Booth-Kelly Lumber Co. v. Williams

188 P. 213, 95 Or. 476, 1920 Ore. LEXIS 54
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 188 P. 213 (Booth-Kelly Lumber Co. v. Williams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Booth-Kelly Lumber Co. v. Williams, 188 P. 213, 95 Or. 476, 1920 Ore. LEXIS 54 (Or. 1920).

Opinion

BEAN, J.

The bill of exceptions discloses that plaintiff, upon the trial of the cause, introduced evidence tending to support the allegations of the complaint. Error is predicated upon the following rulings upon the evidence: Mr. Williams, the defendant, as a witness in his own behalf, having stated that he saw the cars of wood shipped to him by plaintiff was interrogated as follows: “Q. Describe to the jury the sort of cars they were loaded on and how they came in?” Objection was made to the question by counsel for plaintiff as incompetent and not within the issues, and for the additional reason that under the contract the defendant was bound by the measurements of the railroad company as shown by the expense bills. The court sustained the objection and defendant saved an exception, whereupon in support of defendant’s special defense of fraud counsel for defendant stated, in substance as follows: The defendant offers to prove that immediately subsequent to the execution-of the contract [481]*481the plaintiff, with the purpose and intent of cheating, wronging, defrauding, and overreaching the defendant, loaded each car of wood delivered and charged to defendant “in a loose, criss-cross, irregular, poor, and improper and unworkmanlike manner, in such a way and to the end and with the result that * * this plaintiff has wrongfully, fraudulently, intentionally, and knowingly overcharged defendant approximately one and one-half cords of wood upon each and every car delivered him under said contract”; and continued reading all of the formal allegations of the answer as to the fraud of plaintiff in piling the wood as such tender of proof. The offer was denied and the defendant saved an exception. The record then shows the following:

“It is stipulated that the witness Hollis Moody is deemed to have been called, asked as to whether or not in making measurements he took into consideration the manner in which the wood was piled upon the car; objection made; the testimony excluded and offer of proof made; that the same was denied, to which ruling defendant excepted.”

It is the position of plaintiff that the answer fails to allege any error on the part of the railroad company in measuring the wood.

The most that can be said in regard to the allegations of the special defense is that it is averred that the wood was irregularly piled and as a result plaintiff overcharged the defendant. "Whether the person making the measurements inadvertently overlooked the spaces between the wood, or fraudulently or carelessly made an erroneous computation of the amount of wood on the several cars, does not appear by the pleading. There is no allegation that the measurer was deceived by the manner in which the wood was piled on the cars, or that [482]*482lie failed to exercise Ms honest judgment in ascertaining the quantity of wood. The alleged defect in the piling must have been apparent to the measurer.

1; By the terms of the contract the actual measurements of the wood as shown by the railroad expense bill were to govern the quantities of wood delivered to defendant. In a sense the measurer of the wood on the cars was made an arbiter of the parties to the contract, as to the amount of the wood delivered. Such a stipulation is not subject to revocation by either party, and measurements made pursuant to such a contract and evidenced by expense bills of the railroad company, in the absence of fraud or of such palpable mistake as would imply bad faith, or a failure to exercise an honest judgment, are binding upon the parties to the contract. In short, such measurements so represented are prima facie correct and binding: Sweeney v. Jackson Co., 93 Or. 96 (178 Pac. 365, 371); Mundy et al. v. Louisville & N. R. Co., 67 Fed. 633, 637 (14 C. C. A. 583); United States v. Hurley, 182 Fed. 776 (105 C. C. A. 208); Railroad v. Central Lbr. etc Co., 95 Tenn. 538 (32 S. W. 635); 6 R. C. L., p. 964, § 341.

It was incumbent upon the defendant, in order to impeach the measurements of the wood by the railroad company, to prove that the same were fraudulent or grossly erroneous. The pleading of the defendant should show how the result claimed was reached and not merely allege the result as a conclusion.

2. Passing the question of pleading, however, the evidence tendered and rejected was not sufficient to overcome the force of the expense bills. The objection to the competency of the question having been sustained, counsel for defendant read into the record the language of his pleading as an offer of proof. The tender of proof was properly rejected. It was too gen[483]*483eral. Tlie evidentiary facts were not set out. It does not appear by whom tbe defendant expected to prove the allegations, whether by the witness then on the stand or others. In making an offer of proof it is requisite that counsel should be distinct and clear. The tender should embody the specific fact or facts in such connection and in such terms as to be apprehended and ruled upon in the intended sense by the trial judge, and be examined and applied in the appellate court in the proper light to test the accuracy of the ruling, if adverse. A mere general proposition, to in so many words prove the averments of a pleading, is not one that the court is bound to take into consideration and rule upon as a tender of proof: 9 Ency. of Evidence, 165; Columbia R. I. Co. v. Alameda L. Co., 87 Or. 277, 296 (168 Pac. 440, 441), where Mr. Justice McCamant says:

“An offer of proof should state facts rather than conclusions. Its language should be not vague, but distinct; not general, but specific. It is not sufficient that it state the ultimate facts in language appropriate to a pleading; the evidentiary facts must be set out.”

See Harmon v. Decker, 41 Or. 587, 592 (68 Pac. 11, 1111, 93 Am. St. Rep. 748).

3. It was stipulated that the witness Hollis Moody was deemed to have been called and asked whether or not in making measurements he took into consideration the manner in which the wood was piled upon the car; that objection was made, the testimony excluded, and offer of proof made. It does not appear from the record what the offer of proof was nor how the witness would have answered if permitted to do so; that is, whether he made an allowance for the loose manner in which the wood was alleged to have been piled and made a correct measurement of the wood or otherwise. [484]*484The court cannot determine whether any testimony favorable to defendant was excluded or not: Hill v. McCrow, 88 Or. 299, 309 (170 Pac. 306). Error will not be presumed. The burden developed upon the defendant to show that the testimony offered was admissible and that he was prejudiced by its exclusion. No prejudicial error appears by reason of the exclusion of the testimony tendered.

4. Defendant’s counsel requested several instructions to the jury in conformity with defendant’s theory of the case. With reference to the first five requests, it is contended that Chapter 325, General Laws of Oregon 1913, defines a cord of wood and is a penal statute ; that this law was a part of the contract; and that it was incumbent upon the plaintiff under the contract to furnish defendant a legal cord of wood for each one charged. The court described a cord of wood to the jury in accordance with the statutory definition.

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Bluebook (online)
188 P. 213, 95 Or. 476, 1920 Ore. LEXIS 54, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/booth-kelly-lumber-co-v-williams-or-1920.