General Truck Sales, Inc. v. Batey

494 S.W.2d 130, 1972 Tenn. App. LEXIS 272
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedDecember 1, 1972
StatusPublished

This text of 494 S.W.2d 130 (General Truck Sales, Inc. v. Batey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
General Truck Sales, Inc. v. Batey, 494 S.W.2d 130, 1972 Tenn. App. LEXIS 272 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1972).

Opinion

OPINION

TODD, Judge.

The defendant, W. N. Batey, d/b/a Batey Moving & Storage Company, has appealed from the Chancellor’s decree in favor of the complainant, General Truck Sales, Inc., for $6,207.59 upon an open account for service and repairs to defendant’s trucks plus interest of $1,327.61 from the filing of the hill making a total of $7,535.20.

As amended, the original bill alleged total indebtedness of $7,245.42, however the Chancellor disallowed $1,037.83 of the claim, resulting in the principal award of $6,207.59 aforesaid.

The complainant-appellee has assigned as error the said disallowance of $1,037.83.

The defendant-appellant has assigned three errors, as follows:

1.
“There is no evidence to support the ruling of the Court and same is contrary to law.
2.
“The Court below erred in entering judgment against the defendant for unauthorized repairs made by complainant to his (defendant’s) vehicles in the amount of $1,615.55, said amount being for repairs made after November 1, 1966 when complainant was given specific notice to not repair any vehicles of defendants without a purchase order signed by W. N. Batey or Della Batey or after November 28, 1967 without a purchase order for any amount in excess of $50.-00.
3.
“The Court erred in allowing interest from June 25, 1968, the date of the filing of the bill, instead of the date of entry of judgment.”

Complainant is in the business of selling, leasing, servicing and repairing trucks.

Defendant is in the hauling and storage business and owns a number of trucks. However, a considerable number of defendant’s trucks are leased to operators who are primarily responsible for maintenance and repair of same.

Complainant has maintained and repaired defendant’s trucks for a number of years.

On October 24, 1966, in order to prevent lessees of his trucks from charging services and repairs to him, defendant gave notice to complainant that, effective November 1, 1966, no further charges should be made against defendant without a purchase order signed by himself or his wife, Mrs. Della Batey.

On November 28, 1967, further instructions were given to employees of complainant as follows:

“ABSOLUTELY NO CHARGES ON BATEY MOVING & STORAGE COMPANY WITHOUT A PURCHASE ORDER NUMBER FOR ANYTHING OVER $50.00. THESE INSTRUCTIONS PER JIM GALLOWAY, 11-28-67, Per BILL BATEY.”

The present suit was instituted by complainant in Chancery Court on June 25, 1968, based upon a sworn account in the amount of $6⅛464.08 extending from July 24, 1965 to March 25, 1968. The oath to the answer was waived, and defendant filed an unsworn answer denying liability.

At some time contemporaneous with this suit, defendant filed a suit against complainant in Circuit Court.

On February 16, 1970, complainant amended its bill to add to the account a [132]*132charge of $781.34 entered on June 26, 1968, increasing the total demand to $7,245.42. Again, the oath to the answer was waived, and defendant filed an unsworn answer denying liability.

At this point, by consent of the parties, the said Circuit Court suit of defendant against complainant was transferred to Chancery Court to be tried with this suit; however, in the final decree herein, the Chancellor declined to rule upon the issues in the Circuit Court suit and remanded same to Circuit Court. No part of the record of the Circuit Court suit is preserved in this record, hence none of its details are available to this Court except for random references thereto in the testimony which indicate that said suit sought damages for improper performance of work on one or more of defendant’s trucks.

On August 6, 1971, complainant again amended the bill to rely upon the theories of acquiescence, unjust enrichment and es-toppel to establish liability for charges not expressly authorized by purchase order.

In response to demand of complainant, defendant filed a sworn answer adopting previous answers and denying liability as alleged in any of complainant’s pleadings. The gravamen of defendant’s defense was, and is, that he should not be held liable for any charge which does not qualify under the notices of October 24, 1966, and November 28, 1967, supra, and, further, that repairs performed otherwise were for the benefit of his lessees and not that of defendant.

Since the complainant, which did not appeal, has assigned error upon the disallowance of part of its claim, it must be determined whether the record is in such state that such assignment can be considered.

The conclusion of the decree from which appeal was taken is as follows:

“Defendant respectfully excepts to this decree and to the foregoing action of the Court and prays and is hereby granted an appeal therefrom to the next term of the Court of Appeals at Nashville. Defendant’s appeal is conditioned upon his filing an appeal bond in accordance with law.”

Where a special, or limited appeal is perfected by only one party, assignments of error by the appellee beyond the scope of the appeal are not considered. County Board of Highway Commissioners v. Wilde, 179 Tenn. 141, 163 S.W.2d 329 (1942).

Where, however, the appeal is broad or general, assignments of error by the appel-lee may be considered. Nance v. Winebarger, 32 Tenn.App. 229, 222 S.W.2d 231 (1949).

The present cause is before this Court for determination de novo upon the record with a presumption of the correctness of the decree of the Chancellor unless the preponderance of the evidence is otherwise. T.C.A. § 27-303. Since the appeal is not limited and the consideration in this Court is de novo, the assignment of appel-lee may properly be considered.

At the trial of this cause, the parties were at great pains to identify those charges which were supported by purchase orders and those which were not. Likewise, this Court has spent considerable time in analyzing more than 150 items which appear on complainant’s account.

Nine charges amounting to $462.75 are fully supported by valid purchase orders.

Another group of four charges are only partly supported by valid purchase orders, that is, some of the items on these charges are and some are not included on the corresponding purchase order.

Another group of 22 charges are supported only by purchase orders which are blank, unsigned, or signed by unauthorized persons.

Still other charges are completely unsupported by any semblance of a purchase order.

[133]*133The record includes a copy of the accounts payable ledger of defendant in regard to his dealings with complainant. Defendant’s said record agrees exactly with the claim of complainant in its first original bill ($6,464.08) and contains every charge claimed by complainant except the charge of $731.34 added to the claim by amended bill.

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County Board of Highway Com'rs v. Wilde
163 S.W.2d 329 (Tennessee Supreme Court, 1942)
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178 S.W.2d 915 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1943)
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184 S.W.2d 721 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1944)
Nance, Inc. v. Winebarger
222 S.W.2d 231 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1949)
Arco Co. v. Garner & Co.
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Puckett v. Laster
405 S.W.2d 35 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1965)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
494 S.W.2d 130, 1972 Tenn. App. LEXIS 272, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/general-truck-sales-inc-v-batey-tennctapp-1972.