Lebb v. Peabody

205 P. 819, 103 Or. 405, 1922 Ore. LEXIS 160
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedApril 4, 1922
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 205 P. 819 (Lebb v. Peabody) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lebb v. Peabody, 205 P. 819, 103 Or. 405, 1922 Ore. LEXIS 160 (Or. 1922).

Opinion

HARRIS, J.

1. This is an appeal by the plaintiff from a judgment rendered in an action to replevin an automobile. The cause was tried without the intervention of a jury. The findings of fact made and the conclusions of law reached by the trial court, and an order labeled “decree,” and the judgment are before us; but none of the evidence received at the trial appears in the record submitted to us. The only questions which we can consider are whether the legal conclusions drawn by the trial court are deducible from the findings of fact, and whether the pleadings and findings of facts are sufficient to support the judgment: Jeffery v. Smith, 63 Or. 514 (128 Pac. 822); O’Connor v. Towey, 70 Or. 399 (140 Pac. 625); United States Nat. Bank v. Shefler, 77 Or. 579, 585 (143 Pac. 51, 152 Pac. 234).

The complaint, filed August 7, 1919, is in the usual form, and in substance alleges that D. Gr. Lebb, the plaintiff, owns and is entitled to the possession of a certain automobile detained by Orlando S. Peabody, the defendant. Judgment is demanded for the return of the automobile, or $500 its value, if return cannot be made.

The defendant alleges in his answer that he purchased the automobile on June 15, 1919, from S. E. Walcott for $300; and that, at the time of such purchase, the automobile was not equipped with a battery, did not have a serviceable tire on the right front wheel, and was not equipped with any auto[408]*408mobile tools. The defendant further alleges that at the time the sheriff took possession of the automobile under the writ of replevin, the automobile was equipped with the

“following property furnished and supplied by defendant and not a part of said automobile at the time defendant purchased the same, to wit:
“First. A storage battery (Delco System), which said battery was the property of the Sunset Electric Company and was in defendant’s possession under a rental agreement with said Sunset Electric Company, whereby defendant was and is responsible to said Sunset Electric Company for the same; that the market value of the said battery is $75.
“Second. An automobile tire make (Savage) size 36x4%, value $50.
“Third. A complete set of automobile tools of the approximate value of $25.”

The defendant avers that he was damaged “in an amount equal to the value of the use of said battery, for the period of time the same has been in the custody of the sheriff.” The defendant alleges that after purchasing the automobile he procured an Oregon license at an expense of $10, and that by reason of the taking of the automobile by the sheriff he has been damaged in the sum of $10, the amount paid for the license. It is further averred in the answer that after the sheriff took possession of the automobile the defendant offered to surrender the automobile to plaintiff

“provided plaintiff would release to defendant said battery, automobile tire, and automobile tools,” and “defendant now tenders to plaintiff a judgment for said automobile, exclusive, however, of the said storage battery, the said automobile tire,' and the said automobile tools, and the said Oregon license heretofore described; together with the cost incurred up to the date of filing this answer.”

[409]*409The defendant prayed for a judgment that

“he be adjudged the owner and entitled to the possession of the following described property:
“First. A storage battery (Delco System), or the value thereof, to wit: $75.
“Second. An automobile tire make ‘Savage,’ size 36x4%, or the value thereof, to wit: $50.
“Third. A complete set of automobile tools, or the value thereof, to wit: $25; all of said property having been taken with said automobile at the time the same was taken into the custody of the sheriff in this action, and:
“That defendant have judgment against the plaintiff * * such further sum as the court may find to be the damage to said battery, and for defendant’s costs and disbursements herein.”

The reply, besides denials, includes averments to the effect that the automobile had been stolen from the plaintiff, and that the defendant acquired possession of the machine with full knowledge that the car “was unlawfully in the possession of the party or parties who sold it to said defendant.”

On April 10, 1920, the trial court filed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court found as facts that on June 15, 1919, the defendant in good faith purchased the automobile from S. E. Walcott for $300, and

“that at said time said car was not equipped with a battery and did not have a serviceable tire on the right front wheel, and said car was not supplied or equipped with automobile tools”;

that on July 17, 1919, the automobile was equipped with a storage battery (Delco System) by the Sunset Electric Company under an agreement whereby the defendant agreed to pay the company twenty-five cents per day as rental and “the sum of $25, should [410]*410said battery not be returned to said Sunset Electric Company; that the rental value of said battery to date is -”; that after the defendant acquired the car, he placed on the right front wheel an automobile tire of the value of $45 and “which said tire is now on said automobile,” and “equipped said car with a set of automobile tools, which said tools are now in said automobile, ’ ’ and that the defendant purchased an Oregon license at an expense of $10; that the defendant made a tender of judgment as alleged in the complaint, but that the plaintiff refused the tender; and that the plaintiff owned the automobile “exclusive of” the battery, tire and tools.

From the facts the court deduced the following legal conclusions: That the plaintiff “is entitled to possession” of the automobile, but that the defendant is entitled to the tire, the tools, and the battery with twenty-five cents per day as the rental from August 19, 1919, “amounting to $-”; that defendant is entitled to the value of the Oregon license in the amount of $10; and that “defendant is entitled to his costs and disbursements herein incurred.”

On June 10, 1920, the court entered an order, which appears to have been labeled “decree” by which it was adjudged that the defendant “is the owner of and entitled to the immediate possession of” the tire, tools and battery, and

“that said storage battery is the property of the Sunset Electric Company and at the time this action was instituted was in the possession of the defendant on an agreement with the Sunset Electric Company; that plaintiff may adjust the claim of the Sunset Electric Company against Orland[o] S. Peabody for such battery, but that in case said plaintiff does not within ten days adjust said claim with the said Sunset Electric Company for said battery, that said [411]*411automobile, tbe subject of tbis action, be subject to execution issued out of tbe District Court of tbe State of Oregon, for tbe County of Multnomah, in tbe case of Sunset Electric Company v. Orland [o] S. Peabody.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
205 P. 819, 103 Or. 405, 1922 Ore. LEXIS 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lebb-v-peabody-or-1922.