Fairbanks, Morse & Co. v. City of Wagoner, Okl.

81 F.2d 209, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3424
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 9, 1936
Docket1243, 1244
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 81 F.2d 209 (Fairbanks, Morse & Co. v. City of Wagoner, Okl.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fairbanks, Morse & Co. v. City of Wagoner, Okl., 81 F.2d 209, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3424 (10th Cir. 1936).

Opinion

PHILLIPS, Circuit Judge.

On August 19, 1930, Fairbanks, Morse & Company, hereinafter called Fairbanks Morse, commenced a suit in equity against the City of Wagoner, hereinafter called the City, and its municipal officers, predicated on a contract dated September 27, 1927, entered into between Fairbanks Morse and the City.

The contract read in part as follows:

“General Engine Proposal
“Date Sept. 22, 1927.
“Fairbanks, Morse * * *, propose to furnish and deliver to The City * * *.
* * *, the following machinery and materials: 1-360 HP Special Electric Type Y Style VA Diesel Engine direct *211 connected to 300 KVA 3 phase, 60 cycle, 2400 volt Alternator and 10 KW Shunt Wound Exciter; and 1-180 HP Special Electric Type Y Style VA Diesel Engine direct connected to 150 KVA 3 phase, 60 cycle 2400 volt Alternator and 7% KW Shunt Wound exciter; together with foundations for the machinery, exhaust tunnels, stacks, circulating pumps, switchboards, cooling tower, water softener and other equipment necessary for a complete installed power plant but except building * >■:
* * * the * * * City * *' * hereby contracts that it will pay to Fairbanks, Morse * * *, as purchase price of said Diesel engines and necessary equipment, apparatus and machinery, and for installation of same, the sum of Fifty Five Thousand One Hundred Ninety Five Dollars and Four Cents ($55,195.04), in equal monthly installments covering a period of fifty-two (52) consecutive months,. * * * it is hereby expressly contracted * * * that the payment of said sum * * *, shall be made only from the amount of money which the City * * * will save in the cost of the production of electricity, the saving for any month or part thereof to be the cost of production per kilowatt hour, after the plant has been improved and extended, in pursuance of this contract, as compared with the average cost of production per kilowatt hour to the City * * * for the fiscal year 1926-1927, that is, said saving for any month, or part thereof, to be the difference between the average cost of said production per kilowatt hour for the fiscal year 1926-1927, which has been estimated and determined and is hereby agreed by the parties hereto to be the sum of three and three-hundredths (3.03) cents per kilowatt hour, and the average cost of production of electricity per kilowatt hour for said month or period thereof, after said plant has been improved and extended in pursuance of this contract, and in estimating said cost of production of electricity for such month or period thereof, there shall be included the cost of all repairs to said plant, and salaries and wages of engineers, employes, mechanics, and laborers and other workers engaged in the operation and maintenance of said plant, and all expenses for fuel and oil, and all other expenses and expenditures reasonably necessary for the production of electricity and the operation, maintenance and upkeep of said plant and the machinery, equipment, appliances and appurtenances thereunto belonging and appertaining, and the buildings and structures housing and protecting same, and the cost of insurance on said plant, machinery, equipment, appliances and appurtenances, and said buildings and structures, and in making said estimate there shall not be included any cost of distribution of said electricity to the consumers thereof, nor the expense of collecting for charges made for electricity supplied by said City to consumers and customers; provided, further, that in estimating the production cost of electricity the operating expense must be based on an efficient and economical operation of plant in every particular; and which money so saved or so much thereof as shall be necessary, shall be applied monthly by the City * * * to the payment of said monthly installments, together with any interest that may become due thereon, and said monthly installments shall be paid only from said savings above described and from no other fund, money, property or assets of the City * * *, and no taxes, general or special, shall ever be levied upon the property of the City * * * to pay all or any part of the said sum * * * or any interest due thereon; and it is expressly hereby agreed and understood that this contract does not now nor shall it ever be held to create a debt of the City * * * for the payment of which taxes, general or special, might or could be levied upon the property of the inhabitants of the City * * *_»

It provided that the monthly installments should be evidenced by fifty-two instruments or notes in the following form:

“Wagoner, Oklahoma.
“......, 19..
“...... months after date, for value received, the City * * * promises to pay Fairbanks, Morse * * *, or order at St. Louis, Missouri, ...... with interest from maturity until paid at the rate of six per cent (6%) per annum.
“This instrument is one of a series of fifty-two (52) instruments or notes of even date. This is not a general obligation of the City * * *, but a special obligation, payable only from the savings in cost of production of electricity by improved electric light and power plant sold to said City * * * by said Fairbanks, Morse * * *, over cost of production of electricity by present light and power plant of said City * * * for the fiscal year *212 1926-1927, as provided in a certain written contract between said City and said Company, to which reference is hereby made and which is hereby made a part hereof.
“Default shall not be made in the payment of this note, nor in any of said series of fifty-two (52) instruments or notes, above mentioned, so long as said savings are applied to the payment thereof, as provided in said written contract, hereby referred to and made a part hereof, and all said savings shall immediately be applied to and paid on this note and said series of notes on their respective dates of maturity, and if insufficient to fully discharge and pay same, said savings shall be continued to be applied immediately to and paid thereon for a period of not to exceed 120 months from the date of this note and said other notes in said series of fifty-two (52) instruments, to-wit: ......, 1927, and any sum or sums unpaid upon said installments when due shall draw interest at six per cent (6%) per annum from date same should have been paid until paid in full, and at the expiration of said 120 months, if said savings have been applied and paid as aforesaid, any amount or amounts remaining due and unpaid on this note or instrument, or any of said series of fifty-two (52) instruments or notes, shall be cancelled, and this instrument or note, and any and all of said series of fifty-two (52) instruments or notes, with any and all interest, shall be deemed and held paid and satisfied in full, * * *.
“City of Wagoner, Oklahoma,
“By ..........
“Mayor of said City.”

The primary question presented is whether the City undertook to create an indebtedness in violation of the provisions of the Oklahoma Constitution and the City Charter set out in subjoined note l. 1

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Bluebook (online)
81 F.2d 209, 1936 U.S. App. LEXIS 3424, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fairbanks-morse-co-v-city-of-wagoner-okl-ca10-1936.