Lachs v. McNair

207 S.W.2d 117, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 825
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 18, 1947
DocketNo. 2771
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 207 S.W.2d 117 (Lachs v. McNair) 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
Lachs v. McNair, 207 S.W.2d 117, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 825 (Tex. Ct. App. 1947).

Opinion

HALE, Justice.

Appellee sued appellant to recover the reasonable value or, in the alternative, the contract price of 283,320 pounds of milo maize theretofore delivered at Weil Switch and Robstown, respectively, during the harvest season of 1945. Appellant answered with a general denial and by way of cross action sought damages against ap-pellee on account of the latter’s alleged breach of contracts, oral and written, to deliver 600,000 pounds of maize to him at Robstown. Appellee pleaded a general denial to the cross action asserted by appellant. He also pleaded in substance that' if there was any binding express agree-' ment between the parties with respect to the subject matter of the suit, the same was entirely verbal; that the written memor-anda pleaded by appellant had been materially altered and changed after the signing and delivery thereof by appellee, thereby rendering the same invalid; that by the terms of the verbal contract between the parties, appellee had agreed to sell and appellant had agreed to -buy all of the maize grown by appellee during the year 1945, not to exceed 600,000 pounds, at the price of $1.20 per cwt., delivery thereof to be made, at Weil Switch, upon the condition that appellant would provide railroad cars and furnish a- loader at Weil Switch for the purpose of receiving delivery of the maize; that appellant wholly failed and refused to furnish a loader or to provide railroad cars at Weil Switch for the purpose of receiving delivery of the grain, as he had agreed to do; and that by reason of appellant’s breach of the contract in such particulars appellee had been relieved from further performance thereof.

The parties stipulated upon the trial that the total amount of maize grown and harvested by appellee during the year 1945 was 587,250 pounds, and that the market value thereof at Weil Switch and at Robs-town was $1.93 per cwt. at all times during the harvest season of that year.

The case was tried before a jury. In response to 10 special issues the jury found in effect that on or about May 3, 1945, the parties agreed that appellee would sell and appellant would buy 600,000 pounds of maize at $1.20 per cwt. of appellee’s 1945 crop, such grain to be delivered at Weil Switch and not at Robstown; that appellant further agreed to furnish a loader in good operating condition and to provide railroad cars at Weil Switch to load the grain to be delivered by appellee, but that appellant had failed so to do; that appellant did not inform appellee at the time of such agreement that he had resold the grain so purchased from appellee; and that appellant,, without the knowledge or consent of appel-lee, had changed the written memoranda in evidence after the signing thereof by ap-pellee, by adding thereto certain letters, words and figures not originally included therein.

Appellant then moved the court to render-judgment upon the verdict of the jury in favor of appellee for the sum of $1,181.-15. The motion was based upon specific allegations to the effect that appellee was-entitled under the verdict of the jury and the undisputed evidence to recover $3,399.-84 for 283,320 pounds of maize at $1.20 per cwt., less $2,218.69, the latter amount representing appellant’s damages under his-cross action on account of appellee’s failure to deliver 303,930 pounds of maize, such damages being based upon 73‡ per cwt., that being the difference between the contract price and the market value of the maize which appellee failed to deliver. The court overruled appellant’s motion and rendered judgment for appellee in the sum of $3,399.84. Thereafter, the court overruled appellant’s motion for new trial and hence this appeal.

Appellant says the court below erred in-overruling his motion for judgment on the verdict of the jury. The two specific grounds of the motion were substantially as follows: (1) It affirmatively appears-from the uncontroverted evidence in the case that appellant’s agreements to furnish cars and a loader at Weil Switch for the purpose of receiving delivery of the grain were merely “subsidiary conditions” of the contract found by the jury and hence appellant’s failure to comply with such conditions did not excuse appellee’s failure to deliver the additional 303,930 pounds of maize covered by the contract; and (2) if such conditions were “material and independent covenants”-of said contract, the [119]*119uncontroverted evidence shows that ap-pellee waived the provisions thereof by reason of his tender of grain at Robstown, both before and after appellant’s breach of the contract as found by the jury. We cannot sustain either of these contentions for reasons which we shall note briefly.

It is elemental that the dominant and cumulative purpose of pleadings and evidence is to serve as the foundation for harmonious findings of issuable facts to the end that each, separately, and all, collectively, shall ultimately form a proper basis for the rendition of a correct judgment. Rule 301, Texas Rules of Ciyil Procedure; Eubanks v. Akers, Tex.Civ.App., 197 S.W.2d 370, points 1 and 2 and authorities.

It is also well settled that one who seeks damages on account of the breach of a contract must recover upon the contract alleged or not at all. Atlas Torpedo Co. v. U. S. Torpedo Co., Tex.Civ.App., IS S.W.2d 150, point 3 and authorities; Clem v. Fulghum, Tex.Civ.App., 37 S.W.2d 201, point 3 and authorities; Ware v. Poindexter Furniture Co., 131 Tex. S68, 117 S. W.2d 420, point 3 and authorities.

In this case appellant did not plead, either in the alternative or otherwise, any contract to deliver maize at Weil Switch. On the contrary, he expressly denied the existence of such contract and predicated his asserted right of recovery under his cross action' solely upon alleged contracts to deliver maize at Robstown. The place of delivery was an essential and disputed element of the contracts thus declared upon by him. Daniel-Miller Co. v. Roper, Tex.Civ.App., 270 S.W. 1087. In our opinion, the variance between the terms of the contracts alleged by appellant and the contract found by the jury was fatal to any right of recovery under appellant’s asserted cross action.

Furthermore, appellant did not allege in his trial pleadings that his agreements, if any, to furnish cars and a loader at Weil Switch were merely subsidiary conditions of the contract pleaded by ap-pellee, or that appellee waived such provisions. We think it was necessary for appellant to plead such facts if he wished to rely upon them, or any of them, as constituting' an avoidance or affirmative defense against the cause of action asserted ,by appellee. Rule 94, T.R.C.P.; Reid v. Associated Employers’ Lloyds, Tex.Civ.App., 164 S.W.2d 584 (err. ref.); City of Coleman v. Kenley, Tex.Civ.App., 168 S.W.2d 926 (err. ref. Wr. of Mer.); City of Wichita Falls v. Bruner, Tex.Civ.App., 191 S.W.2d 912.

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Bluebook (online)
207 S.W.2d 117, 1947 Tex. App. LEXIS 825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lachs-v-mcnair-texapp-1947.