Cannon v. Oregon Moline Plow Co.

197 P. 39, 115 Wash. 273, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 736
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedApril 8, 1921
DocketNo. 16297
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 197 P. 39 (Cannon v. Oregon Moline Plow Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cannon v. Oregon Moline Plow Co., 197 P. 39, 115 Wash. 273, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 736 (Wash. 1921).

Opinion

Holcomb, J.

Appellant brought this action against the Oregon Moline Plow Company, and E. C. Holt doing business under the name of the Spokane Farm Machinery Company, to recover damages in the sum of $33,937.

The complaint alleged that appellant purchased a tractor from E. C: Holt, doing business as the Spokane Farm Machinery Company, a dealer in tractors, and that he settled for the same by cash and notes. That the tractor was sold with the knowledge and approval of the Oregon Moline Plow Company, the manufacturer or wholesaler of the tractor; that, being in disrepair, the plow company later wrongfully got possession of the tractor under the pretense of repairing it, and thereupon, because it had not been paid for, converted the same, thereby depriving the appellant of the use thereof during the season in which he must prepare his potato fields for planting; that as the plow company well knew, he could not then get other power in time to do the work and conserve the moisture in the ground; that he later got other power, but the moisture was gone and the seed did not grow and his crop was a total loss, except where planted upon small tracts of ground plowed by the tractor before it was converted, on which parcels of land crops were raised because the moisture was retained; that the plow company had been fully informed of, and knew, what damage would be caused by this wrong; that appellant was engaged in producing high grade pedigreed potatoes for seed for irrigated regions, which brought a very high price.

The findings of the trial court are in nearly all respects favorable to appellant’s contention, except that the court exonerated Mr. Holt from participation in the conversion of the tractor, and as to this finding the appellant does not complain.

[275]*275The trial court found that, had the balance of thirty-nine acres produced a like number of sacks, or hundred pounds, of potatoes as did the small parcels planted at the same time, with the same seed and cultivated in the same manner, per acre, appellant would have made therefrom, above the expense of caring for, harvesting and selling the same a profit of $29,441; but refused to find that the proximate cause of the failure to raise 154% tons of potatoes of the kind grown by appellant was the wrongful taking of the tractor from him by the plow company, and found that the damages above mentioned are too speculative, and allowed appellant $267, which was the value of his time and outlay in money for hire of horses and effort to secure horses by purchase, and money paid by appellant upon the purchase of the tractor.

Appellant excepted to a part of finding No. 15, made by the trial court, as follows:

“. . . and that the loss of the potato crop on the thirty-nine acres as estimated and valued in Finding 12 hereof, was . < . too remote and speculative to be considered in the fixing of the sum of plaintiff’s legal damages flowing from such conversion.”

He excepted also to the refusal of the court to make the following finding:

“That the proximate cause of the failure to raise 154% tons of said potatoes was the wrongful taking of the said tractor from the plaintiff by said Oregon Mo-line Plow Company, as herein recited.”

This appeal is prosecuted upon the theory that the damages allowed by the court were inadequate, and that the damages shown by appellant were sufficiently and accurately, proven and that he had a right to recover the same as the amount of his actual loss caused by the wrongful conversion of the tractor by the plow company.

[276]*276Respondent, on the other hand, contends that the proximate cause of the loss of the crop of potatoes was: (a) weather conditions; (b) negligence on the part of appellant to use ordinary endeavors to get another tractor, or horses, and put in his crop promptly; (c) neglect and refusal of appellant to use his credit to procure another tractor; (d) that there were plenty of other tractors on the Spokane market suitable for appellant’s work which might have been procured by him if he had been willing. Respondent also contends that the damages claimed by appellant to be the result of the conversion of the tractor were not such damages as were within the contemplation of the parties at the time of the breach, and are too remote and speculative to be considered.

The findings of the court, amply supported by the evidence, establish the fact that the conversion of the tractor was wrongful, and imposed a liability upon the respondent plow company.

We have followed the rule that loss of profit may be recovered in case of a breach of contract where the evidence is such that the profit lost can be ascertained with reasonable certainty. Shotwell v. Dodge, 8 Wash. 337, 36 Pac. 254; Creech v. Humptulips B. & B. I. Co., 37 Wash. 172, 79 Pac. 633; Kopczynski v. Bolcom-Vanderhoof Log. Co., 71 Wash. 93, 127 Pac. 601; Bogart v. Pitchless Lumber Co., 72 Wash. 417, 130 Pac. 490; Nelson v. Davenport, 108 Wash. 259, 183 Pac. 132.

Appellant contends that, having committed'ourselves to that rule, the same rule should, be followed where the damage is the result of conversion or other tort; that loss of profits is more frequently allowed to be recovered in cases of tort than in cases of contract. Leonard v. Beaudry, 68 Mich. 312, 36 N. W. 88.

Authorities are cited to the effect that loss of profits may be recovered by one who has lost his crops through [277]*277the wrong of another, whether it he a tort or breach of contract. Colorado Canal Co. v. McFarland & Southwell, 94 S. W. (Tex. O. A.) 400; Northern Colo. Irr. Co. v. Richards, 22 Colo. 450, 45 Pac. 423; Herring v. Armwood, 130 N. C. 177, 41 S. E. 96, 57 L. R. A. 958; Kent Brothers v. Halliday, 23 R. I. 182, 49 Atl. 700; Pawnee Land & Canal Co. v. Jenkins, 1 Colo. App. 425, 29 Pac. 381; Vaughan’s Seed Store v. Stringfellow, 56 Fla. 708, 48 South. 410; Holt v. United Security Life Ins. & Tr. Co., 76 N. J. L. 585, 72 Atl. 301, 21 L. R. A. (N. S.) 691; Swain v. Schieffelin, 34 N. Y. 471, 31 N. E. 1025.

It is a general rule, and uniformly followed in this jurisdiction, that a party is entitled to compensation for any injury to him or his property in such an amount as will compensate him for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, or which, in the ordinary course of things, would be likely to result therefrom, and reasonable to presume to have been in the contemplation of the parties. A person is not liable in damages for the remote consequences of his acts or conjectural, consequences. Wright v. Computing Scale Co., 47 Wash. 107, 91 Pac. 571; Eichbaum v. Caldwell Brothers Co., 58 Wash. 163, 108 Pac. 434; Hausken v. Hodson-Feenaughty Co., 109 Wash. 606, 187 Pac. 319.

Special damages by way of anticipated profits arising from an act injurious in itself may be recovered if they can be ascertained with reasonable certainty, and the profits of which the complaining party was deprived causing the alleged damage can reasonably be presumed to have been contemplated by the parties when the transaction occurred, and the damages complained of were the natural and proximate consequence of the transaction which injured the complaining party. Hoskins v. Scott, 52 Ore. 271, 96 Pac. 1112.

In the cases cited by appellant, where damages for [278]

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Vanderbeek v. Vernon Corp.
50 P.3d 866 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 2002)
Nora v. Safeco Insurance
577 P.2d 347 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1978)
King Logging Co. v. Scalzo
561 P.2d 206 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1977)
Colorado Kenworth Corporation v. Whitworth
357 P.2d 626 (Supreme Court of Colorado, 1960)
Mid-County Publishers, Inc. v. LeMay
252 P.2d 268 (Washington Supreme Court, 1953)
Holden v. Schafer Bros. Lumber & Shingle Co.
160 P.2d 537 (Washington Supreme Court, 1945)
Stephenson v. Kenworthy Grain & Milling Co.
56 P.2d 1301 (Washington Supreme Court, 1936)
Tobin v. Orino
44 P.2d 795 (Washington Supreme Court, 1935)
Champa v. Washington Compressed Gas Co.
262 P. 228 (Washington Supreme Court, 1927)
Brinnon Logging Co. v. Carlsborg Mill & Timber Co.
210 P. 945 (Washington Supreme Court, 1922)
Carolene Sales Co. v. Canyon Milk Products Co.
210 P. 366 (Washington Supreme Court, 1922)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 P. 39, 115 Wash. 273, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 736, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cannon-v-oregon-moline-plow-co-wash-1921.