Iron Mountain Bison Ranch, Inc. v. Easley Trailer Manufacturing, Inc.

42 S.W.3d 149, 2000 WL 1760147
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 6, 2001
Docket07-99-0063-CV
StatusPublished
Cited by60 cases

This text of 42 S.W.3d 149 (Iron Mountain Bison Ranch, Inc. v. Easley Trailer Manufacturing, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Iron Mountain Bison Ranch, Inc. v. Easley Trailer Manufacturing, Inc., 42 S.W.3d 149, 2000 WL 1760147 (Tex. Ct. App. 2001).

Opinion

JOHNSON, Justice.

Appellants Iron Mountain Bison Ranch, Inc., and Ronald Thiel appeal from a judgment in favor of appellee Easley Trailer Manufacturing, Inc., awarding recovery for trailers manufactured by Easley and for which Easley was not paid. Appellants urge that (1) appellee did not have a contract with either appellant; (2) promissory estoppel is an inapplicable theory of recovery under the facts; (3) quantum meruit is an inapplicable theory of recovery under the facts; and (4) the trial court did not have personal jurisdiction over either of them. We reverse and remand as to ap *153 pellant Thiel. We reverse and render judgment sustaining the plea to the jurisdiction of appellant Iron Mountain Bison Ranch, Inc.

I. BACKGROUND

At all times relevant, appellee Easley Trailer Manufacturing, Inc., (Easley) manufactured livestock trailers at its plant in Canadian, Texas. Appellant Ronald Thiel (Thiel) was a resident of Wyoming who was involved in raising and selling bison. Appellant Iron Mountain Bison Ranch, Inc., (Iron Mountain) was a Wyoming corporation. Thiel was the majority shareholder and president of Iron Mountain.

In the summer of 1995, Craig Rosenthal (Rosenthal) visited the Terry Mountain Bison Ranch in Wyoming. There he met J.T. Homkes (Homkes), who was conducting wagon rides on the Terry Mountain ranch. Rosenthal was a factory representative of Easley, and had with him a trailer manufactured by Easley. Through Homkes, also a defendant in the suit but not a party to this appeal, Rosenthal met Thiel. Thiel was interested in the Easley trailer because it was well constructed. Thiel eventually purchased an Easley trailer for use in his bison business. Homkes was interested in selling Easley trailers. Through Rosenthal, Homkes and Thiel ordered trailers and other products from Easley. Thiel paid Easley for several trailers and the other products. He refused to pay for six trailers which Easley manufactured based on orders placed by Homkes.

Orders for the six disputed trailers were placed on various dates. In taking orders for trailers, Easley typically used “quote sheets” to set out specifications and the price for the trailer to be built. The quote sheets also showed who the order was for, the address of the ordering person or entity, and had a place for the ordering person or entity representative to sign. The quote sheets for the six trailers involved in the lawsuit were “For” various entities. The quote sheet for trailer number 2154 was made out to show the trailer being for Terry Bison Ranch, bore a date of August 11,1995, and was signed by Homkes. The quote sheet for trailer number 2155 appears to have been originally made out to show the trailer being ordered for Iron Mountain Bison, but an apparent correction indicates that the trailer was for Wyoming Agri-Plex, the sheet bore a date of September 11, 1995, and was signed by Homkes. The quote sheets for trailers numbers 2156, 2174 and 2175 show the trailers being for Iron Mountain Bison, the sheets bore dates of September 11, 1995, and were signed by Homkes. The quote sheet for trailer number 2177 indicates that the trailer was for Wyoming Agri-Plex, the sheet bore a date of October 2, 1995, and was not signed by anyone purporting to accept the order. The address listed for each of the entities for which the six trailers were being built was 138 Iron Mountain Road, Cheyenne, Wyoming. The telephone number and fax number listed for the receiving entity on each quote sheet were the same.

Although actual delivery of the six trailers in dispute was questioned, bills of sale and manufacturer’s certificates of ownership showed sale to Wyoming Agri-Plex, a business name being used by Homkes. The manufacturers’ certificates reflected a sale of each trailer to Wyoming Agri-Plex, transfer of title to Wyoming Agri-Plex and full payment received by Easley.

Thiel testified at trial that at the beginning of the relationship with Easley, Ro-senthal asked Thiel who would be paying for the trailers to be ordered. Thiel told Rosenthal that Thiel would “front” the money for Homkes to pay for the trailers *154 from Easley. Thiel discussed his credit with Rosenthal and assured Rosenthal that Easley did not have to worry about Thiel’s credit. Thiel also testified that he was aware Easley was looking to him to pay for the trailers. Thiel knew that Rosen-thal and Homkes would occasionally “sit down and come up with purchase orders, or acknowledgments.” Thiel was present during some of the conferences between Homkes and Rosenthal. Later during his testimony, Thiel maintained that his commitment to Rosenthal and Easley was only to “front” the money, or pay for, six trailers. He claimed that he paid for the six trailers he had committed to pay for.

Steve Shafer was Vice-President of Eas-ley at the time Thiel and Homkes first came in contact with Rosenthal and became interested in Easley trailers. Shafer was responsible for the sales, accounting, and office departments of Easley. Shafer testified that Thiel’s commitment to pay was not limited to six trailers. Shafer testified that, on behalf of Easley, he talked with Thiel on the telephone after Rosenthal’s first meetings with Thiel and Homkes. Following his telephone conversation with Thiel, and with Thiel’s approval, Shafer had Thiel’s credit checked. Based on the reports received as to Thiel’s creditworthiness, Easley extended 30-day payment credit terms to Thiel. Easley did not check on Homkes’ credit. Nor did Easley check Iron Mountain’s credit, because, as Shafer testified, “At the time we had not heard of Iron Mountain Ranch and we were strictly dealing with Mr. Thiel.”

Shafer testified that his telephone conversation with Thiel also included a discussion of Thiel’s becoming a dealer for Eas-ley. Shafer told Thiel that Easley was very excited about having Thiel as a dealer. At one time Easley allowed a trailer to be returned and agreed to refund the purchase price. Homkes returned the trailer to the Easley factory in Canadian and asked that the refund be made out to him. Before Easley would issue a check to Homkes, however, Shafer called Thiel to determine if issuing the refund to Homkes was acceptable to Thiel. Thiel approved payment of the refund to Homkes, and Easley then refunded the trailer price to Homkes.

Easley manufactured the trailers in question, and either had them delivered to Wyoming, or they were picked up by Homkes in Canadian, Texas. It became apparent that Homkes was not forwarding money in payment for the trailers either to Easley or to Thiel. Thiel and Homkes then visited the Easley plant in Canadian. In Canadian, Thiel and Homkes met with Shafer. Thiel prevailed upon Shafer to release to Homkes two trailers which had been manufactured pursuant to written quotes. Thiel also advised Shafer that a buyer could probably be located for one of the trailers. Such a buyer was located by Thiel and later, because of Thiel’s efforts, purchased one of the trailers. It was not disputed that Easley received the proceeds from the sale.

When Thiel advised Easley that he was not going to pay for the six traders for which Easley had not been paid, Easley sued. The jury found for Easley against all three defendants on its theories of contract, promissory estoppel, and quantum meruit. The jury also found an amount for attorney’s fees for services of Easley’s attorneys through trial and appeal. The jury found:

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Bluebook (online)
42 S.W.3d 149, 2000 WL 1760147, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/iron-mountain-bison-ranch-inc-v-easley-trailer-manufacturing-inc-texapp-2001.