Kohlmeyer & Co. v. Rotwein

186 So. 2d 768, 1966 Miss. LEXIS 1331
CourtMississippi Supreme Court
DecidedMay 23, 1966
DocketNo. 43963
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 186 So. 2d 768 (Kohlmeyer & Co. v. Rotwein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Mississippi Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kohlmeyer & Co. v. Rotwein, 186 So. 2d 768, 1966 Miss. LEXIS 1331 (Mich. 1966).

Opinion

BRADY, Justice.

This is an appeal from the First Circuit Court District of Hinds County, Mississippi, wherein a judgment was denied both litigants in a suit filed by Kohlmeyer & Company for $6,975.75 claimed as a deficiency owing after the liquidation of Rotwein’s account. Rotwein denied liability and sought to recover the sum of $7,797, of which amount $2,500 represented margin deposits made by him and $5,297 represented profits allegedly lost by him as a result of Kohlmeyer’s alleged violation of its fiduciary relationship. The cause was heard by Judge Russell Moore, a jury having been waived.

The basic facts essential to the disposition of this appeal are briefly as follows: Kohlmeyer & Company, appellant, is a brokerage firm engaged in the business of buying and selling stock and commodities for the account of it customers. On April 16, 1963, Rotwein, appellee, executed a written instrument authorizing appellant to act as [770]*770his broker or agent in the purchase and sale of contracts for the future delivery of commodities.

There is essentially little dispute as to the transactions made for appellee by appellant’s manager, James Allen, or as to the manner in which the transactions were conducted. During the month of May 1963 appellee ordered Allen to purchase three contracts for the future delivery of sugar. These purchases were made by appellant through Kirsch & Company, acting as its agent, the last purchase having been made on May 23, 1963. While other commodity “futures contracts” had been bought and sold by appellant for appellee, the three sugar contracts are the only ones involved in this suit. Prior to, and during the course of the sugar contract transactions, appellee made margin deposits with appellant totaling $2,500. Subsequent to the last of these three purchases, the price of sugar began to decline sharply.

Appellee left for California on May 26, 1963, and appellant’s manager, Allen, was unable to contact him until May 29. At that time Allen advised appellee that the sugar market was down and called upon appellee for additional security against loss, or margin deposits, as was authorized by the Commodity Account Agreement executed by the appellee. On the following Monday, appellee ordered Allen to sell his contracts, but Allen was unable to dispose of them until June 10 due to the fact that the market was “down the limit,” this being the maximum range of fluctuation permitted by the exchange rules.

Appellee testified that he had instructed Allen to sell the contracts if the market showed signs of weakness or decline and that Allen had breached his duty by failing to do so. Allen testified that he was unable to contact appellee for instructions, and that when he finally received appellee’s instruction to sell the contracts he was unable to do so due to the fact that the market was “down the limit” and there were not enough offers to purchase. Appellee was called upon to make additional margin deposits and, having failed to do so, his account was liquidated pursuant to the Commodity Account Agreement. This liquidation resulted in a net loss of $6,975.75 to the appellant, and appellant instituted this suit to collect the deficiency.

The appellee denied liability on several grounds and charged that appellant had violated its fiduciary relationship in that it had not protected the appellee by following his instructions to sell if the market began to decline. Appellee sought recovery of the $2,500 in margin deposits made by him and $5,297 in profits allegedly lost by reason of this failure to follow his instructions. The trial court held that neither party was entitled to recovery, and both parties have appealed.

We discuss first those errors assigned by Rotwein, the appellee and cross-appellant, which warrant discussion. They are:

1. The trial court erred in failing to find that the transactions entered into were within the Mississippi Statute of Frauds.

2. The trial court erred in finding that the agent, manager of Kohlmeyer and Company, and acting as a fiduciary, did all he could to prevent the loss complained of by appellant, Kohlmeyer.

We find no merit in appellee’s contention that the transactions entered into in this case are violative of the Mississippi Statute of Frauds requiring certain contracts to be in writing. Appellee executed a written contract which authorized the appellant brokerage firm to act as his agent in the purchase and sale of “futures contracts.” He gave certain oral instructions to appellant, and the transactions pursuant to these instructions were completely executed by appellant as agent for appellee. The fact that the transactions were fully consummated takes the contract between the appellant agent and the clearing house out of the Statute of Frauds. Miss. Code Annot. § 268 (1956). The balance in the account [771]*771is money advanced by and owing to appellant by the appellee under the written agreement.

We find no merit in appellee’s contention that appellant violated its fiduciary relationship. The record indicates that the trial judge was accurate in his findings and the conclusion that there was not violation of the fiduciary relationship and no failure on the part of appellant’s agent to be diligent in the performance of his brokerage duties.

The appellant has assigned the following two errors which merit discussion and analysis :

1. The trial court erred in holding that Mississippi Code Annotated section 26 (1956) provides an unconstitutional delegation of legislative powers.

2. The trial court erred in holding that said statute is in violation of the public policy of Mississippi against gambling.

We discuss the above assignments in reverse order.

It can be conceded that there would be merit in the appellee’s claim, which is in conformance with the lower court’s holding, that the transactions involved are in violation of the public policy of the State of Mississippi, if it were based upon this Court’s construction of the statutory provisions prior to the passage of the 1956 amendment of section 26. Up until that time it had been the absolute policy of the State of Mississippi that contracts for the future delivery of commodities were unenforceable unless the parties intended actual delivery in kind. This Court has held, and properly so, that the language of all previous statutes was insufficient for this Court to have held that the legislature had intended to change the law which had been laid down under our statutes and by the decisions of this Court since the beginning of our statehood. See: Clay v. T. H. Allen & Co., 63 Miss. 426 (1886); Isaacs v. Silverberg, 87 Miss. 185, 39 So. 420 (1905); Ascher & Baxter v. Edward Moyse & Co., 101 Miss. 36, 57 So. 299 (1911); Alamaris v. John F. Clark & Co., 166 Miss. 122, 145 So. 893 (1933); Laird, Bissell & Meeds v. Capps, 224 Miss. 361, 80 So.2d 49 (1955).

However, the statute as amended in 1956, Mississippi Code Annotated section 26 (1956), is a clear departure from the former policy in that it abolishes the need for intent of actual delivery under certain conditions. The statute reads as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
186 So. 2d 768, 1966 Miss. LEXIS 1331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kohlmeyer-co-v-rotwein-miss-1966.