Clem Lumber Co. v. Marty

26 S.W.2d 319, 1930 Tex. App. LEXIS 212
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 13, 1930
DocketNo. 2400.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 26 S.W.2d 319 (Clem Lumber Co. v. Marty) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Clem Lumber Co. v. Marty, 26 S.W.2d 319, 1930 Tex. App. LEXIS 212 (Tex. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

HIGGINS, J.

Appellee E. A. Marty, contemplated purchasing a lot in Highland Park in Dallas county, and building a residence thereon according to certain plans and specifications.

About April 7, 1919, he submitted to the Trinity Lumber Company and appellant, Clem Lumber Company, a statement of the lumber and material needed for building the house and requested bids.

Harry Abies, an employee of appellant, figured the bill for that company, and in response to a telephone inquiry from Marty, Abies advised the appellant would furnish the lumber and material for $1,400. This was about April 7th. The bid of the Trinity Lumber Company was $1,930.

The estimate made by Abies was upon three sheets of paper. He did not total the cost of the various items shown thereon, but delegated this to some one else in the office who-did so upon an adding machine, each page being totaled separately, and the grand total then obtained. The total of the items upon-the first page was $1,451.46, and, when Abies made the report over the telephone to Marty, he had by error this subtotal slip before him, and reported the estimate and bid of appellant as $1,400. The sum of $1,400 instead of $1,451.46 was bid in accordance with the custom of appellant to quote round figures. As a matter of fact, the correct total of the three pages was $2,053.30. But for the error of Abies in looking at the wrong adding machine slip and total, he would have reported an estimate and bid by appellant of $2,000. The next day after the telephone conversation, Marty went to appellant’s office when the estimate and bid of appellant was handed to him. It then showed no total upon any page, and at Marty’s request Abies penciled on. the last page $1,400.

*320 On April 14th, Marty acquired title to the lot upon -which he proposed building. On the same date, he entered into a contract with W. Sanford, a carpenter, to construct the house. Ollie Clem was appellant’s managing officer. Clem later discovered the error in the estimate and bid, and refused to comply with appellant’s contract to furnish the lumber and material for $1,400. Other facts pertinent to the* questions presented will he indicated in the course of the opinion.

This suit was by Marty and wife against the Clem Humber Company to recover damages. Upon special findings, judgment in their favor was rendered.

Appellant’s propositions will be considered in what-we regard as their logical sequence rather than in the order presented in the brief.

At the top of each page, upon which appellant submitted its bid, appears printed matter as follows:

“From
“Clem Lumber Company
“Dealers in
“All Kinds of Building Material.
“Mr. E. A. Marty, Address-
“No. - 4-7-191—

“We agree to furnish the articles listed below for $- to be delivered at - Name of Owner-.”

This price is subject to change after 10 days, and if you accept this estimate it will be necessary that the time of payments be understood and agreed upon in writing, ánd which of terms offered below are to govern. Strangers and persons, or firms having no financial rating will be required to giye security. Errors in extensions subject to correction.

Terms

“(1) Cash the first of each month for all material bought the next preceding month.

“(2) If paid in advance or as material is furnished, a discount of $-will be allowed from the above estimate.

“(3) If paid for as follows-a discount of $- will be allowed from the above estimate, 10% interest per annum will be charged on all accounts from maturity.

“The following estimate is hereby accepted and agree that Term No.-is to govern.

“All payments to be made at-.
“[Signed] - — —

Below this, upon the 52 lines of each page, are listed the items of material, and the price placed opposite each article.

It is in effect -asserted by appellant that performance of his bid to furnish the lumber and other material for $1,400 should be excused, because it was-a palpable mistake and so manifest it must be inferred as a matter of law that Marty was aware of the mistake before the contract was made; in support of which it cites Geremia v. Boyarsky, 107 Conn. 387, 140 A. 749, and Moffett v. City of Rochester, 178 U. S. 373, 20 S. Ct. 957, 44 L. Ed. 1108; and further that the error was subject to correction by virtue of the provision in the printed matter upon which the estimate and bid was submitted which reads: “Error in extension subject to correction.”

We have before us the original pages of the estimate and bid, and it seems to us there was nothing to put Marty upon notice of any mistake. It could only have been ascertained by addition of over a hundred items appearing upon the three pages. Certainly it cannot be inferred as a matter of law that Marty knew of the same before the contract was made. And in this connection the jury by its 15th, 16th, and 17th findings, found that Marty did not discover the mistake before the contract was made, and that he was not negligent in failing so to do. The cases applying the doctrine of palpable mistake as excusing the performance of a contract therefore have no application.

As to the effect of the words “Error in extensions subject to correction,” there appears to be no error in extensions. The only extensions we find are the prices on each line at the right-hand side of the page. There are no errors claimed there. No totals appear at the bottom of the pages. The penciled memo of $1,400 on the last page does not appear in the proper place for a total. It appears far below the items shown in the first fourteen lines of the page and midway ■between the left and right margins. The words relied upon have no application to the error made.

Furthermore, the jury found that appellant in preparing and furnishing the estimate did not intend to make the printed words at the top of the pages a part of its bid for the sale of the lumber. The surrounding facts and circumstances support this finding. Upon this finding, the printed matter is not to be considered a part of the contract between the parties. Allison v. Hamic (Tex. Civ. App.) 226 S. W. 483 ; 35 Cyc. 97; Toledo, etc., v. Garrison, 28 App. D. C. 243; Lumber Co. v. McNeeley, 58 Wash. 223, 108 P. 621, 28 L. R. A. (N. S.) 1007; Weeks v. Robert A. Johnson Co., 116 Wis. 105, 92 N. W. 794.

Appellee intended to finance the building of the house by a note for $2,500 secured by mechanic’s lien upon the premises. The manner in which the financing was to be effected was by Marty explained to Clem, to whom the plan was satisfactory. On April 14, the note and lien were executed and the same presented to Clem on the 15th. Prior- to that time, however, appellant had already furnished upon the personal responsibility of Mapty, lumber and material to the extent of $250.71 in value.

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Bluebook (online)
26 S.W.2d 319, 1930 Tex. App. LEXIS 212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/clem-lumber-co-v-marty-texapp-1930.