Fate-Root-Heath Co. v. Howard Kenyon Dredging Co.

117 S.W.2d 547, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 613
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 19, 1938
DocketNo. 10607.
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 117 S.W.2d 547 (Fate-Root-Heath Co. v. Howard Kenyon Dredging 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
Fate-Root-Heath Co. v. Howard Kenyon Dredging Co., 117 S.W.2d 547, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 613 (Tex. Ct. App. 1938).

Opinion

GRAVES, Justice.

This is an action on a $1929.95 note, executed and delivered to The Fate-Root-Heath Company, appellant, by the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, acting through Howard Kenyon, President, in payment for repairs and parts, many of which were purchased locally, and labor performed by the agents of appellant foreign corporation, which had no permit to do business in this State, in repairing and reconditioning a locomotive engine in Houston, Texas. The note was executed in Wharton, Texas, is payable in Houston, Texas, and was executed in payment for repairs made on a locomotive engine in Houston, Texas, by the agents of appellant corporation several years subsequent to the sale and shipment of such locomotive into this State; it is an action on a note which has arisen out of a contract entered into by the parties hereto in this State — separate and distinct from, as well as subsequent to, such original shipment of the engine into Texas— which contract called for the performance by appellants agents of local work in this State, in line with the business in which appellant corporation is engaged for pecuniary profit in the State of its domicile.

In answer to plaintiff’s petition, defendants filed pleas in abatement, asserting that plaintiff was a corporation organized and existing under the laws of the State of Delaware, that it had never been granted a permit to do business in Texas, that the note sued on was given to plaintiff at a time when it was unlawfully transacting business in Texas without a permit, and that by virtue of the provisions of Articles 1529-1536, inclusive, Texas Revised Civil Statutes of 1925, Vernon’s Ann.Civ. St. arts. 1529-1536, plaintiff was not entitled to prosecute this suit.

The trial court sustained the pleas in abatement and dismissed plaintiff’s suit. Findings of fact and conclusions of law were prepared and filed by the trial court, which Were as follows:

“Findings of Fact.
“The Fate-Root-Heath Company is a foreign Corporation incorporated for pecuniary profit under the laws of the State of Delaware, and has never at any time filed its articles of incorporation with the Secretary of State of Texas and has never had issued to it at any time a permit to transact business in this State. The Fate-Root-Heath Company is engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling new gasoline locomotives and other machinery and is also engaged in the business of reconditioning, repairing, reselling, and exchanging second hand locomotives and other machinery, and that said company retains in its employ repairmen w.hose duty it is, in carrying .out the business of the corporation, to make repairs and adjustments on locomotives and other machinery.
“The Fate-Root-Heath Company has its office and principal place of business in Plymouth, Ohio, and the only factory and shops which it maintains are located at that place, and it does not maintain an office, factory, workhouse, or shop in Texas.
“In the year 1931 the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, acting by and through its President, Howard Kenyon, contracted to purchase a 35-ton Plymouth locomotive from The Fate-Root-Heath Company, which machine at the date of its sale was located in Plymouth, Ohio, and was shipped to the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company at Magnolia, Texas, in 1931. The sale was evidenced by the conditional sales contract, a photostatic copy of which is attached to the Statement of Facts. Said contract was procured in Houston, Texas, and accepted by The Fate-Root-Heath , Company at its office in Plymouth, Ohio. That as set out in said contract, the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, acting by and' through its President, Howard Kenyon, executed its promissory notes totalling *549 the sum of $10,000.00 in payment therefor, none of which notes have ever been paid.
“The consideration for the $1929.95 note upon which plaintiff’s suit is- based, which note although dated Houston, Texas, was executed and delivered in Wharton, Texas, was an agreement between the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, acting by and through its President, Howard Kenyon, and I. S. Hixon, duly authorized agent for The Fate-Root-Heath Company, which agreement was negotiated .and consummated in Houston, Texas, during the latter part of June or early part of July, 1933, and was as follows: That The Fate-Root-Heath Company, acting by and through its agent, I. S. Hixon, would take possession of said 35-ton gasoline Plymouth Locomotive No. 3466, which had not been paid for in accordance with the terms of said conditional sales contract, and recondition and repair said locomotive in Houston, Texas; that upon the completion of the work The Fate-Root-Heath Company, acting by and through I. S. Hixon, agreed to resell said locomotive and credit the proceeds from its resale on the said purchase money notes executed by the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company. The Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, acting by and through its President, Howard Kenyon, agreed to deliver possession of said locomotive to I. S. Hixon, agent for The Fate-Root-Heath Company, and also agreed to pay for the cost of reconditioning and repairing said locomotive, including all labor and material, and in payment therefor- to execute its promissory note payable to The Fate-Root-Heath Company for the total amount when the repairs were completed. At the time said agreement was made, I. S. Hixon, acting as agent for The Fate-Root-Heath Company, represented to Howard. Kenyon, President of the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, that said reconditioned locomotive could and would be resold for more than enough to' discharge the original purchase money notes and pay for the cost of the repairs, and that Howard Kenyon, in said capacity, relied on Hixon’s representations in executing said note.
“In pursuance of this' agreement said locomotive, which had been in this state since its original delivery to the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company at Magnolia, Texas, in 1931, was delivered to The Fate-Root-Heath Company, under an order of court appearing at page 49 of the Statement of Facts, ■ and that said locomotive was then taken by I. S. Hixon, acting as agent for The Fate-Root-Heath Company, to the tracks of the Smith Construction Company in Houston, Texas, and there repaired during the latter part of August and first of September, 1933, by I. S. Hixon and three other men employed for that purpose by I. S. Hixon as agent for The Fate-Root-Heath Company. That I. S. Hixon was present at all times and made these repairs himself along with the other men which he had employed, and supervised the performance of this reconditioning and repair work. That numerous parts necessary in making said repairs were purchased in Houston, Texas, and that some of the parts were furnished by the factory of The Fate-Root-Heath Company. That upon completion of the reconditioning and repair work by The Fate-Root-Heath Company, I. S. Hixon, its agent, presented Howard Kenyon, President of the Howard Kenyon Dredging Company, with an itemized statement setting out the costs incurred by The Fate-Root-Heath Company in repairing and reconditioning said locomotive and mailed to Howard Kenyon a letter evidencing such expenditures. This letter did not set out the true agreement entered into between the parties and this letter was never answered.

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Bluebook (online)
117 S.W.2d 547, 1938 Tex. App. LEXIS 613, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fate-root-heath-co-v-howard-kenyon-dredging-co-texapp-1938.