Daugherty Grain Co. v. S. T. Oates Grain Co.

191 S.W.2d 804, 1945 Tex. App. LEXIS 882
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 7, 1945
DocketNo. 14737.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 191 S.W.2d 804 (Daugherty Grain Co. v. S. T. Oates Grain Co.) 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
Daugherty Grain Co. v. S. T. Oates Grain Co., 191 S.W.2d 804, 1945 Tex. App. LEXIS 882 (Tex. Ct. App. 1945).

Opinion

SPEER, Justice.

This is a venue suit, raised by the plea of privilege filed by defendant. Plaintiff S. T. Oates, doing business as S. T. Oates Grain Company, a resident of Tarrant County, sued William Daugherty, Jr., doing business as Daugherty Grain Company, a resident of San Patricio County, Texas, to recover certain sums of money alleged to be due plaintiff by defendant, growing out of dealings between the parties.

The substance of the material parts of plaintiff’s allegations is that at given times he entered into written contracts with defendant whereby he purchased from defendant several cars of grain, at specified prices and in cars of certain capacities; that payment for the grain was to be made by plaintiff under an agreement that defendant would draw drafts on plaintiff with bills of lading attached, through any bank in Fort Worth, Texas.

Certain of the items sought to be recovered grew out of the failure of defendant to ship the cars of grain ordered and plaintiff, having contracted to sell such grain to his customers, was required to purchase the grain on open market at higher prices than those agreed to be paid to defendant, and deliver such grain so purchased to his customers.

Other items involved grew out of shortages in weights and penalties by the carrier occasioned by the cars not being loaded to their respective capacities, before he could receive the grain.

Defendant timely filed his plea of privilege to be sued in the county of his residence. Plaintiff filed his controverting affidavit, repeating much that was contained in his petition and by appropriate references made the petition a part of his controverting affidavit, and relied upon exception No. 5 of Article 1995, R.C.S., Vernon’s Ann.Civ.St. art. 1995, subd. 5, that is, that the contract was one in writing in which defendant agreed to perform in Tarrant County, Texas. No contention is made by either party that the pleadings were insufficient.

Trial of the venue issues was to the court; judgment was entered overruling the plea of privilege and defendant has appealed.

Defendant’s points of error attacking the judgment are in substance (a) There was no evidence tending to show that defendant agreed in writing to perform the contract of sale in Tarrant County, and (b) the evidence failed to show any exception to exclusive venue under the statutes of Texas.

Under the facts in this case as disclosed by the uncontradicted testimony of plaintiff, we think the judgment of the trial court must be sustained.

The facts upon which this appeal rests, as disclosed by this record, are substantially : That plaintiff was a wholesale grain dealer in Tarrant County, buying and selling grain in carload lots all over the county. That all wholesale grain business is conducted by telegraph or telephone, and then confirmations are sent. Over a period of two months or more during the summer of 1945, plaintiff would call defendant on *806 the phone and ascertain if defendant had what he wanted and the price at which it could be purchased, and if satisfactory, would tentatively buy it; that on the same day or the next, plaintiff would mail to defendant a written confirmation, in which would be contained: the purchase number, the number of cars with designated capacities, quality of grain, price, destination of grain, and certain other things not necessary to mention here. All letters of confirmation contained this language: “Make drafts, ladings attached, on us at Fort Worth through any Fort Worth bank * * *. If no objections taken to this contract immediately by wire or phone, we shall consider you have accepted same as final.” Thereafter in each instance in which defendant shipped grain, he billed it to plaintiff, procured bill of lading and attached it to draft drawn on plaintiff at Fort Worth, Texas. The drafts were paid and the bills of lading thus procured by plaintiff entitled him to the possession of the car or cars of grain. That part of plaintiff’s cause of action grew out of shortages in weights and additional amounts required by the railway company because the cars were not loaded to capacity. That the buyer (Oates) did not get possession and control of the several carloads of grain until he paid the drafts drawn by the seller and procured the bills of lading, and that the drafts were paid and possession of the ladings were procured before arrival of the grain. That the cars of grain were billed for delivery at Houston and San Antonio. In response to an inquiry by his counsel, Oates testified that after he paid the drafts and procured the bills of lading, he had a right to divert shipments for delivery to any destination he desired.

Whether or not plaintiff sustained any damages, and the amounts if any, will be involved when the case is tried on its merits and are matters of which we have no concern in this appeal.

There was no specific pleading by plaintiff of custom in the wholesale grain business, but the testimony was given without objection by defendant and it falls within Rule 67, Texas Rules of Civil Procedure.

Plaintiff’s claims are composed of two different kinds of items; no point is raised by defendant as to the item of damages for failure to deliver certain grain contracted by him to be delivered to plaintiff, but in any event, plaintiff was authorized by Rule 51 to sue on all claims held by him against defendant in the same suit.

Under the above facts, defendant (appellant) cites and relies upon such cases as Smith Grain Co. v. H. H. Watson Co., Tex.Civ.App., 285 S.W. 868; Sugarland Industries v. Universal Mills, Tex.Civ.App., 275 S.W. 406; Watson v. Howe Grain & Mercantile Co., TexCiv.App., 214 S.W. 843, and Ferguson v. Sanders, Tex.Civ.App., 133 S.W.2d 806. In the cited cases, with the exception of the last, there is language used which supports defendant’s contention. The last-cited case (Ferguson v. Sanders) was decided upon a different state of facts to the one before us and distinguishes that case from the rule which we believe is contrary to that asserted by defendant.

Judgment entered in a venue hearing is interlocutory, but is one made ap-pealable. In the main, Courts of Civil Appeals have final jurisdiction of such appeals, but the Supreme Court has jurisdiction also in cases of conflicts and when certified by the intermediate courts. It is our imperative duty to follow the lead of our Supreme Court when it has spoken on a question.

The sole question before us is: Do the conditions and circumstances revealed by the pleadings and evidence in this case constitute a promise by defendant to perform these contracts of sale in Tarrant County ?

Marcus et al. v. Armer et al., 117 Tex. 368, 5 S.W.2d 960, 60 A.L.R. 672, was a certified question involving substantially the same question before us. That case has been consistently followed by all of our appellate courts since it was handed down; see Shepard’s Citations; they are too numerous to cite here. In that case the purchaser was temporarily in the home county of the seller and orally agreed to purchase a carload of cottonseed and deposited $100 to apply on the purchase price. Later, the purchaser who resided in another county, wrote the seller to ship the seed to Austin, Texas, and to draw on him there by draft with bill of lading attached.

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191 S.W.2d 804, 1945 Tex. App. LEXIS 882, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/daugherty-grain-co-v-s-t-oates-grain-co-texapp-1945.