Huikari v. Eeastman

35 Mass. App. Dec. 95
CourtMassachusetts District Court, Appellate Division
DecidedJuly 1, 1966
DocketNo. 11011
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 35 Mass. App. Dec. 95 (Huikari v. Eeastman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts District Court, Appellate Division primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huikari v. Eeastman, 35 Mass. App. Dec. 95 (Mass. Ct. App. 1966).

Opinion

Murphy, J.

This is an action of contract and tort in four counts, seeking to recover the cost of certain cranberries sold by the appellant to the appellee who in turn sold them to the C & E Canning Company of Hammonton, New Jersey. It was tried with a cross-action No. 11,045 Eastman v. Huikari, decided by us this day.

The declaration alleges that the apppellee was acting as a commission agent in the sale of the cranberries to the said C & E Canning Company; that the greater part of the berries sold to the C & E Canning Company were raised by the appellant; that due to the fact that the appellant had used amino-triazole on his bogs, the berries were contaminated, and the government confiscated all of them. Further that the appellant had wilfully represented to the appellee that he had not used amino-triazole on his cranberry bogs well knowing that he had used the same; that by reason thereof the appellee was damaged.

The answer is a general denial. The court found for the appellee on count one in the [97]*97sum of $3,090.25, for the appellee on count two in the sum of $3,012.00, and for the appellant on counts three and four.

At the trial there was evidence tending to show that the parties had done business in the years 1957, 1958 and 1959. The appellant, Eastman, is a cranberry grower. The appellee purchased cranberries from him in all those years for the purpose to resale to canners. He is a commission agent. He was not to pay the appellant for the berries until he had been paid, however, because of the financial strain the appellant was under at the time, the appellee advanced the money for the berries.

On October 26, 1959, the appellee shipped to C & E Canning Company in Hammonton, New Jersey, 526 fifty pound bags of cranberries he had purchased from the appellant together with 179 bags of two other growers, namely, Haarala & Selmi. On October 29, he similarly shipped 502 fifty pound bags he had purchased from the appellant and 260 bags he had purchased from other growers, namely, Kangas, Selmi and Kivi. All of these berries were in cloth bags. On November 4th, a third shipment was made, 361 fifty pound bags coming from the appellant’s bogs and 367 bags from the other grower’s bogs; the 367 bags were identifiable from those of the appellants as they were in paper bags. The appellant’s berries were packed in cloth bags. The fair market value of all berries shipped was $12.25 per 100 pounds. The [98]*98berries sent on October 26 and October 29 were destroyed by the Federal Government as they were found to contain amino-triazole.

Haarala and Kivi, two of the other growers mentioned, had not used amino-triazole on the bogs from which the berries sold to the appellee were taken. The appellant contends that he used amino-triazole on his bogs in accordance with the method approved by the Cranberry Experiment Station, the manufacturers of amino-triazole, and the instructions from the United States Department of Agriculture. There was a conflict of evidence as to whether this was so. A chemical test of the third lot containing his berries showed the presence of amino-triazole. The remaining berries from other growers showed no evidence of amino-triazole.

Some time in early November, 1959, the appellee was informed that the first two loads of berries shipped had been seized by the government and he so informed appellant Eastman. Sometime after November 9th and after several conversations regarding the berries, the appellant gave the appellee a hand-written statement stating that he had not used amino-triazole. The appellant testified that he had not used amino-triazole on any any bogs from which he harvested berries in 1959. The judge found as a fact that he had used it and had used it improperly.

On November 25, 1959, Fehmerling Associates of Bridgeton, New Jersey representing C & E Canning Company of Hammonton, [99]*99New Jersey delivered to the Dairy Laboratories in Philadelphia a quart of frozen cranberries to be analyzed for amino-triazole. The sample was analyzed and found to contain .4 parts per milllion of amino-triazole. These berries were from the third load and were identified1 as the appellant’s berries. No samplings were taken from the first two loads. Arthur Enera, Vice-President and Treasurer of C & E Canning Company, testified that a food and drug inspector condemned the first two loads, that they were destroyed under the inspector’s supervision; that the berries in the paper bags in the third load which came from another grower were not condemned. C & E Canners destroyed the Eastman berries in the third lot. He further testified as to the receipt of the three shipments of berries from the appellee, and that he had received a notice from the court of the institution of proceedings in two .cases. This notice was received in evidence over the objection of the appellant.

Dr Chester Cross, a weed control expert in charge of the Cranberry Experiment Station in Wareham gave extensive evidence relative to the use and control of amin'o-triazole. Amino-triazole is a weed killer. Its use is registered by the United States Department of Agriculture when used on the basis of 16 pounds of amino-triazole solution and 300 gallons of water per acre, applied seven to ten days after harvesting, and it could be used in the growing season in ditches at the rate of [100]*10020 pounds per acre when mixed with to pounds of dalapon, a substance which would kill any plants or berries which the solution struck, but amino-triazole could not be used in the growing season without the dalapon mixture. The Department of Agriculture had ruled that if amino-triazole were used in the growing season without the dalapon mixtuure, the berries would cause cancer if consumed. The pest harvest use of aminotriazole was cleared by the Food and Drug Administration in 1958. The cranberry experiment put on an extensive educational program directed to the cranberry growers concerning it use in 1958. On the ninth of November, 1959, the Food and Drug Administration of the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare issued an order prohibiting the sale of cranberries which contained any amount of residue of aminotriazole.

The appellee paid the appellant $3,090.25 on November 7, 1959 and $3,012.00 on November 16, 1959. These payments were for the berries sold by the appellant to the appellee which were shipped in the first and second lots and are the berries that the appellant refers to in the first and second count of the declaration. He has not paid for the berries supplied to him by the appellant which was shipped by the plaintiff in the third load. These berries were referred to in counts three and four of the declaration.

The defendant objected to the admission of [101]*101uncertified copies of the complaint and citation, purportedly issued out of the United States District Court of Philadelphia.

The appellant duly filed eight requests for rulings. We take particular notice of Nos. 3 and 5 which the court allowed and which read as follows:

3. There can be no recovery except for the direct results of the statements alleged by the plaintiff to have been falsely made by the defendant.
5.

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Related

Menotomy Realty Corp. v. French
55 Mass. App. Dec. 21 (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div., 1974)
Eastman v. Huikari
35 Mass. App. Dec. 106 (Mass. Dist. Ct., App. Div., 1966)

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Bluebook (online)
35 Mass. App. Dec. 95, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huikari-v-eeastman-massdistctapp-1966.