Fulton v. W. R. Grace & Co.

129 S.E. 374, 143 Va. 12, 1925 Va. LEXIS 240
CourtSupreme Court of Virginia
DecidedSeptember 17, 1925
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 129 S.E. 374 (Fulton v. W. R. Grace & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Fulton v. W. R. Grace & Co., 129 S.E. 374, 143 Va. 12, 1925 Va. LEXIS 240 (Va. 1925).

Opinion

Chichester, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

This is an action by W. R. Grace & Co., wool dealer of New York city, hereafter referred to as plaintiff, [15]*15against T. R. Fulton, of Grayson county, Va., hereafter referred to as defendant, for damages in the sum of $15,000 for breach of contract for alleged failure on the part of the defendant to deliver to plaintiff 175,000 pounds of wool, at the price of 36 bá cents a pound.

The case was tried on June 7, 1924, in the Circuit Court of Grayson county, and the jury found a verdict of $2,000 in favor of the plaintiff. The defendant moved the court to set aside the verdict “as contrary to the law and the evidence, and for misdirection of the jury as to the law.” The court overruled the motion and rendered judgment for the plaintiff.

There are four counts in the declaration — the common count (trespass on the case in assumpsit) and three special counts, which undertake to give the terms of the contract and charge its breach on the part of the defendant. The third count of the declaration, which states the plaintiff’s ease as broadly as it is anywhere stated, alleges:

“Then said plaintiff at the special instances and requests of the said defendant, through the said defendant’s duly authorized agent, the Kerns Commission Company, of Jersey City, N. J., bargained with said defendant to buy of the said defendant, and the said defendant then and there, through its duly constituted agent, the Kerns Commission Company, sold to the. said plaintiff a large quantity of goods, to-wit: 175,000 pounds of wool at the price of 36 cents for each and. every pound thereof to be delivered by the said defendant to the said plaintiff f. o. b. stations,. Troutdale, . Speedwell, Fries and Galax, Va.,. by July 15, 1922, and to be'paid for by the said plaintiff to the., said;..b defendant on the. delivery thereof as aforesaid, and in: consideration, thereof that- the said plaintiff- at the like..; ¡r. special instance and, request, of the said.; defendant. •had»ii.i [16]*16then and there undertaken and faithfully promised the said defendant to accept and receive the said goods, and to pay him for the same at the rate of the price aforesaid, he the said defendant undertook and then and there faithfully promised the said plaintiff to deliver the said wool to the said plaintiff aforesaid, and the said time for delivery of the said goods aforesaid hath long since elapsed, and the said plaintiff hath always been ready and willing to accept and receive the said goods and to pay for the same at the rate and price aforesaid, whereof the said defendant hath always had notice, etc.”

The defendant filed the following grounds of defense:

“That the plaintiff failed and refused to comply with the terms of the contract sued on, in that they refused and failed to pay defendant the price for which the wool was sold. And said defendant was at all times ready and willing to comply with his part of contract had the plaintiff complied with same.”

There are five errors assigned:

(1) The court erred in admitting in evidence the testimony of Louis C. Miller in regard to contract between plaintiff and defendant, and exhibit No. 1 filed therewith.

(2) The court erred in overruling the defendant’s motion to exclude the evidence of Louis C. Miller and exhibit No. 1 filed therewith, as set forth in assignment No. 1 above.

(3) The court erred in giving to the jury plaintiff’s instructions Nos. 1, 2, 3 and 4, and each of them.

(4) The court erred in refusing to give to the jury defendant’s instruction No. 4.

(5) The court erred in overruling defendant’s motion to set aside the verdict of the jury on the ground that same was contrary to the law and evidence and [17]*17for misdirection of the jury as to the law, and upon entering judgment for the plaintiff.

As we view the ease it is not necessary to discuss these in the order in which they are alleged, for the following reasons:

The primary controversy in the case is as to the terms and conditions of the contract. If the trial court made no error in the admission of evidence, and if the jury was properly instructed, then the jury, by its verdict, has established not only what the contract was, but also who breached it. Furthermore, there is no doubt about the fact that the evidence, if properly admitted, fully supports the finding of the jury.

The case, therefore, can be discussed under three heads—

1. What was the contract, as established by the evidence and the jury’s verdict?

2. Did the court err in admitting evidence which, if it had been excluded, may have resulted in a different verdict? (This involves grounds of error 1 and 2, supra.)

3. Did the court properly instruct the jury? (Grounds of error 3 and 4, supra.)

1. The terms of contract are shown chiefly by •correspondence by letters and by telegrams between Kerns Commission Company and the defendant. The preliminary arrangements whereby this company was to undertake to sell to some wool merchant all the wool the defendant could buy in his section of Virginia in 1922 were made in Washington in March of that year, when the defendant met E. L. Kerns, head of the Kerns 'Commission Company, there. It is unnecessary to go .into the details of this preliminary correspondence further than to say that from the beginning it appears that ¡the defendant was unable personally to finance the [18]*18purchase of the wool, that the Kerns Company proposed to find a purchaser at a price satisfactory to defendant, that it was to finance the transaction so far as payment to the woolgrowers was concerned; that it was to receive a commission of two cents per pound for all wool so sold. The substance of this preliminary understanding appears in the first letter written by E. L. Kerns to the defendant, March 16, 1922, in which, in restating the writer’s views of the conversation had with defendant shortly before in Washington, he says:

“I told you that we would pay for the wool at costs when loaded, with the bill of lading attached to the draft drawn against each shipment, which we were entirely willing to do. You may draw your drafts on Kerns Commission Company at the Jersey City Stock Yards, and make them payable through the Commercial Trust Company, Grove Street Branch, Jersey City, N. J. I think if you show this letter to your banker, he will understand thoroughly what this-means.”

Shortly after this the commission company got in touch with the plaintiff, and its representative, Alexander H. Cain, came to Virginia to see defendant and to purchase his wool if a satisfactory price could be agreed upon. No agreement was made at that time because no satisfactory price was offered, but later the commission company, through Louis C. Miller, a wool broker of Verona, New Jersey, secured an offer by the plaintiff to the defendant of thirty-six and one half cents per pound for all the wool the latter could furnish. The defendant accepted this offey, and upon information furnished Miller by the Kerns Commission Company, the latter filed with W. R.. Grace & Co., the plaintiff, a “sales note” as follows:

[19]*19“Sold to W. R. Grace & Co., New York City.
“Account of T. R. Fulton,. Carsonville, Va., through E. L. Kerns, Jersey City, N. J.

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Bluebook (online)
129 S.E. 374, 143 Va. 12, 1925 Va. LEXIS 240, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/fulton-v-w-r-grace-co-va-1925.