Gadsden County Tobacco Co. v. Corry

137 So. 255, 103 Fla. 217
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedOctober 21, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 137 So. 255 (Gadsden County Tobacco Co. v. Corry) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gadsden County Tobacco Co. v. Corry, 137 So. 255, 103 Fla. 217 (Fla. 1931).

Opinions

Davis, J.

This cause originated in the Circuit Court of Gadsden County, Florida, by the filing of the bill of complaint by Arthur Corry against The Gadsden County Tobacco Company, a corporation, praying for the foreclosure of a chattel mortgage originally given to the Quincy State Bank and subsequently assigned to Corry.

On final hearing the trial court entered its decree in favor of the complainant and against the defendant decreeing the foreclosure of the mortgage in question for a balance of $3763.07, as principal and interest to the 15th day of February, 1929, awarding solicitor’s fees to the complainant, and providing for the sale of the mortgaged property. From this decree the defendant has appealed.

A detailed discussion of the particular facts of this ease would serve no useful purpose. It is sufficient to say that the principal contention between the parties is *220 whether or not the mortgage in question has been discharged. The record shows that the mortgagee Corry acted for the mortgagor, The Gadsden County Tobacco Company, as agent, for the sale of a certain crop of tobacco. Sales of tobacco were made from time to time by Corry, and it is the contention of The Gadsden ¡County Tobacco Company that if these sales had been properly •credited that the proceeds realized by Corry, which should have been realized by him during the course of his dealings with tobacco he had in hand, were more than enough to have completely discharged the mortgage by payment under the respective duties and obligations which existed between The Gadsden County Tobacco Company and Corry by reason of the nature of their mutual relationship and transactions which occurred thereunder.

After a full hearing the chancellor entered his decree in favor of the complainant. This ruling of the chancellor who tried the cause is presumed to be correct and the burden is upon the appellant to make it clearly to appear that the rulings of the chancellor are erroneous, or the decree will be affirmed. Smith v. Hollingsworth, 85 Fla. 431, 96 So. 294, and cases cited.

In the accounting which was taken between the mortgagor and mortgagee, it appears that the chancellor, disallowed the mortgagor credit for a sale of tobacco made by Corry to Hernshein Tobacco Company aggregating $2300.00, of which $1415.20 was tobacco of the mortgagor defendant. It appears from the record that after this sale of tobacco was made to Hernshein Tobacco Company that said company went into the hands of Federal Court receivers for the purpose. of being reorganized and refinanced. In order to promote this reorganization and refinancing a meeting of the creditors of Hernshein Tobacco Company was called. Corry, without consulting The Gadsden County Tobáceo Company, went to this creditors’ meeting and agreed to take a series- of notes payable to *221 himself for the purchase price of tobacco owned by The Gadsden County Tobacco Company, by another producer and by himself, all treated as one account. These notes were without interest and were to become due over a long period of years. Corry never turned these notes, or any one of them, over to The Gadsden County Tobacco Company, or offered or tendered them to The Gadsden County Tobacco Company. Yet he appears to have charged back against the Gadsden County Tobacco Company on his account with that company the sum of $1415.20, represented by the uncollected sales price of that company’s tobacco which he had sold to the Hernshein Tobacco Company about the time it went into the hands of the receivers. The chancellor, in dealing with the case' in the court below, appears to have upheld and allowed this item as one properly charged back against The Gadsden County Tobacco Company under the circumstances.

It appears from the record that Corry was acting as factor in the sale of tobacco for The Gadsden County Tobacco Company. A factor is one whose business is to receive and sell goods for a commission. He differs from a broker in that he is intrusted with the. possession of the goods to be sold and usually sells in his own name. He is invested by law with a special property in the goods to be sold and a general lien upon them, and their proceeds, for his advances; and, 'unless there be an agreement or usage to the contrary, he may sell upon a reasonable credit. Sinclair v. National Surety Co., 132 Iowa 549; 107 N. W. 184; Turner vs. Crumpton, 21 N. D. 294; Ann. Cas. 1913C, 1015; Beardsley v. Schmidt, 98 N. W. 235, 120 Wis. 405; 102 Am. St. Rep. 991.

A factor, like other agents, possessed that implied and incidental authority which is reasonably necessary and proper for the execution of his undertaking, and which is usually exercised by factors under like circumstances, and is not forbidden. As in the case of brokers, the law reg *222 ulating the transactions of factors is largely the outgrowth of commercial usage, and such usage is constantly appealed to in interpreting or defining their authority. 2 Meehem (2d Ed.) paragraphs 2501-2502. In the latter connection it was said in Bailey v. Bensley, 87 111. 556, by Sheldon, J.: “A person who deals in a particular market must be taken to deal according to the known, general and uniform custom of that market and he who employs another to act for him at a particular place or market must be taken as intending that the business will be done according to the usage or custom of that place or market whether the principal knew of the usage or custom or not. ’ ’

It was formerly considered that a factor had no implied authority to sell upon credit, but the rule is now well settled (although it is undoubtedly contrary to the ' ordinary rule respecting sales by agents) that, in the absence of instructions or usage to the contrary, the factor, if he exercises reasonable care and prudence in the selection of a responsible purchaser, may sell the goods upon a reasonable term of credit. Walker v. Dubuque Fruit Co., 113 Iowa 428, 85 N. W. 614; 53 L. R. A. 775; Daylight Burner Co. v. Odlin, 51 N. H. 56, 12 Am. Rep. 45; Van Alen v. Vanderpool, 6 Johns (N. T.) 69; 5 Am. Dec. 192; Hapgood v. Batchelder, 4 Metc. (Mass.) 573; Burton v. Goodspeed, 69 Ill. 237. Where, however, he is instructed to sell for cash only, or where the custom is not to grant credit, a factor has no implied authority to sell upon credit. Kauffman vs. Beasley, 54 Tex. 563.

A factor who has completed a sale for his principal, has, thereafter, ordinarily no implied authority to rescind the sale, or discharge the purchaser from its obligation. Smith vs. Rice, 1 Bailey (S. C.) 648. But where the principal consigns goods to the factor for sale where the custom exists to allow cancellation under certain circumstances, he cannot hold the factor responsible for acting in ae *223 cordanee with the custom, there being no instructions to the contrary. Charlotte Oil Co. v. Hartog, 29 C. C. A. 56, 85 Fed. 150.

A factor having sold goods upon a credit, his undertaking is executed and he has ordinarily no implied authority to extend the time for payment, nor has the factor implied authority to receive in payment '.anything but money, nor has the factor implied authority to bind the principal by making, accepting or indorsing negotiable paper. Emerson v. Providence Hat Co., 12 Mass. 231, 7 Am. Dec. 66; Guy v. Oakley, 13 Johns (N. Y.) 332; Kennesaw Guano Co. v.

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137 So. 255, 103 Fla. 217, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gadsden-county-tobacco-co-v-corry-fla-1931.