Holloway v. A. J. Ingersoll Co.

133 So. 819, 16 La. App. 494, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 104
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 26, 1931
DocketNo. 3930
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 133 So. 819 (Holloway v. A. J. Ingersoll Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Holloway v. A. J. Ingersoll Co., 133 So. 819, 16 La. App. 494, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 104 (La. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

DREW, J.

Plaintiff alleges that on or about the 28th day of September, 1929, he owned and possessed four bales, of cotton, giving the numbers and weights of said bales, and that, on or about the above date, he was induced by one W. P. Cobb, a merchant in Shreveport, to store the four bales of cotton with him, and that he delivered the cotton to a place which -the said Cobb designated as his warehouse, but which plaintiff has since found to be untrue. That the said Cobb fraudulently represented to plaintiff that the place where the cotton • was delivered was his warehouse, whereas, as a matter of fact, it was not. That shortly thereafter, the said Cobb sold petitioner’s cotton to A. J. Ingersoll Company, Incorporated, who bought and accepted same and who exercised dominion and control over the said cotton. That Cobb had no authority or right whatsoever to transfer or sell the cotton to defendant or to any one else, and that the sale by Cobb of property belonging to plaintiff was therefore null and void. He alleges that he had made demand for the restoration of the cotton or the value thereof from the said defendant, A. J. Ingersoll Company, Incorporated, and they have specially refused and failed to comply with his demands. That lie is therefore entitled to have the said defendant restore the cotton to him or to pay him the value of same at the time it was purchased, alleging said value to be $473, with 5 per cent interest thereon. He prays that the defendant be ordered to restore to him the four bales of cotton, and, in the alternative, should they be unable to return the said cotton, that there be judgment in his favor against defendant in the sum of $473, with 5 per cent interest thereon from September 28, 1929, and for costs.

Defendant, filed an exception of no cause or right of action, which was overruled by the lower court, and same is not pressed in this court. Defendant answered, denying in main the allegations of plaintiff’s petition, and alleged that A. J. Ingersoll, president of the defendant company and its predecessor in business, have engaged publicly in the business of buying cotton in the city of Shreveport for more than twenty-five years; that during-1929, W. P. Cobb kept a general merchandise store at 204 Texas street, in the city of Shreveport, where he publicly bought, sold, and exchanged merchandise, farm supplies, and farm produce; that beginning on or about September 23, 1928, and continuing from day to day, the said W. P. Cobb sold to defendant, and defendant bought from him in tne open market, in good faith, relying on his ownership and right to sell at current market prices, seventy-four bales of cotton, more or less, including the four bales claimed by plaintiff, giving the weights of the said four bales and the price at 17% cents per pound, all of which at the time of purchase was delivered, weighed, and received into defendant’s warehouse, at 704 Commerce street, and promptly paid for.

It is further alleged that all of said cotton was bought for resale, and in due course, before the filing of this suit and before any demand or notice of any interest claimed therein by plaintiff, defendant sold, shipped, delivered, and disposed of the four bales, bearing numbers as recited in plaintiff’s petition, for $371.22, and that, if plaintiff owned said cotton or any part of it, he had authorized the said Cobb to sell the same, or had voluntarily placed it in his. possession and control, with knowledge of the nature and character of his business and his intention to sell same in the open market, and that it is informed and believes that plaintiff assisted in the sale and delivery of the [496]*496said cotton at defendant’s warehouse, with knowledge that it was being bought ' and paid for, and by his own acts and conduct he is. estopped to deny the sale or claim the proceeds or the value of the "cotton.

On the above issues the case was tried in the lower court, resulting in judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $376.25, with 5 per cent' interest thereon from September 28, 1930. Prom this judgment, the defendant 'has appealed, and plaintiff has not answered the appeal.

The evidence in the case clearly establishes ’ that the plaintiff was the owner of the four bales of cotton, and that he ginned game and stored it at Mr. Van Hoose’s gin in or near Shreveport. He became acquainted with the merchant by the name of “Cobb,” who was selling groceries in Shreveport at a low price. Cobb told plaintiff that a Mr. Bowman was coming to Shreveport* from New York on Thursday, and would buy cotton and pay 20 cents a pound for a fair grade. The market value of cotton at the time was 17% cents. Through this ruse, Cobb induced the plaintiff to bring his cotton to Shreveport and to store it with him until Mr. Bowman arrived. Plaintiff removed the cotton from Mr. Van Hoose’s gin and brought it to Shreveport to Cobb’s place of business. Cobb went with plaintiff to a warehouse which he told plaintiff was his warehouse, when, as a matter of fact, the warehouse did not belong to Cobb, but was owned and used by the defendant company as a warehouse for cotton and a place where it purchased and weighed its cotton. Plaintiff had never sold any cotton at this warehouse and did not know it was. the warehouse of any one other than Mr. Cobb. Cobb and plaintiff drove the wagon with the cotton on it up to defendant’s warehouse, and .defendant’s agent took the cotton off the wagon, weighed it, graded it, and gave Cobb a receipt for it. Plaintiff, an ordinary negro, trusting fully in Cobb, believed he was delivering his cotton to Cobb’s warehouse and paid little or no attention to the weighing and grading of the cotton or the receipt whicii was given to Cobb for the cotton. He left the cotton with Cobb, believing that he was storing it with him until Mr. Bowman could arrive from New York.

After unloading the cotton, plaintiff returned to Cobb’s store where Cobb gave to him the following receipt:

“This is to certify that Abe Holloway has stored in my warehouse four bales of cotton, numbers 3501—420; 1376—620; 842—528; 1247—552.
“[Signed] W. P. Cobb.”

On the next day plaintiff came back to Cobb’s .stpre to meat Mr. Bowman, fully expecting to sell his cotton to him for 20 cents a pound, at which time he learned that Cobb had' left the country, and that his cotton had been sold by Cobb to the defendant herein. Plaintiff at no time authorized or empowered Cobb to sell the cotton. The very fact that plaintiff accepted from Cobb the above-quoted receipt shows clearly .that he did not know that his cotton was being sold at the time it •was sold.

Plaintiff relies on article 2452 of the Civil Code:

“The sale of a thing belonging to another person is null; it may give rise to damages when the buyer knew not that the thing belonged to another person.”

In Campbell v. Nichols, 11 Rob. 16, the court, in construing this article, said:

“The evidence satisfactorily establishes the plaintiff’s ownership of the carriage. In May, 1840, an agent of his in Mississippi, consigned it to Hart, Butler & [497]*497Co., commission merchants, at New Orleans, ito be shipped to Texas, at such time as the plaintiff should direct. Hart, Butler & Co., contrary to their instructions, put the carriage into the hands of Dubois and Kendig for sale. The latter sold it to the defendant for- $150, but did noi represent themselves as the agents of Hart, Butler & Co. It is clear the defendant acquired no right to the property in dispute, his.

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Bluebook (online)
133 So. 819, 16 La. App. 494, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 104, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/holloway-v-a-j-ingersoll-co-lactapp-1931.