Gordon v. W. T. Rawleigh Co.

1926 OK 349, 245 P. 828, 117 Okla. 235, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 784
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 13, 1926
Docket14285
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 1926 OK 349 (Gordon v. W. T. Rawleigh Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gordon v. W. T. Rawleigh Co., 1926 OK 349, 245 P. 828, 117 Okla. 235, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 784 (Okla. 1926).

Opinion

Opinion by

PINKHAM, C.

This action was instituted in the district court of Gar-vin county by the W. T. Rawleigh Company *s plaintiff, against I. J. Gordon, principal, ind B. G. Reed, B. M. Luton, and J. H. Gordon, as guarantors on a contract and bond of guaranty made and entered into by I. J. Gordon and the W. T. Rawleigh Company and the said B. G. Reed, B. M. Luton, and J. I-I. Gordon, who signed the guaranty for the faithful performance of the contract made by said principal, I. J. Gordon, for the purchase of certain goods, wares, and merchandise. The parties will be referred to as they appeared in the trial court.

The petition filed in said cause by the plaintiff alleged that on the, 8th day of January, 1920, the defendant I. J. Gordon and the plaintiff entered into a contract, whereby the plaintiff agreed to sell to said defendant at its regular retail prices its goods, wares, and merchandise f. o. b. Freeport, 111., or at any of its branch houses, or at any other point agreed upon. The contract was for a specified term, but subject to termination before the expiration of the time fixed in the contract by either party upon written notice. It was agreed that upon the termination of the contract by either party, or upon its expiration, the plaintiff company would buy from the defendant I. J. Gordon all goods which he might have on hand, provided they were returned during the life of the contract or promptly after its termination or expiration, the defendant I. J. Gordon to pay the freight to the point designated by the company, and the actual expenses of inspecting and overhauling. It was further agreed that the company should furnish to the defendant I. J. Gordon, from time to time, educational salesmanship literature consisting of Rawleigh’s Weekly, guide book, and other booklets, letters of advice, and suggestions, for the sole purpose of aiding and assisting him in making sales and collections, but it was expressly provided that nothing contained in the literature should be taken in any wise to alter, modify, change, or affect the agreement, and should only be considered as educational and advisory. It was further agreed that the written contract included and constituted the only and entire agreement between the parties, and that the contract could not be changed or modified in any particular whatever by any employee or representative of the company, in any capacity, unless the change or modification should first be specifically reduced to writing and signed by both parties, and then to become effective only when the corporate seal of the company should be affixed.

The petition alleges that in pursuance of said contract, the plaintiff sold and delivered to. defendant goods in the sum of $2,-476.85, and that he paid thereon the sum of $611.77, leaving a balance due of $1,865.08, and that in consideration of the extension of credit to said principal by said plaintiff, the defendants B. G. Reed, B. M. Luton, and J. H. Gordon entered into a contract of •guaranty, whereby they guaranteed the faithful performance of said principal in the sum due thereon. Said guaranty is attached to and is made a part of said contract between the plaintiff and defendant I. J. Gordon. This contract of guaranty was signed by the said de:endants B. G. Reed, B. M. Luton, and J. H. Gordon. The material part of the guaranty contract reads as follows;

“For and in consideration of .the sum of $1 to me in hand paid, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged and expressly confessed, or in consideration of the above-named seller extending further credit to the said buyer, we, the undersigned, do hereby jointly and severally guarantee unto said the W. T. Rawleigh Company the above-named seller, unconditionally, the payment ■ini full of the balance due or owing said seller on account, as shown by its books at the date of the acceptance of this contract or guaranty by the seller, and the full and complete payment of all moneys due or owing, or that may become due or owing said seller, and all indebtedness incurred by tbe buyer under the terms and conditions of the above and foregoing instrument by the buyer named as such therein, and to all of the terms, provisions, and agreements contained in said instruments we fully .assent and agree. * * *”

Attached to plaintiff’s petition as an exhibit was an itemized verified statement of *237 I. J. Gordon’s account with the plaintiff, showing the date on which each item was furnished.

The defendants answered in said case and alleged that there was nothing due on said contract and account, and if so that said contract as entered into between said parties was unlawful, void, and unenforceable, for the reason that the same was for the purpose of maintaining a monopoly and in restraint of trade, and in violation of the Act of Congress regulating commerce between the states, for the reason that the plaintiff compelled its agents to sell its products at the regular retail prices indicated and dictated by it.

The cause came on for trial before a jury, and after the close of the evidence ior the plaintiff, the defendants demurred thereto, which demurrer was overruled by the court. At the close of all the evidence the court, upon motion of the plaintiff, instructed the jury to return a verdict in favor of the plaintiff in the sum and for the amount sued for, to which the de:endant-s excepted. Motion for new trial was overruled, and the cause comes regularly on appeal to this court by the defendants.

A number of assignments of error are presented and discussed by counsel for defendants'in his brief, but the only question raised by the pleadings, and the sole question to be determined, as we view the case, is whether the contract upon which the action is based is void under the Act of Congress in restraint of trade as contended by defendants. Counsel for defendants says in bis brief:

“ Defendants take the position that the contract as entered into between the plaintiff and the principal, Gordon, was void, illegal, and unenforceable, for the reason that said plaintiff was transacting its business in states other than its domicile, and that in the conduct o. its business that similar contracts were used, and that the way and manner in which said business was conducted by the plaintiff in dictating and controlling the retail prices at which all of its products were sold by the parties to whom it made an absolute sale of its products, that same was for the purpose of maintaining a monopoly of the goods manufactured by it and in restraint of trade, and that said contract was in contravention of the Act of Congress regulating commerce between the states (Act Cong, of July 2, 1890, ch. 647, 26 Stat. 2(;9; ü. S. Comp. St. 1916, sec. 8220).”

Numerous cases are cited in support of this proposition: Stewart v. W. T. Rawleigh Co., 58 Okla. 344, 159 Pac. 1187; Hunt v. W. T. Rawleigh Co., 71 Okla. 193, 176 Pac. 410; Brooks v. J. R. Watkins Co., 81 Okla. 82, 196 Pac. 956; and a number of Texas decisions.

It is conceded that there is a difference in the contracts involved in the Stuart v. Rawleigh Case and the case of Hunt y. Rawleigh, supra, and the contract in the instant case, in that the contracts involved in those cases provided that the buyer should sell the products handled by him at regular retail prices indicated by the company. In the Brooks v. J. Ii. Watkins Co. Case, defendants contend that the contract in that case is identical with the contract in the case at bar.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1926 OK 349, 245 P. 828, 117 Okla. 235, 1926 Okla. LEXIS 784, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gordon-v-w-t-rawleigh-co-okla-1926.