Frye v. E. I. duPont deNemours & Co.

151 A. 537, 129 Me. 289, 1930 Me. LEXIS 72
CourtSupreme Judicial Court of Maine
DecidedSeptember 30, 1930
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 151 A. 537 (Frye v. E. I. duPont deNemours & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Judicial Court of Maine primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frye v. E. I. duPont deNemours & Co., 151 A. 537, 129 Me. 289, 1930 Me. LEXIS 72 (Me. 1930).

Opinion

Sturgis, J.

Action of assumpsit to recover for three car loads of boards, claimed to have been shipped direct to designated consignees, upon the orders of defendant’s local Superintendent. The verdict was for the plaintiff and the case comes forward on Motion and Exceptions.

Motion

The evidence shows that the E. I. duPont deNemours & Company of Wilmington, Delaware, in 1926, operated a box shook mill at Deering Junction and maintained a branch office at 73 Bell Street in Portland, Maine. Its local Manager was E. L. Melia and the Superintendent of its mill was Henry E. Sargent.

As a manufacturer of boxes, the Company was a buyer of standing timber and sawed boards in this section of the State. Under the rules of the Company, all lumber contracts were made by the local Manager, but, in practice, the contracts were made by the Superintendent, except for formal confirmation and execution by the Manager. The Superintendent was “second in command,” occupying an office with the Manager and, in the latter’s absence, had full charge of the Company’s business..

The testimony of the plaintiff is that, some time in the latter part of October, 1926, a timber buyer, Currier L. Norris, called on him at his mill and lumber yard in Poland, Maine, looked over his sawed lumber, and began negotiations for the purchase of the boards on the sticks. The plaintiff’s statement of his conversation with Mr. Norris at this time, brought out on cross examination by defendant’s counsel, is:

“A. Mr. Norris came up and asked me what I had for lumber to offer. I said, ‘I have quite a bunch of if all around here.’ He said, T am buying for the duPont people and I can [292]*292move by their approval what you have got here, if it suits them.’ And I gave him a price of $35.00 F. O. B. cars. He says, ‘I will go back and report to them and they will send their man up to look at it.’ Then he said, ‘They will probably buy the whole of it and move it right off.’ ”

According to the plaintiff, Mr. Norris came again to Poland and said, “They have been up and seen it and they are going to buy it,” but gave no orders for shipment. A few days later, having heard nothing further, Mr. Frye called the Company’s office at Portland on the telephone and talked with Mr. Sargent, the Superintendent of the mill, who, upon being asked about loading the lumber, said, “Place a car and we will be up —■ send a man up and grade it.” Relying upon this order, a car was placed and, in a few days, Henry A. Cassidy, a lumber surveyor in the employ of the defendant Company, accompanied by Mr. Norris, came to Poland and graded the lumber as the plaintiff loaded it. On December 3, 1926, the car was shipped out under a bill of lading made by Mr. Cassidy, the plaintiff not being informed to whom it was consigned or in whose name it was shipped.

Hearing nothing from this shipment, in about three weeks, the plaintiff went to the Portland office of the defendant Company and his account of what happened there is as follows:

“Q. What happened?
A. I called for the boss.
Q. Tell us what was said and done?
A. They said he was busy and I waited a few minutes and then he was ready for me. I gave them my name.
Q. What boss do you refer to ? •
Á. Mr. Melia.
Q. What did you say to him?
A. ‘My name is Frye from Poland.’ When he learned who I was, he says, ‘Mr. Sargent is the one who has charge of that end of it.’
Q. What happened ?
A. He called one of the clerks from the other room outside and he called Mr. Sargent.
[293]*293Q. Going on with that, did you and he have any talk?
A. Yes, sir. He says, ‘Come out. I am busy outside’; and we went out of a door, out to what he called his office, outside in the yard. I says, ‘When will I expect some money for that?’ He says, ‘Wait a little while.’ He says, ‘I hope you aint afraid of this Company.’ I says, ‘No. Their reputation is good enough for me.’ ‘But,’ I says, ‘They have more money than I have.’
Q. What else?
A. That is about all. I said, ‘When do you expect another car, or aint you going to load any?’ He said, ‘We are taking a car as soon as we can.’ ”

The plaintiff testifies that he wrote a letter, addressing it to the E. I. duPont deNemours & Company at its Portland office asking whether or not they were going to take the boards, or the “rest” of the boards. He is apparently somewhat confused as to whether he sent the letter before the first car was ordered or after that shipment and before the second car was ordered. Upon a careful reading of his testimony, we think his testimony as to the letter must be taken as a statement that it was mailed after the first shipment and before the second car was ordered. He received no reply to the letter, but a few days later was called on the phone, recognized the voice of the speaker as that of Mr. Sargent, the Superintendent, and gives as the substance of that conversation that “He wanted me to get a car placed.” The second car was placed and Mr. Cassidy, the Company’s grader, came up again with Mr. Norris, graded the lumber, and, on January 4,1927, billed and shipped the car to the McDonald Mfg. Co. at Portland.

The plaintiff states that he received still another telephone message from the Superintendent asking him to place a third car, which also was loaded and graded by Mr. Cassidy, and on February 9, 1927, shipped to the Noyes Lumber Company at West Gonic, New Hampshire.

The plaintiff further testifies that, after the shipment of the third car, he again went to the office of the Company at Portland and there talked with both Mr. Sargent, the Superintendent, and [294]*294Mr. Melia, the General Manager. He says that he asked Mr. Melia for his money and was told “that the money didn’t come along” and “I guess you will get your money when the time comes right.” The plaintiff’s reply was, “It’s about time.” He then said to Mr. Sargent, “When shall I expect my money? It is about time, two cars are overdue, and I can use some money.” Mr. Sargent’s reply was, “You will get it soon.”

Dissatisfied with the results of his conference with Mr. Melia and Mr. Sargent, the plaintiff consulted his attorney and, at a conference in the latter’s office, which was attended by Mr. Melia, was informed by him, or by the Company’s attorney who was present, that the three car loads of boards in controversy were not purchased on the account of the defendant Corporation but by Mr. Sargent on his personal account as a private business transaction. The plaintiff asserts that this was his first knowledge of such a claim, that he intended to sell only to the Company, justifiably believed that he had, and is entitled to recovery against it.

Harry N. Cassidy, the Company’s surveyor, who graded and billed the lumber, was called as a witness. His testimony is that he was ordered to go to Poland and grade the lumber by Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
151 A. 537, 129 Me. 289, 1930 Me. LEXIS 72, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frye-v-e-i-dupont-denemours-co-me-1930.