Claver v. Rosenquist

499 P.2d 1235, 160 Mont. 4, 1972 Mont. LEXIS 354
Montana Supreme Court·Decided July 21, 1972·No. No. 12103·Published·Cited by 4 cases

Opinions

MR. JUSTICE ELA SWELL

delivered the Opinion of the Court.

In a controversy involving the sale of gravel under a. written contract, the district court of Fergus County, the-Honorable LeRoy L. McKinnon, district judge, presiding without a jury, granted plaintiff a permanent injunction restraining the defendants from interfering in any way with plaintiff’s: [6]*6access, control and disposition of reject gravel stored on defendants’ land; from interfering with plaintiff’s trade or business of selling this reject gravel during the term of the contract; and awarded plaintiff nominal damages of $100. Following denial of defendants’ motion to amend the findings of fact, conclusions of law and judgment defendants now appeal from the final judgment.

The underlying facts of this matter may be summarized. In the fall of 1968, defendants Byron N. Rosenquist and his elderly mother Katie Rosenquist, jointly owned land near Stanford, Montana containing gravel deposits. In November, 1968 plaintiff James H. Claver entered into a contract with the Rosenquists as follows:

“THIS AGREEMENT made this 19 day of November, 1968, between Byron N. Rosenquist and Katie Rosenquist of Stanford, Montana, herein called the sellers, and James H. Claver of Stanford, Montana, herein called the purchaser;
“For the consideration hereinafter set forth, the sellers do hereby agree to sell to the purchaser all gravel and sand, required for any Great Northern Railway gravel bid, whether bid direct or indirectly by said purchaser, located in and on the following described land in the County of Judith Basin, State of Montana, described as follows:
“From the pit of the said sellers next to the seller’s feed yard on the Southern edge of the Town of Stanford, in Section 16, Township 16, Range 12,
“for the price of six cents per cubic yard. The purchaser shall have full rights of ingress and egress in, on, over and across and through the above described land for the purpose of mining, storing and removing the sand and gravel purchased hereunder. The sellers agree that their livestock shall not run at large on said premises during the mining and storing operations.
“The purchaser shall have the right to construct any and all roadways as may be reasonably necessary or convenient to [7]*7the mining, storing and removing of the sand and gravel purchased hereunder. Further, the purchaser shall have the right to stockpile on any ground adjacent to said pit, all of the reject sand and gravel, and shall have access to said stockpile for a period of five (5) years.
“Purchaser shall use all possible care and diligence and shall conduct his operations in such manner as not to cause undo damage to the above described land.
“Upon the termination of operations under this agreement, the surface of the ground appurtenant to the gravel pit shall be smooth and restored by the purchaser to as near the present condition as possible and any stripping material shall be placed back into the pit.
“It is further agreed between the parties hereto that the purchaser shall have the exclusive right to the sand and gravel from said pit in future years at the price herein agreed upon for so long as the said purchaser shall comply with the terms of this Contract.
“This agreement shall be binding upon the heirs, executors,, administrators, and assigns of the parties hereto.
“/s/ B. N. Rosenquist
“/s/ Katie Rosenquist
“/s/ James H. Claver”

Thereafter plaintiff contracted with Zook Brothers Construction Company, who had a contract to supply gravel to-the Great Northern Railway, to use gravel from the Rosenquist land under the contract that plaintiff had with the Rosenquists. Plaintiff received a down payment of $2,500' from Zook under his contract with them and paid the Rosenquists $1,200 down on his contract with them, all in 1968. In March, 1969, the Zook Brothers Construction Company moved onto defendants’ property and began excavating and. processing gravel for the Great Northern Railway Company. By the end of May, 1969, Zook had completed his job of.' [8]*8furnishing gravel to the Great Northern and had taken his crusher off of defendants’ property; at this time all gravel had been delivered to the Great Northern. According to Zook’s figures they had delivered 100,000 cubic yards of gravel to the Great Northern, but according to the Great Northern Zook had furnished them only 86,625 cubic yards; in any event whatever the volume was it was sufficient to satisfy the Railroad’s requirements. Zook Brothers remitted a total of $11,-261.25 to plaintiff for 86,625 cubic yards of gravel for the Great Northern. This includes the $2,500 down payment in 1968, $5,950 paid in June 1969, and $2,811.25 with no payment date specified. As payments came in to plaintiff from Zook, plaintiff made corresponding payments at 6‡ per cubic yard to defendants Rosenquist. There was no rejection of payments by Rosenquists on gravel furnished the Great Northern.

However, a controversy arose over sale by plaintiff to the general public of reject gravel piled on Rosenquists’ land. This reject gravel was a by-product of producing dimensional gravel to meet the Great Northern Railway’s requirements. Plaintiff began making sales to the public of this reject gravel. About May 2, 1969, defendant Byron Rosenquist contacted plaintiff and demanded payment for all amounts outstanding, contending that nothing had been paid him by plaintiff since the preceding December while nearly 300,000 cubic yards of gravel had been taken from defendants’ land. On May 5, 1969, plaintiff did go to see defendant but no offer of payment or settlement was made at that time. Plaintiff contended that the entire reject pile of gravel was his by virtue of the agreement heretofore set forth and that he had the right to sell the reject and remit 6(S per cubic yard to defendants. Defendant Byron Rosenquist thereafter on occasion attempted to and did personally stop further removal of reject gravel from his property by plaintiff.

On May 8, 1969, plaintiff tendered to the defendants a [9]*9check for $353.70 for reject gravel, which check was refused by defendants.

Subsequently plaintiff purchased various pieces of equipment such as a loader, a dump truck and a pickup in order to sell gravel to the general public. He also began negotiating with a ready-mix firm in Great Falls to bring water onto the defendants’ land to set up a washing plant but the deal never materialized.

On June 4, 1969, defendant Rosenquist published a notice in the Judith Basin Press disclaiming any agency relationship with plaintiff, and began calling some of plaintiff’s customers telling them, in effect, that plaintiff had no right to sell the gravel. Defendant Rosenquist also attempted to dissuade them from paying plaintiff for gravel previously delivered.

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Claver v. Rosenquist, 499 P.2d 1235, 160 Mont. 4, 1972 Mont. LEXIS 354 (Mo. 1972).

499 P.2d 1235 (Claver v. Rosenquist) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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