Fisk Tire Co. v. Blackburn Tire Co.

60 S.W.2d 838, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 754
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 10, 1933
DocketNo. 4014
StatusPublished

This text of 60 S.W.2d 838 (Fisk Tire Co. v. Blackburn Tire 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
Fisk Tire Co. v. Blackburn Tire Co., 60 S.W.2d 838, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 754 (Tex. Ct. App. 1933).

Opinion

JACKSON, Justice.

This suit was instituted' in the district court of Potter county by the Fisk Tire Company, Inc., against the Blackburn Tire Company, Inc., on an itemized and verified account for the sum of $1,916.50, and against H. A. Nobles who. guaranteed in writing the payment of said account.

The Blackburn Tire Company answered by general demurrer, general denial, and stated under oath that the itemized account attached to plaintiff’s petition was not true and correct, and demanded proof of each item contained therein.

In a cross-action the Blackburn Tire Company pleaded that in January, 1930, it was engaged in the business of handling automobile accessories, including the tires of the plaintiff. That in said month plaintiff solicited said defendant to become its warehouseman, and gave notice that, if it expected to continue to handle plaintiff’s products in Amarillo, it would be necessary to secure a more suitable location and a larger storeroom, and advised defendant of certain suitable and desirable premises which could be leased. That the defendant, learning the rent on such premises from March 15, 1930, to April 1, 1932, would be $7,590, payable monthly, informed plaintiff that it would be unable to pay said sum and could not assume such rent contract. Thereafter the plaintiff again solicited the defendant to secure the premises for the full term above mentioned, and thereupon it was agreed that the defendant would rent such premises from Louis H. Smith, Inc., by written contract, a copy of which is attached to the -cross-action, and plaintiff would immediately thereafter place with the defendant a larger stock of automobile accessories, maintain the stock in such manner as to result in the maximum sales in the Amarillo territory, and give defendant the servicing of busses using Fisk tires in and out of Amarillo for the full term of such lease. That in order to aid the defendant, plaintiff agreed to furnish two salesmen to travel out of Amarillo for the purpose of making sales in the surrounding territory of its products and pay the defendant commissions on said sales. That plaintiff further agreed in writing to repay the defendant one-half of all the rents accruing under the lease until such warehouse was properly opened and installed, and, if for any reason the warehouse was not maintained for such period, the plaintiff would repay the defendant all rents required to be paid! under the lease contract. That in pursuance to the agreement, the plaintiff prepared and tendered to the defendant for execution a contract representing that it was its general and usual warehouse contract, and that it would continue in force throughout the period of the lease, and the defendant, without knowing the conditions of such agreement, but relying on the representations of the plaintiff, executed a warehouse contract with the plaintiff.

That plaintiff failed to install and maintain a reasonable amount of merchandise in the warehouse, refused to employ traveling salesmen, breached said contract, and entered the premises about February 1, 1931, and removed therefrom the stock of merchandise it had therein, and has since said date failed and refused to repay the defendant any part of the rent to Louis H. Smith, Inc.

That, by reason of the failure to comply with the contract as alleged, the plaintiff became obligated to pay the defendant certain commissions as set forth in the original contract and supplement thereto, a copy of which is attached to the cross-action, and to repay the defendant one-half of all rents due and owing on said premises. That defendant would not have entered into the rental contract except for the representations and assurances alleged to have been made to it by the plaintiff. That, had. the plaintiff maintained the warehouse stock as agreed during the period1 of the lease, the defendant would have earned and collected $5,000 more in commissions than it received, and, by reason of plaintiff’s failure so to do, the defendant was damaged in said sum.

That in addition defendant is obligated on the rent contract for the full period thereon, and plaintiff maintained1 its warehouse for a period of but ten months, during which the rent amounted to $3,000, leaving a balance of $4,590, for one-half of which the plaintiff is liable to the defendant.

That, as a proximate result of the breach of its- agreements by the plaintiff, defendant was damag'ed in the sum of $1,500 by being deprived of the right of servicing the busses and other vehicles, operating in and-out of Amarillo, which used plaintiff’s tires. That the defendant serviced certain busses for which it was entitled to $973.05, an itemized account of which it attaches to the cross-action and for which it avers it received no pay or credit.

That from February 1, 1930, to March 15, 1930, the agreements above set out were in the process of execution and are evidenced by different written instruments, including the rental and warehouse contracts, and all of the writings were intended as parts of the general agreement and contract. That the statements contained in the warehouse agreement and other written instruments undertaking to limit the rights of the defendant, and especially subdivisions 14 and 15, of the warehouse agreement, were inserted therein by the plaintiff fraudulently without the knowledge or consent of the defendant and in contradiction of the plaintiff’s said written agreement to avoid the effect of the statements and representations, inducing the defendant to enter into said contracts and un[840]*840dertakings. That such representations have been ratified and approved by the plaintiff and it is now estopped from seeking to avoid said agreements and obligations or to urge any contrary provisions in the warehouse agreement.

The defendant H. A. Nobles answered by general demurrer, general denial, and adopted the allegations contained in the pleadings of the Blackburn Tire Company.

At the proper time the defendants filed' an admission of plaintiff’s cause of action with the request to open and conclude, admitting: ^‘That plaintiff has a good cause of action for the amount claimed and shown in its petition and as pleaded by it, except so far as same may be defeated in whole or in part by the facts of the answers of the defendants constituting a good defense which may be established on the trial hereof.”

In a discussion in open court between the attorneys for the respective parties and the •presiding judge as to the extent and effect of ■the filing of such admission, the attorney for appellee stated: “The intention bears the ■admission of $1900 and some odd dollars, less the claim sued on in the cross-action, which is another matter.”

The court authorized the defendants to assume the burden and proceed with the trial.

In response to special issues submitted by the court, the jury, in effect, found that the Blackburn Tire Company had made no overcharges against the plaintiff for servicing-busses ; that prior to the time of the execu-.

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60 S.W.2d 838, 1933 Tex. App. LEXIS 754, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fisk-tire-co-v-blackburn-tire-co-texapp-1933.