Frady v. Bryan

48 So. 2d 133, 210 Miss. 1, 1950 Miss. LEXIS 313
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 23, 1950
DocketNo. 37602
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 48 So. 2d 133 (Frady v. Bryan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frady v. Bryan, 48 So. 2d 133, 210 Miss. 1, 1950 Miss. LEXIS 313 (Mich. 1950).

Opinion

Coleman, C.

This case chiefly involves receivership proceedings in the chancery court which were instituted by appellee, and to the institution of which appellant consented. Because of the many claims, pleadings, and invoices filed, the record consists of four volumes.

Appellant presents 103 assignments of error. No novel question of law is presented a’nd discussion of the multiple points raised would not, in our opinion, add to the ample precedents already existing. Suffice it to say that upon due consideration we are convinced that the chan[7]*7cellor committed no error of law, and, as to disputed questions of fact, his findings instead of being manifestly wrong are shown by the record to have been manifestly right.

Affirmed.

PER CURIAM.

The above opinion is adopted as the opinion of the Court, and, for the reasons therein indicated, the case is affirmed.

The opinion on the Suggestion of Error is as follows:

McGehee, O. J.

On October 23, 1950, we affirmed, without a dissenting opinion, a decree of the chancery court in the above styled cause, after the case had been fully argued and understandingly presented to the conference by one of the judges and checked and thereafter reported on by another.

On this suggestion of error it is contended by counsel for the appellant that this affirmance of the decree will “open wide the gates to such a state of affairs that business men will be forced to protect their business and property with warfare and bloodshed, . . . will cause the citizens of this great state to lose their faith in the courts of justice, . . . will cast a very serious doubt as to the integrity and value of lawyers to those citizens who have suffered serious wrongs. . . . will overrule all the long established and well founded precedents in this state and in this country in respect to the right of one citizen to take the property of another.” That affirmance of the decree will ignore the reasons which caused this country to- declare its independence, and that all the guaranties in the federal and state constitutions will likewise be ignored. And the statement is made that every attorney to whom the facts of this case have been referred has unhesitatingly stated that the [8]*8decree of the chancellor must he reversed, and that “not a single lawyer, among which number are the best in Mississippi, has ever suggested that the decree below would or should be affirmed.”

It is not shown, however, that the attorneys referred to have carefully read the record of approximately 800 pages now before us and the nearly 300 pages of briefs submitted to us on this appeal. At any rate we cannot be governed by any plebiscite that may be held among the members of the bar as to how a case should be decided here. It is gratifying to note that at least the suggestion of error does not declare that the affirmance of the trial court decree would destroy the American way of life, our cherished traditions and institutions, or inevitably involve us in another all-out world war. Neither do counsel contend that our former decision herein will further endanger the national economy by bringing about the establishment of a welfare state so as to thereby speed up the trend toward national socialism, nor that it will even cause the presence of fewer “Byrds in Congress” to warn us of the urgent need for greater economy in governmental expenditures. This fact is indeed heartening when we pause to contemplate the other dire consequences that are prophesied to result from our affirmance of the decree appealed from.

Nevertheless, a re-examination of the record and a careful study of the original briefs and the 105 page brief filed on this suggestion of error, discloses that there is nothing very complicated about the legal principles involved, and the appellant frankly concedes that there is no disputed issue of fact in the case. And although both the record and the briefs are very voluminous, the issues for decision are quite simple.

The facts are that the appellant Fred Frady purchased fromC. B. Jones the equipment and fixtures, oil and gas, and whatever stock of merchandise that was being used by Jones in the operation of a gasoline filling station; that the sale was in violation of Section 274, Code [9]*9of 1942, known as the Bulk Sales Law, and therefore absolutely void as to creditors, the requirements of the statute being applicable to a sale of a filling station, as well as to the sale of other businesses. B. F. Goodrich Rubber Co. v. Breland, 170 Miss. 117, 154 So. 303.

The appellant, therefore, received that which he had attempted to purchase, as a trustee thereof and subject to the right of the creditors of Jones to subject the same to the payment of their claims, and to hold him liable as purchaser for any portion of the property that he may have converted to his own use. Peters Branch International Shoe Co. v. Gunn, 121 Miss. 679, 83 So. 742; Orgill Bros. v. Gee, 152 Miss. 590, 120 So. 737.

G. D. Bryan, the operator of a bulk sales station as agent for the Arkansas Fuel Oil Company, was a creditor of Jones at the time of the sale, by reason of the fact that under his contract with the Arkansas Fuel Oil Company, which was introduced in evidence, it was disclosed that all sales made by the agent to any unapproved customer, such as Jones was, resulted in Bryan becoming the creditor of the customer instead of his principal being such creditor. In other words, the company contracted in effect that it was not to become the creditor of such a customer but would be entitled to collect for the sales from the said Bryan if he should see fit to extend credit to such a customer. The contract made the invoices of the sales to Jones competent evidence even though they were erroneously made out in favor of the Arkansas Fuel Oil Company. Anyway the suit was not against the debtor Jones on open account, but against the purchaser from the debtor to subject the property in question to the payment of a creditor’s claim.

G. D. Bryan filed his suit to subject the property purchased by the appellant from the debtor Jones to the claim of Bryan against Jones in the sum of $1,647.87. The appellant Frady, upon learning that his purchase was void under the Bulk Sales Law, returned to his home at Greenwood and left the place of business in charge of [10]*10his agent Killen at Belzoni to operate, after the former had converted some of the property to his own use. With the consent of this agent Killen, it appears that some gasoline was drawn from the tanks by the creditor Bryan, with the assistance of the agent Killen, and as a safety precaution, and for which gasoline Bryan gave him a credit memorandum in the sum of $12.32; that the agent, having closed the station for want of funds to meet the payroll, and for the reason that he did not know what other course to pursue, since his employer Frady could not then be located for advice in the premises, turned over the keys to the creditor Bryan, who caused other keys to be made so as to keep the premises locked to prevent theft of the property and for the protection of his rights and those of other creditors pending the appointment of a receiver. Bryan did not convert any of the property to his own use as contended for by the appellant except the fifty-three gallons of gasoline above referred to and for which he gave credit.

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Bluebook (online)
48 So. 2d 133, 210 Miss. 1, 1950 Miss. LEXIS 313, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frady-v-bryan-miss-1950.