Lawley v. Wade

118 P. 484, 39 Utah 537, 1911 Utah LEXIS 70
CourtUtah Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 30, 1911
DocketNo. 2143
StatusPublished

This text of 118 P. 484 (Lawley v. Wade) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Utah Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lawley v. Wade, 118 P. 484, 39 Utah 537, 1911 Utah LEXIS 70 (Utah 1911).

Opinions

FRICK, C. J.

The plaintiff, hereinafter designated appellant, as a canse of action against the defendants, hereinafter styled respondents, in bis complaint alleged: “That on or about the 15th day of October, A. D. 1905, the defendants entered into a certain agreement by and with the plaintiff, by the terms of which defendants agreed that if plaintiff would render certain services, in aiding the defendants and others to acquire certain property in the vicinity of Kenilworth, Carbon County, Utah, and would also aid the defendants and others in the organization of a company to handle said property, the same being coal land, and would, if necessary, extend the credit of the plaintiff in behalf of the said defendant Henry Wade, and would to the extent of bis ability aid and assist him in recommending said property, and in doing all things necessary for the complete organization of said company, that be would give said plaintiff 1000 shares of the capital stock of any company to be organized for the purpose of taking over the property referred to; that the plaintiff fully performed all of the terms and conditions of said agreement to be by him performed, and rendered the services, the aid and assistance required by him; that thereafter the said defendants and one A. A. Sweet and others organized the Western Coal & Coke Company, a corporation, for the purpose of taking over said land, and thereafter a reorganization of said company took place, and the name of said company and of the reorganized company was changed to the Independent Coal & Coke Company; that the plaintiff demanded from the defendants the 1000 shares of stock in the Independent Coal & Coke Company, but the defendants failed, neglected, and refused, and now do wholly fail, neglect, and refuse to transfer or deliver to plaintiff the said 1000 shares of stock; that the plaintiff is informed and believes, and therefore states the fact to be, that said stock is now of the value of $1.50 per share.” Upon this complaint be demanded judgment for $1500. Respondents’ answer thereto was a general denial.

Upon these issues tbe parties proceeded to trial. After appellant bad produced bis evidence and rested bis case, re[539]*539spondents’ counsel moved for a nonsuit upon substantially tbe following grounds: (1) That appellant bad failed to establish any agreement or contract as alleged in his complaint; (2) that he had failed to prove that he had extended any credit to the respondents, or either of them; (3) that he had failed to prove that he had performed or rendered any services whatever as contemplated- by the alleged contract; (4) that he had failed to prove that any of the property referred to in his complaint was acquired by the company which he testified was organized, and that he had failed to prove that any of the stock referred to in his complaint was ever issued, or that it was of any value whatever; (5) that he had failed to prove the alleged reorganization of the company as alleged in his complaint, or that the Independent Coal & Coke Company mentioned in his complaint had any relation to or was connected with the company that he alleged was organized; and (6) that while the appellant had alleged one contract in his complaint he had in fact attempted to prove another, and hence there was a fatal variance between the allegations of the complaint and the evidence offered in support thereof. Pending this motion counsel for appellant asked for time to amend his complaint, and, being given time, he prepared an amended complaint, which he offered to file.

Said amended complaint departed from the original complaint in the following particulars, namely, by alleging: That an alleged contract was entered into on the 15th day of April, 1905, whereby the respondents promised the things alleged in the original complaint; that appellant had fully performed all of the conditions; “that thereafter the said defendant Henry Wade, aided by one A. A. Sweet and others, organized the Western Coal & C'oke Company, a corporation, for the purpose of taking a part of said property, and thereafter the Independent Coal & Coke Company was organized and' acquired a portion of said property and a stock interest in the Western Coal & Coke Company; that the defendants elected to give and promised to plaintiff, in accordance with said contract, 1000 shares of the Independent'Coal & Coke Company’s [540]*540stock, and tbe plaintiff heretofore demanded of and from the defendants the said 1000 shares of stock in the Independent Coal & Coke Company, but said defendants failed, neglected, and refused, and now do wholly fail,. neglect, and refuse, to transfer Qr deliver to the plaintiff said 1000 shares of stock; that the plaintiff is informed and believes, and therefore states the fact to be, that said stock is now of the value of $1.50 per share.” The amended complaint was offered, as counsel said, because it made the allegations conform to the proof already before the court, and no new evidence was offered in connection therewith. Kespondents’ counsel resisted appellant’s application to file the amended complaint, but notwithstanding the allegations therein contained they still insisted on their motion for nonsuit for the reasons stated in the motion therefor. The court refused appellant’s request to file the amended complaint, and sustained the motion for a nonsuit, and entered judgment dismissing the action. Appellant appeals from the judgment.

Appellant’s counsel insist that the amendments offered by them were offered for the sole purpose of making the allegations conform to the proof, that it is always proper to so amend a pleading, and that in this case it 'constituted 1 prejudicial error not to permit the amended complaint to be filed. Counsel further assert that the allegations of the original complaint were sufficient, that the evidence adduced by appellant supported the allegations of that complaint, and that therefore the court in any event erred in granting the nonsuit. Nor the purposes of this decision we shall assume that the discrepancy of time when the alleged contract was entered into as appears from the original and the proposed amended complaint was immaterial, and that the allegations of the original complaint, if established bv sufficient competent evidence, are sufficient to support a judgment in favor of appellant. The question, however, still remains whether appellant’s evidence tended to establish all of the material allegations of his complaint. Under these allegations, before appellant was entitled to recover, he was required to establish that he rendered the services he promised [541]*541to render in acquiring certain coal lands in tbe vicinity of Kenilworth, Carbon County, Utah, to respondents and others; that he did assist the respondent Henry Wade in organizing the alleged “companies” to handle said lands; that he did, when necessary, extend credit to said Wade ; and that he did recommend said coal lands to the company that was organized. When he had complied with all of these conditions, or was relieved therefrom by respondents, he was entitled to receive the alleged 1000 shares of stock. We have carefully gone through all of the evidence contained in the bill of exceptions, and we can find none that supports oi tends to support the allegations that the respondents and others acquired the “certain property in the vicinity of Kenil-worth, Carbon County, Utah,” referred to in the complaint as coal lands.

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Bluebook (online)
118 P. 484, 39 Utah 537, 1911 Utah LEXIS 70, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lawley-v-wade-utah-1911.