Kuhlman v. Farmers Union Co-Operative Ass'n

42 N.W.2d 182, 152 Neb. 597, 1950 Neb. LEXIS 113
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 30, 1950
DocketNo. 32732
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 42 N.W.2d 182 (Kuhlman v. Farmers Union Co-Operative Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kuhlman v. Farmers Union Co-Operative Ass'n, 42 N.W.2d 182, 152 Neb. 597, 1950 Neb. LEXIS 113 (Neb. 1950).

Opinion

Simmons, C. J.

This is an action to recover for the sale and delivery of corn. Issues were made and trial was had resulting in a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff. Defendant appeals. We affirm the judgment of the trial court.

Plaintiff alleged in substance, the sale and delivery of 2,026 bushels of yellow corn to defendant on June 27, 1947, at the current market price which the defendant quoted to be $1.95 for yellow corn and “that $1.95 a bushel was the fair and reasonable value of said corn” on that day. Plaintiff alleged demand and refusal to pay, and prayed judgment for $3,950.70.

Defendant attacked the petition by motion but in nowise referred therein to the above-quoted allegation.

Defendant by answer made admissions not material here and denied generally. Defendant further alleged that on June 10, 1947, it purchased 2,600 bushels of yellow corn, No. 2 grade or better, at $1.85 a bushel, to be delivered in ten days, with the understanding that if the corn tested less than No. 2 grade, payment would be made in accord with accepted practices for inferior grades. Defendant then alleged that on June "27,. 1947, plaintiff delivered 2,026 bushels of yellow corn, sample grade, 21.87 moisture content with 30 percent damage; that the corn was moldy, wet, rotten, and mixed with dirt; that the fair and reasonable market [599]*599value of the corn delivered was $1.30 a bushel; that defendant made repeated efforts to pay on that basis; that defendant tendered to plaintiff on September 11, 1947, $2,633.80, representing payment for- 2,026 bushels of corn at $1.30 a bushel, and the offer of settlement was rejected; and that the fair and reasonable market value of the corn delivered was $2,633.80, “for which defendant elevator confesses judgment.” Defendant counterclaimed for damages for failure to deliver the balance of the 2,600 bushels of corn.

For reply plaintiff denied generally except as to allegations admitting those contained in plaintiff’s petition.

The issues so stood when, on March 22, 1949, the case came on for trial. Plaintiff on that day by permission of the court amended his petition so as to allege $3,712.64 to be due and owing, and so as to pray for recovery in that amount.

At the opening of the trial defendant moved that the plaintiff elect whether he sued upon an express oral contract or one in quantum meruit. Plaintiff replied that he alleged the sale of the corn on June 27, 1947, at the quoted price of $1.95 a bushel.

We take up defendant’s argued assignments of error in the order in which they occurred at the trial.

During the direct examination of the plaintiff he was asked if he had overheard a conversation between his attorney and defendant’s manager regarding settlement for the corn. He testified that he had, and that defendant’s manager offered to pay $1.40 without suit or $1.30 if suit were filed. This question was objected to as conversation having to do with a compromise settlement. After the answer was received, the defendant moved to strike the testimony and that the jury be instructed to disregard it. The court sustained the objection and so instructed the jury. Defendant assigns this as error, contending that the instruction to disregard did not correct the harm done in the admission of the testimony.

Substantially this same situation was presented in [600]*600Stapleton v. Chicago, B. & Q. R. R. Co., 101 Neb, 201, 162 N. W. 644, where evidence of a compromise settlement offer was admitted over objection, and later stricken, and the jury instructed not to give it consideration. We there held that in view of defendant’s answer admitting injuries while in defendant’s employment and the court’s instruction to disregard, the error was not so prejudicial as to require a reversal. Here defendant’s answer pleaded an offer of settlement in part exactly as testified to by the witness. Here the trial court granted in full defendant’s motion. Under these circumstances we apply the rule that ‘Where evidence improperly received is afterwards stricken out and expressly withdrawn from the consideration of the jury, the error involved in its reception is ordinarily cured.” Chicago, R. I. & P. Ry. Co. v. O’Neill, 58 Neb. 239, 78 N. W. 521. See, also, Bush v. James, ante p. 189, 40 N. W. 2d 667.

At the close of plaintiff’s case-in-chief, defendant moved for a directed verdict in its favor, contending that there was not sufficient evidence to establish the sale price of the corn, or, based on defendant’s answer, that the court direct a verdict against the defendant for $1.30 a bushel for the 2,026 bushels of corn. The trial court overruled the motion.

Plaintiff testified that there was no conversation on the morning of June 27, 1947, as to the price to be paid until the delivery of the second load of corn. At that time plaintiff asked defendant’s manager about the price of com that day and was told “ ‘$1.95.’ ” Plaintiff testified that he asked what the “dock” would be and was told by the defendant’s manager that the first load tested “21 and some hundredths” and the second load tested “near 22”; that defendant’s manager “got out a sheet” and plaintiff was told that with that moisture the dock was 11% cents; and that if plaintiff could get the moisture down to about 17, the dock would not be over 4 or 5 cents. On cross-examination plaintiff testified that he understood that the buyer would fix the [601]*601grade of the corn and that the price of $1.95 a bushel was for No. 2 grade yellow corn.

The contention here of defendant is that plaintiff did not prove the grade of corn and hence there was no basis for determining the market price. Defendant concedes that the price of $1.95 for No. 2 yellow corn was quoted to the plaintiff as the market price on the day of sale. Plaintiff testified in effect that the defendant’s manager calculated the dock at 11% cents because of moisture content. Plaintiff was not required to prove the processes by which defendant arrived at that price. The price stated under this testimony was $1.95, less 11% cents. The assignment is without merit.

When both parties had rested the defendant renewed in exact words the motion, heretofore discussed, that had been made at the close of plaintiff’s case-in-chief to the effect that the court direct a verdict against the plaintiff, or against the defendant for $1.30 a bushel for 2,026 bushels of corn. At the same time and not as a separate motion the defendant moved that the court direct a verdict against the defendant in the amount of $2,026 and no more. The court overruled the motion. The defendant then stated that it “withdraws its offer to confess judgment * * * in any amount” on the ground that the “offer” had not been accepted. Obviously the motion was inconsistent and the court could not have sustained it properly.

Defendant presents the contention that there was a failure of the plaintiff to prove the market value of the corn; that its evidence proved it to be $1 a bushel; and that the court should have directed judgment for the plaintiff for $2,026. We have set out a summary of plaintiff’s evidence. The defendant’s evidence is that-the corn was rotten, damp, moldy, and sprouting, and tested by weight was 30 percent rotten or spoiled; that the corn was sample grade, worse than grade No. 5; and that sample grade was corn that tested more than 22.50 moisture and 15 percent' damage. This testimony [602]

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Kuhlman v. FARMERS UNION CO-OP. ASS'N
42 N.W.2d 182 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1950)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 N.W.2d 182, 152 Neb. 597, 1950 Neb. LEXIS 113, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kuhlman-v-farmers-union-co-operative-assn-neb-1950.