Dillon v. Sears-Roebuck Co.

253 N.W. 331, 126 Neb. 357, 1934 Neb. LEXIS 255
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 1934
DocketNo. 28583
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 253 N.W. 331 (Dillon v. Sears-Roebuck Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dillon v. Sears-Roebuck Co., 253 N.W. 331, 126 Neb. 357, 1934 Neb. LEXIS 255 (Neb. 1934).

Opinions

Day, J.

Rachel P. Dillon brought this action to recover damages against Sears-Roebuck Company, Fred Arndt, district manager, and Roy Sellers, manager of the Omaha store for the company. From a judgment of $3,000, the defendants appeal. This case was previously heard by this court, an opinion adopted, and a judgment of reversal entered, 125 Neb. 269. Upon an oral argument upon the motion for rehearing, the court has reached a different conclusion.

' The plaintiff was employed in an inferior capacity in the Omaha store of Sears-Roebuck Company. This controversy had its inception when one Behr, a ■ private detective, an employee of the Willmark Service System, began a check of the Omaha store under a contract between Sears-Roebuck Company and the Willmark System. A woman detective, assistant to Behr, purchased a paint brush from plaintiff, who then was a saleslady in the paint department, for $1.15. In a few minutes, she took it back and exchanged it for one costing $1.10 additional. It was and is the claim of defendants that plaintiff handled this transaction in an irregular manner. Behr directed some employee of Sears-Roebuck, he says Sellers, manager of the local store, and she says the manager of the paint [359]*359department, to send her to him for an interview about this transaction. In any event, she was soon closeted with Behr in-an office upon the fourth floor of the store. The testimony as to what happened there is largely in conflict. However, this is a law case, not triable de. novo in this court, and the sole question for determination is the sufficiency of the evidence to support a verdict. Eggleston v. Quinn, 88 Neb. 775.

Plaintiff testified that the paint brush transaction was discussed immediately; that she told him what she still claims were the facts; that she made out a ticket in the exchange book and required the purchaser to sign it and laid it upon the cash register with the money. She had to get an “O. K.” from the manager and take it to the cashier on the next floor; that a number of customers requiring attention delayed her, and that when she returned, the money and slip were gone. She told Behr that she would make it good. He then stated that she would have to sign a statement to that effect. He prepared a statement which she signed and it is as follows:

“I, Mrs. Rachel Dillon, age 18, married, residing at 2631 Capitol Ave., Omaha, Nebraska, have been in your employ since about Feb. 1, 1930.

“On July 15, 1930, I sold to a customer one paint brush for $1.15, and the customer later exchanged this brush for one selling for $2.25. The customer gave me the difference of $1.10, and I did not record this amount but kept it for my personal use.

“This statement was typewritten at my request by Mr. Fred M. Behr, and I have read it over thoroughly and know it to contain nothing but the truth. I am signing this on ,my oivn free will, tuithout threat or promise from any one present, and I have been spoken to in a gentlemanly and courteous manner.” (Italics ours.)

Taking the inference most unfavorable to the plaintiff, this was evidence of an admission against her positive sworn testimony that she did not steal the money but that it was lost as she stated. The jury could with propriety [360]*360determine that she was careless and negligent rather than that she was a thief. We will discuss this statement later in connection with a second one signed at the same interview.

However, this detective who wrote this statement at plaintiff’s request, a thing almost incredible, admits that the last paragraph was in his words and his idea and not suggested by her. It seems that the jury might conclude also that the statement that she kept the money for her own use was also his idea and in his words. Would any one be so credulous as to believe in view of all that transpired that afternoon that Behr would have been satisfied with or accepted anything different?

However, in connection with this transaction, it is interesting to note that the executives of the defendant company were as vague in their notion as to the manner in which such an exchange should be handled by a saleslady as plaintiff. Arndt, who was district manager in charge of five retail stores for Sears-Roebuck Company, testified upon the second trial of this case, a long time after this controversy, when this had been engaging his attention, the method by which an exchange of this kind should be handled. Sellers, the local manager of the store, testified that the transaction should be handled in an entirely different manner, and, as a part of his examination, he made a sample record on their forms showing the correct method. Shinstock, the assistant manager for the defendant, criticized the model, offered in the record as exhibit 5, as having two important omissions. Yet these defendants were, and in this lawsuit are, holding this 18-year-old girl, who was occupying an inferior position, to a strict knowledge of and a strict accountability to the rules concerning which the highest executives of the defendant company had different ideas. In fact, Arndt later took the stand and stated that he was mistaken as to the requirements of the rules. Under such circumstances, the contention of the plaintiff that her action was a mere irregularity and she was negligent in losing the [361]*361money is as justifiable a conclusion as that of the private detective that she was a thief, and this conclusion is reached without any consideration of motives or interests on the part of this detective to find some clerk stealing from the store. “An admission made by a party which is inconsistent with his testimony goes merely to the credibility of the witness.” 3 Jones, Evidence (2d ed.) 1973.

The discussion of the paint brush episode required about five minutes. Behr then questioned her about stealing other money. Plaintiff testified that he told her that they had a “whole bin full of merchandise” in the shipping department for which she had kept the money, which was untrue. She also testified that he called Mr. Sellers to the office, and that after a conversation he told Behr that the amount of money which plaintiff had taken on account of this merchandise was $850. This was denied by Sellers and by Behr. Behr testified that she stated she had been taking money in this same way during the time of her employment, which was six months, and that she told him she thought it would average about $5 a day; that lie figured six months, 27 days to the month, and $5 a day, by which he arrived at the figure of $850. This indicates that Behr’s arithmetic was as bad as his detective work, because, figured on that basis, it would only amount to $810. Furthermore, the defendants introduced as exhibit 8 a report of sales for March, April, May, and June, 1930, four of the six months the plaintiff was employed, and this exhibit establishes the fact that March, April, and May had 26 days each, while June had 25 business days. February, another month of this period had only 24 business days in 1930. The evidence also establishes that for one month of the six months’ period, the plaintiff was working on the elevator and handled no money, and for the rest of the time, except for the last two weeks when she worked in the paint department, that lier average sales were only $14 or $15 a day. The defendant offered testimony showing the department sales to be much larger, but she was not the only saleslady in the [362]

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Bluebook (online)
253 N.W. 331, 126 Neb. 357, 1934 Neb. LEXIS 255, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dillon-v-sears-roebuck-co-neb-1934.