his own family use, and he will never again, within the limits of said city, in any manner, [453]*453enter into said business, and' will never give any aid, encouragement or advice to any other person or persons, to pack, sell or deliver, or to enter into said business, in any manner: and he will not do the aforesaid things either secretly or openly, or in his own or in the name of any other person or persons. And said Pottmeyer also binds himself that, after the present year, he will give the said Campbell and Baker the preference for renting all the said ice-houses owned by him, or which he may at any time own; and he hereby agrees that he will never rent or lease, in any manner, and he will never sell any ice-house which he now owns, or may hereafter own, to any other person or persons for the purposes of packing or selling ice.
“Witness our hands and seals, this 7th day of April, 1877.
[Signed] “John Pottmeyer, [L. S.]
“Patrick Campbell, [L. S.]
“John Baker. [L. S.]”

The defendants each answered by a general denial. Trial by jury ; verdict for the defendants ; motions by the plaintiff for judgment in his favor on the answers to interrogatories, notwithstanding the general verdict, and for a new trial, overruled and exceptions saved; judgment on the verdict. Numerous errors are asserted, and the questions are presented and discussed in a variety of forms ; but the merits of the case are involved in the instructions given and refused.

The court, of its own motion, stated the case and instructed the jury as follows :

“This action is brought to enjoin the defendants from selling ice within the city of Logansport. The complaint alleges that the defendant Pottmeyer, on the 7th day of April, 1877, entered into a written contract with the plaintiff and his co-defendant, Patrick Campbell, and each of them, that he would never thereafter, in the city of Logansport, either pack, sell or deliver ice, except for his own family use, and that he would never encourage or advise any [454]*454other person or persons so to do, either in his own name or in the name of any other person; and that he would never lease or sell any of the ice-houses he then owned or might thereafter own for such purpose; that, on the 1st day of December, 1877, Campbell, the defendant, sold all his interest in the contract to the plaintiff; that the defendants Pottmeyer and Campbell have colluded together in derogation of the plaintiff’s rights, to enter into the same business in the city of Logansport, and are carrying on said business in the name of Campbell; that Pottmeyer is not only interested, but is a partner in the business. These charges tile defendants severally deny. The court gives you the following charges as to the law that shall govern you in forming your verdict:
“1st. It was not a violation of the contract of April 7th, 1877, for Pottmeyer to enter into a contract with the defendant Campbell, or in any manner to aid him to pack, sell or deliver ice within the city of Logansport, nor was it a violation of said contract to rent him the ice-houses named in that contract. The agreement of Pottmeyer, in that contract, was not to give such aid to any person or persons other than Campbell or Baker.
“2d. The contract between Campbell and Baker, of December 8th, 1878, does not change the right of Pottmeyer to aid Campbell or Baker in packing, selling or delivering ice in the city of Logansport, and the right of Pottmeyer to give such aid remained the same after making this agreement as before.
“3d. There is no evidence making a case against Campbell, and your verdict should be for him.
“4th. If you find that Pottmeyer, at the commencement of this action, was not engaged in packing, selling or deliv- ‘ ering ice in the city of Logansport, either in his own name or in the name of the defendant Campbell, then your verdict should be for the defendant Pottmeyer.
[455]*455“5th. If you find that the defendant Campbell, after selling out to Baker, had no intention of going into the ice business again, and that Pottmeyer, desiring to go into said business, induced Campbell to permit him to use his name for that purpose, and that the packing, selling and delivering of the ice complained of was done in fact by Pottmeyer, but in the name of Campbell only, your finding should be against Pottmeyer.”

At the request of the appellant the court gave the following:

‘ ‘ 1st. The sale and transfer by Campbell to Baker of all Ills right,title and interest to and in.the contract of April 7th, 1877, with defendant Pottmeyer was valid, and gave the plaintiff the same rights thereunder that Campbell and Baker had before.”

But the court refused the following:

“2d. After such transfer by Campbell to Baker, Campbell bore the same relation to the contract as a stranger.
“3d. Under the contract of April 7th, 1877, the defendant Pottmeyer obligated himself not to lease the ice-houses for the purpose of packing ice to any one except to Campbell and Baker; and, after the transfer by Campbell to Baker of his interest in the contract, Pottmeyer could not legally lease said houses for the purpose of packing ice to Campbell without the consent of Baker.
“5th.

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Bluebook (online)
75 Ind. 451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/baker-v-pottmeyer-ind-1881.