Eistrat v. Northern Lumber Co.

190 Cal. App. 2d 267, 12 Cal. Rptr. 194, 1961 Cal. App. LEXIS 2293
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMarch 20, 1961
DocketCiv. No. 24736
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 190 Cal. App. 2d 267 (Eistrat v. Northern Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Eistrat v. Northern Lumber Co., 190 Cal. App. 2d 267, 12 Cal. Rptr. 194, 1961 Cal. App. LEXIS 2293 (Cal. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

FOURT, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment in favor óf defendants in an action involving an alleged conversion of certain lumber.

The first cause of action set forth in the complaint is for conversion of 200,000 board feet of lumber for which the plaintiff claims damages of $40,000; the second cause of action is for the value of 200,000 board feet of lumber in possession of the defendants in the amount of $40,000. The Clawsons answered the complaint by a general denial and in effect among other things set forth as affirmative defenses that the lumber [269]*269was owned by Jones Lumber and Mill Company, hereinafter referred to as Jones, and not by plaintiff; that payment for the logs from which the lumber had been produced had been made; that plaintiff was guilty of laches; that plaintiff was estopped from recovery by his conduct; that the issues involved have been decided against plaintiff in other actions and were res judicata and that plaintiff was estopped to pursue the action by reason of his election to pursue other remedies.

The plaintiff and his wife owned some timberland in Tulare County as community property and he acted for and on behalf of his wife as well as in his own behalf, and the conduct of either was the act and conduct of both.

On August 2, 1948, plaintiff made and entered into a “Timber Sales Agreement” with Jones, wherein plaintiff agreed to sell timber from his land to Jones. The contract provided among other things that the title to the timber passed to Jones when it was severed from the land and became logs, for which Jones was to pay $8.50 per thousand board feet of merchantable timber. Jones went onto the property under the provisions of the agreement, erected a sawmill and between August, 1948, and some time in November, 1948, cut between 125,000 and 500,000 board feet of timber. Said logs were later made into lumber by Jones.

On about October 10, 1948, plaintiff notified Jones that the contract was terminated; however on December 14, 1948, plaintiff filed an action against Jones in Tulare County for damages for an alleged violation of the contract and caused an attachment to be issued.

On June 21, 1949, defendants entered into a purchase and sale contract with Jones for certain lumber. During the negotiations for the contract Jones told defendants that he had some bothersome creditors and defendants refused to proceed further toward making a contract with him unless Jones was going to be able to protect the defendants from his creditors. Jones stated that he would consult with his lawyer about the matter and following his lawyer’s advice Jones filed a petition in bankruptcy on June 24, 1949; a restraining order was issued against the creditors of Jones thereby enabling him to operate his sawmill and sell his lumber without interference.

Between June 21, 1949, and August 6, 1949, defendants purchased 161,022 board feet of lumber from Jones, an amount which is less than could be produced from 140,000 board feet of logs. Defendants paid Jones for all of the lumber received [270]*270by them. Jones paid the plaintiff for the logs from which the lumber sold to defendants was made.

On August 12, 1949, plaintiff’s wife filed a verified “Proof of Claim” in the Jones bankruptcy proceedings, wherein she set forth that Jones was liable to her for $8,250, under the written contract of August 2, 1948, and a copy of the ‘ ‘ Timber Sales Agreement” was attached to the claim. That claim was subsequently withdrawn.

Plaintiff petitioned the court in the bankruptcy proceeding on September 29, 1949, to reclaim the property, and findings and an order dated October 21, 1950, were made with reference thereto. A petition to review that order was filed by plaintiff and an order was so made and a final judgment therein was made in about October 1951. Judgment in this case was for the defendants.

Appellant now contends that there was no substantial evidence to support the findings of fact and that it was reversible error to deny plaintiff’s motion for a new trial.

Appellant complains at great length about the defendants refusing to contract with Jones until they were assured that they would be protected from the creditors of Jones. The fact is that defendants did not advise Jones to go into any bankruptcy proceeding and there was no evidence of any collusion between Jones and the defendants with reference to the making of the contract to buy and sell the lumber in question. Appellant asserts in effect that the contract was tainted and infected because of the Jones bankruptcy proceedings and that Jones’ title to the logs and lumber was faulty. In Eistrat v. Brush Industrial Lumber Co., 124 Cal. App.2d 42 [268 P.2d 181], the court said:

“. . . on or about August 2, 1948, plaintiff entered into an agreement with Jones Lumber and Mill Company (hereinafter referred to as the vendee) by the terms of which plaintiff gave vendee the right to cut timber on certain property owned by plaintiff.” [P. 43.]
“[1] First: Does the evidence sustain the finding of the trial court ‘that plaintiff had no right, title or interest in or to said lumber; that said defendant was the owner of said lumber, and refused and had the right to refuse to deliver said lumber, or any part thereof, to plaintiff’?
“Yes. The evidence discloses that plaintiff entered into a contract giving vendee the right to remove certain lumber from property which he owned, and thereafter vendee did remove the lumber but did so in violation of certain provisions [271]*271of the contract (this lumber was sold to defendants); that plaintiff lmowing of the violation of the provisions of the contract waived any rights against defendants by (1) expressly telling them he would not hold them liable in any way for the alleged breach of contract by vendee (see evidence set forth in the footnote, supra; and (2) by instituting the action in Tulare County against vendee and obtaining the levy of a writ of attachment upon defendants for sums which it owed vendee. [2] The rule is established in California that one who obtains an attachment in pursuance of a contractual remedy is estopped to later pursue another remedy predicated upon an alleged tort arising from the same set of facts. (Estrada v. Alvarez, 38 Cal.2d 386, 391 [6] [240 P.2d 278] ; Steiner v. Rowley, 35 Cal.2d 713, 720 [221 P.2d 9].)
“This rule is here applicable and since defendants purchased the timber from vendee under a valid contract, the above finding of the trial court was sustained by the evidence.” [Pp. 44, 45.]

It would appear therefore that the particular matter of which the appellant complains has been litigated and Jones’ title was upheld in an action in which the plaintiff here was also the plaintiff.

In another action in which the plaintiff here was also the plaintiff, namely Eistrat v. Western Hardwood Lumber Co., 164 Cal.App.2d 374 [330 P.2d 629], it was stated:

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
190 Cal. App. 2d 267, 12 Cal. Rptr. 194, 1961 Cal. App. LEXIS 2293, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/eistrat-v-northern-lumber-co-calctapp-1961.