Humphrey v. Sagouspe

254 P. 1074, 50 Nev. 157, 1927 Nev. LEXIS 9
CourtNevada Supreme Court
DecidedApril 5, 1927
Docket2732, 2744
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 254 P. 1074 (Humphrey v. Sagouspe) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nevada Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Humphrey v. Sagouspe, 254 P. 1074, 50 Nev. 157, 1927 Nev. LEXIS 9 (Neb. 1927).

Opinions

*160 OPINION

By the Court,

Ducker, J.:

By order of court the above-entitled cases were, on the hearing of the appeals, consolidated, and for convenience the parties will be referred to as designated in the court below.

Plaintiff brought this action against the defendants for a breach of contract, alleging in his complaint, inter alia, that they entered into a contract with him at Fallon, Nevada, on the 8th day of September, 1924, by which they sold and agreed to deliver to him on or before October 1, 1924, 1,200 head of ewe sheep at $7.50 per head, or a total price of $9,000, 800 head of said sheep to be 4 years of age, and 400 head to be 5 years of age; that defendants agreed that plaintiff was to *161 have the right to pick the number agreed upon out of a band of defendants’ sheep totaling about 1,500; that in consideration of said agreement and for the purpose of making the initial purchase price of the sheep agreed upon the plaintiff paid to the defendants on .September 8, 1924, the sum of $1,000, and it was mutually agreed that the balance of the purchase price, to wit, $8,000, was to be paid upon the delivery of the sheep to plaintiff. It is alleged that prior to the 1st day of. October, 1924, the plaintiff, relying upon the contract,. entered into a contract for the sale of said sheep to third parties at the price of $9 per head, or a total of $10,000, and was prevented from performing the same by reason of the failure of the defendants to deliver the said sheep to plaintiff.

It is alleged that prior to the 1st day of October, 1924, plaintiff made a demand upon defendants for the delivery of said sheep, and upon their failure to deliver, made a demand for the return of said $1,000, and also made a demand for the sum of $1,800 alleged as- damages for the breach of said contract; that defendants refused to pay any part of said sum so demanded. Judgment is prayed for in the sum of $2,800 and costs of suit.

The answer contains certain denials of the allegations of the complaint. It is also alleged therein that at all times mentioned in the complaint and until the 20th of October, 1924, the defendants were ready and willing to comply with the contract on their part, and during that period made numerous and repeated efforts to deliver said sheep, but the plaintiff refused to accept' the same and wholly repudiated the contract; that on the 20th day of October plaintiff was in default of the sale price, and on that date defendants exercised their right to resell said sheep and did resell the same and received therefor the sum of $8,947.50.

By way of counterclaim defendants allege certain items of expense incurred in connection with the sale and keeping of said sheep from October 1 to October 20,. in the loss of several thereof by death, and damages in being deprived of the use of $8,000, which plaintiff should by the terms of the contract have paid on October *162 1,1924, from the last-named date until October 20,'1924. It is also alleged in the counterclaim that certain valuable services were performed by defendants for plaintiff in and about finding another purchaser for said sheep. The answer concludes with a prayer that defendants have judgment against plaintiff for the sum of $807.78 special damages and $1,000 general damages.

The case was tried before the court sitting without a jury. Judgment was rendered that defendants recover from plaintiff the sum of $390.94, together with costs and disbursements in the sum of $146.20, and that the defendants pay to plaintiff the balance remaining of the sum of $1,000 after deducting therefrom the damages awarded to the defendants, and their costs and disbursements.

The plaintiff and defendants have appealed, the former from that part of the judgment which fails to award to him the remaining part of the initial payment of $1,000 on the contract, and also from that part which fails to award to plaintiff $1,800 damages, and from the order denying plaintiff’s motion for a new: trial, and the latter from that portion of-the j udgment which requires them to pay to plaintiff the balance remaining of the initial payment of $1,000 on the contract.

We will consider plaintiff’s appeal first. The contract alleged in the answer was introduced as evidence by plaintiff, and reads as follows:

“J. B. Humphrey. 28.
“Fallon, Sept. 8, 1924.
“Total amount, $l,000.00i
“Name: J. P. Sagouspe.
“For a pick of 1,200 ewes out of about 1,500 at $7.50 per head, ages to be 800 at 4 years old and 400 at 5 years old, and 300 acres of feed and the undersigned to pay for care until Oct. 1, 1924. Received draft No. 28 in payment. [Signed] J. P. Sagouspe.”

Draft No. 28 mentioned in the contract was for the •sum of $1,000 and was received by the defendant Sagouspe at the time of the execution of the contract as the initial payment thereon. Defendants received the *163 money on the draft. The trial court found among other facts the following, to wit:

“That the defendants duly performed all of the conditions of the contract and were at all times until and including the 20th day of October, 1924, ready, able, and willing to deliver said property to the plaintiff and tendered the same to plaintiff, but that the plaintiff at all times without cause or reason therefor refused to accept said sheep or to pay for the same pursuant to said agreement, and the plaintiff wholly repudiated said agreement and denied any liability thereunder; that the sheep which defendants were ready, able, and willing to deliver to the plaintiff in accordance with the terms of said contract, and of which they tendered delivery in accordance with the terms of said, contract, were in all respects of the kind, age, and quality mentioned in said contract, and as represented to the plaintiff by the defendants to be.”

There is substantial evidence in the record tending to show that defendants tendered to plaintiff the delivery of the required number of sheep of the ages and sex mentioned in the contract. This evidence is furnished by defendant Sagouspe, his copartner, Cornell, and Mr. Arranjo, who afterwards purchased the four and five year old sheep from the defendants. Plaintiff concedes that he is bound bythe finding of the trial court in this regard. But he contends that the defendants breached the contract in two particulars: First, they refused to deliver the sheep on the premises of the defendant near Fallon; second, they refused the plaintiff the contractual right to select the sheep from a band of 1,500. There is no merit in the first contention. It is not alleged in the complaint nor does it appear from the evidence that it was the understanding of the parties that the sheep were to be delivered at a particular place. If, however, as plaintiff contends, the allegation in the defendants’ counterclaim that the delivery of the sheep in question was to be made upon the premises of defendants is to be given the effect that such was the understanding of the parties, it was incumbent on the plaintiff *164

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Bluebook (online)
254 P. 1074, 50 Nev. 157, 1927 Nev. LEXIS 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/humphrey-v-sagouspe-nev-1927.