DePasquale v. Bradlee & McIntosh Co.

156 N.E. 37, 258 Mass. 483, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1177
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMarch 2, 1927
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 156 N.E. 37 (DePasquale v. Bradlee & McIntosh Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
DePasquale v. Bradlee & McIntosh Co., 156 N.E. 37, 258 Mass. 483, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1177 (Mass. 1927).

Opinion

Pierce, J.

This action arises out of the sale by the defendant of two lots of sugar to the plaintiffs, under two written contracts, dated respectively May 4 and May 6, 1920. The lot sold under the “Memorandum of Sale” dated May 4,1920, was called, in the “Memorandum,” “American Washed Sugar”; the amount was five hundred bags, each bag of about one hundred pounds net. The lot sold under the “memorandum of sale” dated May 6, 1920, was called in the “memorandum” “Foreign Refined Granulated Sugar”; the amount of such sugar was two hundred fifty bags, each bag weighing net approximately two hundred twenty-four pounds.

The Central American, or washed sugar, arrived in New York on the steamship “Cristobal” on July 26, 1920. The defendant notified the plaintiffs when the sugar arrived and [485]*485the plaintiffs ordered it sent to Worcester. Irrevocable letters of credit issued out of the Worcester Bank and Trust Company, under which payments were made to the defendant for these two lots of sugar against shipping documents. The “Foreign Refined” sugar arrived in New York on board the steamship “Sophie Frankel” on July 8, 1920, and by the direction of the defendant was consigned to the order of the State Street Trust Company, and by the plaintiffs ordered to be shipped to a warehouse at Worcester. The “Washed Sugar” arrived in Worcester on August 10,1920, the “Foreign Refined” on August 11, 1920. The bank paid the freight, ordered the sugar warehoused and notified the plaintiffs to that effect.

By each contract the sugar was sold “duty paid, ex ship New York.” No inspection of either lot after its arrival at the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Company on August 10 and 11, 1920, respectively, was made by the plaintiffs until September 28, 1920. On that date one of the plaintiffs inspected the sugar, and on September 30 and on October 1 wrote the defendant to the effect that the Central American Washed Sugar was not like the sample given at the time of the making of the contract; that the Foreign Refined granulated sugar was not as represented; that the sugar was valueless; that the plaintiffs held it to the order of the defendant; and that they rescinded both shipments and “hereby tender to you all of the sugar which you sent us and which is now deposited in the Worcester Cold Storage and Warehouse Co.” To these letters the defendant replied, under date of October 4, 1920, as follows: “Referring to your letter of September 30th, please be advised that the Central American Washed and the Foreign Refined sugars were delivered in accordance with contract.”

At the close of the evidence the trial judge ordered the plaintiffs to elect between counts one, three, four, and six, based on alleged breaches of the contracts, and counts two and five, based on alleged false and fraudulent representations. The plaintiffs waived the counts in contract, and elected to stand on counts two and five. The jury returned a verdict for the plaintiffs in the sum of $9,600.50. After [486]*486the verdict was received, but before it was approved and recorded, the judge reserved leave, with the assent of the jury, to enter a verdict for the defendant, as provided in G. L. c. 231, § 120; and thereafter, on motion of the defendant, the judge made an order in accordance with the leave reserved and a verdict was entered for the defendant, to which the plaintiffs excepted. The case is before this court on that exception.

The plaintiffs offered, and the judge received in evidence without exception of the defendant, the contracts dated May 4, 1920, and May 6, 1920, respectively. It was admitted by the defendant that under letters of credit on the'Worcester Bank and Trust Company payment for the full, amount set out in the contracts for the two lots had been made to the defendant. The contracts, admitted in evidence, read as follows: "May 4,1920. Sold to : A. De Pasquale’s Sons — Milford, Mass. 500 (five hundred) bags (bags of about 100 pounds net) of Central American Washed Sugar @ 23c (twenty-three cents) per pound, duty paid, ex ship New York. Landed weights and tares. Shipment: ■ During April and May from Central America. Payment: Buyer to open immediately irrevocable bank credit through-Boston, for approximate value, in favor of Bradlee & McIntosh Co., payable against shipping documents. Weight-differences to be settled after final returns are received. Force Majeure conditions to apply to this contract. No arrival no sale.” "May 6, 1920. Sold to: A. De Pasquale’s Sons — Milford, Mass. 250 (two hundred fifty) bags (approximate weight 224# net each) Foreign Refined Granulated Sugar, packed in double bags, @ 24c (twenty-four cents) per pound, duty paid, ex ship New York. Shipment: From source during April and May, expected to arrive in New York June and July. Payment: Buyer to open immediately irrevocable bank credit for approximate' value in favor of Bradlee & McIntosh Co., payable against shipping documents. Force Majeure conditions to apply to this cqntract. No arrival no sale.”

Count two, in tort, in substance alleges that the defendant "for the purpose of inducing the plaintiffs to buy . . . [the [487]*487Central American Washed Sugar] fraudulently and falsely represented to the plaintiffs that the said sugar was the same in kind and quality as a certain sample thereof; that the plaintiffs, relying upon said representation, agreed to buy said lot of sugar at said price; that upon notice from the carrier with whom the defendant shipped said sugar, that the sugar had arrived, the plaintiffs, relying upon said false and fraudulent representation, that the same corresponded with said sample, paid to the defendant therefor the sum of $11,500; that the defendant mailed to the plaintiffs a memoranda [sic] of sale, a copy of which is hereto annexed marked ‘ A,’ that the plaintiffs, relying upon said false representation, signed the same and remailed it to the defendant.” Count five, in tort, alleges that the defendant “for the purpose of inducing the plaintiffs to buy . . . [Foreign Befined Granulated Sugar] fraudulently and falsely represented to the plaintiffs that the said sugar was the same in kind and quality as American Befined Sugar, and otherwise made representations relative thereto; that the plaintiffs, relying upon said false and fraudulent representations, agreed to buy said lot of sugar at said price; that upon notice from the carrier with whom the defendant shipped said sugar, that the sugar had arrived, the plaintiffs, relying upon said false and fraudulent representations, paid to the defendant therefor the sum of $13,450; that the defendant mailed to the plaintiff a memoranda [sic] of sale, a copy of which is hereto annexed marked ‘B/ that the plaintiffs relying upon said false representations, signed the same and remailed it to the defendant.” Each count sufficiently asserts reliance upon the alleged representations, and traverses the truth of such alleged misstatements.

At the trial there was no claim and no offer made to prove that the contracts introduced in evidence by the plaintiffs were executed by them by reason of any fraud or misstatement as to the nature of the instruments which they signed or of any fraud or misstatement as to the meaning of the contents of the executed memorandums. In fact one of the plaintiffs testified, in substance, that after a talk with the defendant he received the “two memos of sale” from the [488]*488defendant through the mail, signed them and mailed them back, "because . . .

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
156 N.E. 37, 258 Mass. 483, 1927 Mass. LEXIS 1177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/depasquale-v-bradlee-mcintosh-co-mass-1927.