Gaetano Marzotto & Figli, S.P.A. v. G. A. Vedovi & Co.

28 F.R.D. 320, 4 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 858, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5239
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedJuly 25, 1961
StatusPublished
Cited by14 cases

This text of 28 F.R.D. 320 (Gaetano Marzotto & Figli, S.P.A. v. G. A. Vedovi & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gaetano Marzotto & Figli, S.P.A. v. G. A. Vedovi & Co., 28 F.R.D. 320, 4 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 858, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5239 (S.D.N.Y. 1961).

Opinion

FREDERICK van PELT BRYAN, District Judge.

Plaintiff Marzotto, an Italian corporation with its principal offices in Valdagno, Italy, is engaged in the manufacture and export of woolen goods. Defendant Vedovi is a New York corporation with its principal offices in this district. For many years it acted as exclusive sales agent for Marzotto in this country.

Marzotto sues to recover the sum of $206,054.32 representing monies collected by Vedovi for Marzotto’s account from purchasers of Marzotto woolen goods which Vedovi has failed to remit.

Vedovi acknowledges that it has collected these sums for Marzotto’s account and has not remitted them. However, it interposes three counterclaims aggregating $255,489.20 for services alleged to have been rendered to Marzotto in effecting collections for its account, for sums advanced, for expenses which it incurred at Marzotto’s instance and for Marzotto’s benefit, and for additional selling commissions alleged to be due. Vedovi credits the funds which it has collected for Marzotto’s account against the amount alleged to be due from Marzotto and demands judgment on its counterclaims for the net balance of $49,434.88.

In its reply Marzotto denies liability on the counterclaims except for the sum of $6,359.31 which it concedes was advanced for its account and which it says it stands ready to pay on remission of the amounts owing by Vedovi to it.

Marzotto has now moved, pursuant to Rules 54(b) and 56(d), F.R.Civ.P., 28 U. S.C.A. for summary judgment against Vedovi in the full amount of the claim asserted in the complaint; with interest, with an express direction, pursuant to Rule 54(b), for the entry of final judgment in its favor on that claim at this stage of the litigation without waiting for a trial of the issues raised by Vedovi’s counterclaims.

Vedovi concedes that Marzotto is entitled to a finding, pursuant to Rule 56 (d), that Vedovi has collected and is holding the amount sought in the complaint for Marzotto’s account. However, it denies that this sum is due and owing to Marzotto since it claims that Marzotto is indebted to it in the sum of $196,-844.81 on claims arising out of the same course of dealing as well as for additional amounts. It urges that Marzotto is not entitled to the entry of judgment on the claim asserted in its complaint until Marzotto’s liability on the counterclaims has been determined. Only then, says Vedovi, can it be ascertained whether Marzotto owes it money or it owes Marzotto money on the mutual accounts between them.

Vedovi acted as Marzotto’s exclusive selling agent in the United States from 1935 until October 1, 1958, when the re[322]*322Iationship was terminated. The relationship was based on a series of written selling agency agreements, the last of which was dated November 15, 1952. Vedovi was entitled to commissions of 4% on goods sold up to November 1, 1956 and 4% % thereafter.

Prior to December 1949 Vedovi was not authorized to make collections and Marzotto itself sent invoices to the customers in this country and effected collection directly. In December of 1949 the method of effecting collection was changed. The parties are in disagreement as to how this change was effected. However, it is clear that after December 1949 Vedovi began invoicing merchandise sold to American customers, collecting such invoices and disposing of the monies so collected in accordance with Marzotto’s not uncomplicated instructions.

Both parties agree that on October 1, 1958, when they terminated their relationship, Vedovi had in its hands $206,-054.32 in collected invoices. Vedovi refused to remit these monies to Marzotto until there was a complete settlement of the accounts involving the two corporations. Marzotto then instituted this action to recover the amount of the unremitted collections.

While there is no dispute between the parties as to the fact that Vedovi collected monies for Marzotto’s account, they are in sharp disagreement as to the arrangements under which these collections were made.

Marzotto contends that the monies were collected by Vedovi pursuant to the exclusive sales agency agreements, the last of which was dated November 15, 1952 as modified by an exchange of correspondence dated July 24, 1957 and September 5, 1957, some five years later and some seven years after Vedovi had begun to make the American collections. Marzotto’s complaint is drawn, and the present motion is made, on that theory.

Vedovi, on the other hand, maintains that collections were not made pursuant to the sales agency agreement but under an entirely separate oral arrangement supplemented by a large volume of correspondence and an extended course of dealing. It points to the fact that the sales agency agreement expressly provides that “(9) The Agents have no authority to make collections for the account of ‘Marzotto’ nor to grant extensions, discounts or allowances on payments. Invoices are collected directly by ‘Marzotto’ ”. It asserts that the two letters of July 24, 1957 and September 5, 1957, which Marzotto claims amended the selling agency agreement, were merely a part of a large volume of correspondence dealing with the collection arrangements which were quite apart and separate from the selling agency agreement itself.

Vedovi says that its first counterclaim, comprising a claim in the sum of $190,-485.50 for the reasonable value of services rendered by Vedovi in making collections during the period from January 1950 to October 1958 at the rate of 2% of the aggregate invoices collected, and in the sum of $6,359.31 for unreimbursed expenses in connection with these services, arises out of a separate agreement by which it undertook to make collections for Marzotto’s account and may be properly set off against the claim asserted in the complaint for monies which it collected which it says also arose under such agreement.

The sharp dispute of fact between the parties as to whether the claim asserted in the complaint arises out of the selling agency agreement or out of an entirely separate collection agreement and therefore as to whether the first counterclaim arises out of the same agreement from which the claim asserted in the complaint arises, cannot be resolved on the record now before me.

The question then is whether under such circumstances Marzotto is entitled at this stage of the action to an express direction for the entry of final judgment on the claim asserted in its complaint under Rule 54(b) or only to a finding under Rule 56(d) of the undisputed fact [323]*323that Vedovi has in its hands the sum of $206,054.32 collected for Marzotto’s account.

Rule 54(b) as amended effective March 19, 1948, provides:

“When more than one claim for relief is presented in an action, whether as a claim, counterclaim, cross-claim, or third-party claim, the court may direct the entry of a final judgment upon one or more but less than all of the claims only upon an express determination that there is no just reason for delay and upon an express direction for the entry of judgment.”1

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

United States v. Honeywell International, Inc.
542 F. Supp. 2d 1188 (E.D. California, 2008)
Siderpali, S.P.A. v. Judal Industries, Inc.
833 F. Supp. 1023 (S.D. New York, 1993)
Janavaras v. National Farmers Union Property
449 N.W.2d 578 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1989)
Bruce v. Martin
702 F. Supp. 66 (S.D. New York, 1988)
State Ex Rel. Zidell v. Jones
720 P.2d 350 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1986)
East v. Gilchrist
445 A.2d 343 (Court of Appeals of Maryland, 1982)
Taussig v. Ins. Co. of North America
301 So. 2d 21 (District Court of Appeal of Florida, 1974)
Dundee Wine & Spirits, Ltd. v. Glenmore Distilleries Co.
238 F. Supp. 283 (E.D. New York, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
28 F.R.D. 320, 4 Fed. R. Serv. 2d 858, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5239, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gaetano-marzotto-figli-spa-v-g-a-vedovi-co-nysd-1961.