Jesse F. Heard & Sons, Inc. v. Amyx Gravel Co.

443 So. 2d 790, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9856
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedDecember 14, 1983
DocketNo. 83-402
StatusPublished

This text of 443 So. 2d 790 (Jesse F. Heard & Sons, Inc. v. Amyx Gravel 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
Jesse F. Heard & Sons, Inc. v. Amyx Gravel Co., 443 So. 2d 790, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9856 (La. Ct. App. 1983).

Opinion

GUIDRY, Judge.

Jesse F. Heard & Sons, Inc. (hereafter Heard), the general contractor of a hospital construction project, brought this suit for breach of contract against two material suppliers, Amyx Gravel Company, Inc. (hereafter Amyx Gravel) and Amyx Concrete Company, Inc. (hereafter Amyx Concrete), seeking judgment in solido for damages in the amount of $4,751.00 plus attorney’s fees. Heard contends that Amyx Gravel is liable as an original party to the alleged contract with Heard and, that Amyx Concrete, although not originally a party, is liable as the assignee of Amyx Gravel.

Amyx Gravel and Amyx Concrete answered by general denial and further asserted the defenses that the intended commutative contract is void as containing a purely potestative condition; and, in the alternative, that even if the contract is enforceable, plaintiff actively breached the contract and defendants are therefore entitled to recission or set off. Additionally, Amyx Concrete filed a reconventional demand against Heard for damages resulting from the breach of a separate and distinct contract.

At the conclusion of the trial, the trial judge rendered judgment on the main demand in favor of defendants, Amyx Gravel and Amyx Concrete, and against plaintiff, Heard, dismissing its demands. On the reconventional demand, the trial judge rendered judgment in favor of plaintiff-in-re-convention, Amyx Concrete, and against defendant-in-reconvention, Heard, in the principal sum of $1,871.51. Plaintiff has perfected a devolutive appeal. Defendants neither appealed nor answered the appeal.

FACTS

During 1977, Heard, a general contractor, submitted a bid for the expansion and renovation of the LaSalle General Hospital in Jena, Louisiana. In formulating its bid, Heard contacted a number of subcontractors and material suppliers, including Amyx Gravel. Heard requested from Amyx Gravel quotations on the price per unit of certain materials required by the bid specifications for the construction project.

On October 27, 1977, after Heard was awarded the construction contract, it prepared a written purchase order on a company printed form and submitted it to Amyx Gravel. This document was signed by an officer of Amyx Gravel and subsequently signed and accepted by an officer of Heard. Heard commenced construction of the hospital project and began ordering various quantities of some of the materials described in the document from Amyx Gravel.

During 1977, Amyx Gravel owned and operated a ready mix concrete plant, a hot mix plant, and a sand and gravel mining operation together with trucks, bulldozers, a wash plant and other heavy equipment incidental to such an operation. The shareholders of Amyx Gravel were Dewey Amyx, Viva Amyx and Charles Sidney Amyx.

Amyx Concrete was incorporated on April 17, 1978 by Marcia W. Cooksey, Henry L. Cooksey and Charles 0. Williams, the latter being a CPA retained by Amyx Gravel. Thereafter, on May 8, 1978, Amyx Gravel conveyed some 20% to 25% of its total assets, particularly the concrete plant, equipment related to the concrete business, office supplies and the lease of its former office space to Amyx Concrete. This sale makes no mention of the assumption by Amyx Concrete of any debts or obligations of the vendor, Amyx Gravel. The remainder of its assets were thereafter sold to an unrelated party. Amyx Gravel collected its accounts receivable, paid its accounts payable and made a final settlement with the Internal Revenue Service. Its normal business activities ceased on April 17, 1978. Its corporate status continued on thereafter until its charter was revoked by the [792]*792Louisiana Secretary of State for failure to make required annual reports.

In transacting business, Amyx Concrete continued to use Amyx Gravel invoices and statements which they had purchased but imprinted upon them the notation “please make check payable to Amyx Concrete Company, Inc.”. They also continued to occupy the same office space and use the same telephone number as Amyx Gravel, but changed the post office box number. Heard began placing orders for materials for use in the hospital construction project with Amyx Concrete and making their checks payable to Amyx Concrete.

The evidence reflects that there were several price changes over the course of the construction project. The earliest was in April of 1978 when the price per unit for dirt was adjusted on the invoice from $2.50, as was reflected by the purchase agreement with Amyx Gravel, to $3.00 per yard. Heard paid this increase. In October of 1978, Heard began receiving adjusted invoices for concrete from Amyx Concrete at a rate of $2.00 per yard higher than that reflected on the purchase agreement with Amyx Gravel. Heard nevertheless paid the October statements based on the price reflected in the October 27, 1977 purchase agreement with Amyx Gravel. On November 29, 1978, Amyx Concrete made demand upon Heard for payment of the October statement in full. In response, on December 4, 1978, Heard advised Amyx Concrete that it considered the prior payment to be proper as it was in accord with the October 27, 1977 purchase order executed by Amyx Gravel which was attached. Amyx Concrete advised Heard that it was unaware of any contract between Heard and Amyx Gravel, denied any contractual liability thereon and thereafter, refused to deliver the concrete at the lower price. Heard continued to place orders paying the increased price by separate check. The total amount of these payments is the amount claimed by plaintiff in these proceedings, i.e., $4,751.01.

The question of Heard’s liability on the reconventional demand arises out of a separate and distinct transaction. In August or September of 1978, Heard contacted an officer of Amyx Concrete and advised him that his company would need an estimated 800 yards of lightweight concrete for the project. This product is mixed with a special aggregate material, which is used only in that type of concrete. Thereafter, Amyx Concrete made a special purchase of 600 yards of the lightweight aggregate required to mix the lightweight concrete. Heard ultimately poured only 640 yards of the lightweight concrete and Amyx Concrete was left with 115 to 120 yards of the aggregate.

PURCHASE ORDER AS AN ENFORCEABLE CONTRACT

Plaintiff contends that the trial judge erred in failing to find a binding contract between the parties. In his written reasons for judgment, the trial judge made the following findings:

“The purchase order document between the Heard Company and the Gravel Company is said to be a binding contract but it is not for two reasons. The first, I believe, is because the agreement was not supported by consideration. The test for the presence or absence of consideration is a simply (sic) three-inquiry process. One must first ascertain what promise is the one sought to be enforced. Then one must ask who is or was the promisee of that promise. Finally, was that promisee given consideration. The promise sought to be enforced is the promise by Amyx Gravel Company to deliver materials at stated prices., The promisee, according to the plaintiff, was itself and in this case, the plaintiff gave nothing in return for that promise. It did not order specific quantities of materials or limit the period of time for which it would be bound to make orders or even limit the job for which the material would be used. Instead, it viewed itself linked to Amyx Gravel Company only by a potes-tative condition which seems by implication to have been that, ‘We will buy [793]*793

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Bluebook (online)
443 So. 2d 790, 1983 La. App. LEXIS 9856, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jesse-f-heard-sons-inc-v-amyx-gravel-co-lactapp-1983.