Beaver Drug Co. v. Hatch

217 P. 695, 61 Utah 597, 1923 Utah LEXIS 55
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 2, 1923
DocketNo. 3929
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 217 P. 695 (Beaver Drug Co. v. Hatch) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Beaver Drug Co. v. Hatch, 217 P. 695, 61 Utah 597, 1923 Utah LEXIS 55 (Utah 1923).

Opinions

THURMAN, J.

On the 11th day of January, 1921, plaintiff corporation purchased of defendant that certain business in Beaver City, Utah, known as the Beaver Drug Company, consisting of a stock of drugs, merchandise, fixtures, fountains, showcases, and all appurtenances and equipment pertaining to the business, for the sum of $7,500. $2,500 was paid in cash, and the remainder under the terms of the sales agreement was to be paid as provided in a promissory note executed contemporaneously with the agreement as follows: $100 on or before the 1st day of March next following, $100 on or before the first day of each calendar month thereafter until the sum of $5,000 was paid, with interest at 7 per cent, per annum from date of the note, payable quarterly. If interest and principal were not paid when due, the holder of the note, at his option, was authorized to declare the whole amount due and proceed to collect the same. The agrément, which was in writing, also provided that the plaintiff, as party of the second part, within 60 days from the date of the agreement and every 60 days thereafter, should make a full, true, and correct inventory of the stock of goods and other property hereinbefore mentioned at its fair cash value and deliver a copy thereof to the defendant. It was further agreed that until the full payment of said note plaintiff should keep on hand a stock of goods and other property equal in value to the value shown in said inventory, and in the event the second party should fail to perform any of the covenants in said agreement or make default in payment, as provided in the note, the defendant as the first party to said agreement should have the right of immediate possession and ownership of said property and business and the right to retain all payments theretofore made as rental and liquidated damages. The note was secured by chattel mortgage on the property. Upon the execution of the agreement and note plaintiff paid defendant the sum of $2,500 as provided therein, and it is alleged in the complaint that plaintiff kept and [600]*600performed all of its agreements and promises in said agreement according to tbe terms thereof.

Tbe complaint further alleges that prior to the incorporation of plaintiff negotiations for the purchase of said property were carried on between three of plaintiff’s: incorporators and tie defendant with the view of purchasing said property fom defendant and forming a corporation to carry on the business; that in and during said negotiations for the purchase of said property defendant, who for 10 years previous was the owner and sole manager of said business, represented to said incorporators, to wit, John F. Barton, Charles H. Anderson and E. Stanley Tattersall, that the good will of said business was worth. $1,000, that the fixtures were worth $2,500, and that an inventory of the stock of merchandise and drugs, at cost price in Beaver City, would total at least $4,000. It is then alleged that said representations were false and untrue; that defendant knew them to be untrue because of his long familiarity with the business, the stock therein, and the cost thereof. It is further alleged that defendant knew that said persons were wholly dependent upon what defendant said in reference to the business and the stock of drugs and merchandise, and that he made such false representations for the purpose of inducing plaintiff to buy said business knowing that plaintiff was relying upon said representations. It is then alleged that plaintiff wholly relying upon said representations, and believing the same to be true, purchased said business and in good faith made, -executed, and delivered the agreement, note, and mortgage above referred to; that in compliance with the terms of said agrément the plaintiff made a full and complete inventory of said drugs, merchandise, etc., and ascertained the wholesale price thereof to be $2,576, and no more, in Salt Lake City, and added 10 per cent, thereto for freight and delivery to Beaver City, which made the cost price at Beaver City the sum of $2,834.59; that immediately after ascertaining the amount of said inventory, on or about February, 1921, plaintiff sent to defendant a copy of the same and made demand upon him that he enter a credit upon plaintiff’s note for a [601]*601sum equal to the difference between wbat plaintiff agreed to pay for the goods and the value as ascertained by said inventory, to wit, the sum of $1,165.41, for which sum plaintiff prays judgment against the defendant. The foregoing are the essential allegations of the complaint.

Answering the complaint, the defendant admits the sale of the property and the agreed purchase price as alleged in the complaint; admits he understood that a corporation was to be formed to carry on the business, but denies.that he made the representations alleged in the complaint as to the value of the property. He admits that he was familiar with the stock of goods, and the price thereof, and alleges that it was worth the sum for which he sold it to the plaintiff, to wit, $7,500. Denies that plaintiff made demand upon him to credit $1,165.41, or any other amount, on the note, of that plaintiff has been damaged in any amount whatever. Defendant counterclaims for the balance due upon the note wheih he alleges is the sum of $3,600, as principal (after crediting thereon payments theretofore made) and interest thereon from the 29th day of October, 1921. Defendant also demands $500 as- attorney’s fees, and a- foreclosure of the mortgage.

The court to whom the ease was tried without a jury found for the plaintiff as prayed for in the complaint. A motion for a new trial was overruled. Judgment was entered for plaintiff. Defendant appeals and assigns as error certain findings of the court and denial of defendant’s motion for a new trial.

There seems to be no contention between the parties as to the value of the good will or fixtures. The whole controversy relates to the value of the drugs and merchandise and defendant’s representations concerning the same, and also whether it was the wholesale or retail price.

There is substantial evidence in the record to show that during the negotiations for the purchase of the property defendant knew that the persons with whom he negotiated contemplated forming a corporation to take over the property [602]*602and that they were making inquiry for the purpose of determining the actual value before purchasing the same. There is also substantial evidence to show that defendant said that the stock of drugs. and-m.er.chandise -would'•invetttorys^rüSst ^DDfrmTvajñe, and that he would guarantee^that amount. Forthermore, the evidence shows- that the inventory of the goods made by plaintiff, copy of which was delivered to defendant, was full, fair, and complete and was sent with the knowledge and consent of defendant to Smith-Faus Drug Company, Salt Lake City, to whom was submitted the matter of determining the price; that the price ascertained by said drug company was $2,576.90, as the wholesale price at Salt Lake City. To this was added 10 per cent, for freight and delivery at Beaver City, making the total cost at said city, as before stated, $2,834.59. It also appears from the evidence that the persons with whom defendant negotiated the sale relied upon the defendant’s' assurances that the stock of goods would inventory at least $4,000, and that the purchase price was made on that reliance. The defendant admits in his answer that he was familiar with the goods and the price.

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Bluebook (online)
217 P. 695, 61 Utah 597, 1923 Utah LEXIS 55, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/beaver-drug-co-v-hatch-utah-1923.