Lennox v. Texas Cotton Co-op. Ass'n

55 S.W.2d 543
CourtTexas Commission of Appeals
DecidedDecember 22, 1932
DocketNo. 1605—5997
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 55 S.W.2d 543 (Lennox v. Texas Cotton Co-op. Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Texas Commission of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lennox v. Texas Cotton Co-op. Ass'n, 55 S.W.2d 543 (Tex. Super. Ct. 1932).

Opinion

SHARP, J.

This cause has been pending in the courts many years and prior to this appeal has been before the appellate courts many times. Texas Farm Bureau Cotton Ass’n v. Lennox (Tex. Civ. App.) 257 S. W. 935; Id. (Civ. App.) 283 S. W. 619; Id. (Civ. App.) 296 S. W. 328; Id. (Civ. App.) 16 S.W.(2d) 413. For convenience, except as may be stated in this opinion, we will refer to Lennox & Lennox as plaintiffs and the Texas Cotton Co-Operative Association as defendant, as they were designated in the trial court. The judgment from which the instant appeal was prosecuted was based on the plaintiffs’ second amended original petition filed May 22, 1930, the defendant’s fifth amended original answer and cross-bill filed on May 22, 1930, plaintiffs’ second amended supplemental petition filed on May 23, 1930, and the defendant’s first amended third supplemental answer filed on May 23, 1930.

The trial court instructed the jury to re-' turn a verdict in defendant’s favor on its cross-action for $37,783.17 as liquidated damages it was entitled to recover by virtue of a written marketing contract, for $782.99 as expenses it had incurred and for $7,500 as attorney’s fees; the court further instructed the jury to find against the defendant as to its cross-action for a specific performance of the contract; and then submitted to thet jury special issues in response to which they made certain findings described in the opinion of the Court of Civil Appeals from which we quote as follows (37 S.W.(2d) 331, 335):

[544]*544“(1) That the oral contract was niade as alleged by appellees. (2) That appellant violated the provisions of said contract when it sold the 1,095 bales of cotton as it did. (3) That the $101,107.54 for which appellant claimed it sold the 1,095 bales was a less sum than it would have received therefor if it had exercised proper care and complied with the termsl of the contract in selling the cdt-ton. (4) That, by exercising such care, appellant could have sold the cotton for $21,-960.90 more than the $101,107.54 it reported it sold same for. (5) That, in accounting to appellees, appellant was entitled to deduct $9,407.05 from the amount the cotton sold for. (6) That appellees were restrained from selling 877,032 pounds of cotton from August 31, 1925, when the writ of injunction was issued out of the district court, to March 2S, 1929, when said writ was dissolved. (7) That appellees were' restrained from selling 818,-863 pounds of cotton from September 18, 1929, when the writ of injunction was issued out of the Supreme Court, to October 23, 1929, when said writ was dissolved. (8) That the price of cotton was lower March 2S, 1929, than it was August 31, 1925. (9) The cotton appellees were restrained from selling had declined 7½ cents a pound March 28, 1929, from the highest price obtainable after the writ of injunction was issued August‘31,1925. (10) The market price of cotton declined 2 cents per pound from September 19, 1929, to October 23, 1929. (11) Appellees were damaged in the sum of $82,154.60 by reason of the decline in the market price of cotton August 31, 1925, and the market price thereof October 23, 1929. (12) Appellees exercised proper care in the preservation of the cotton they were restrained from selling. (13) In exercising such care appellees expended $11,-823.65 for storage of the cotton. (14) Such expenditure was reasonable in amount. (15) Appellees exercised due care in having the cotton insured. (16) They expended $23,961.-10 for such insurance. (17) And the amount so expended was reasonable. (18) But for the injunction appellees could have sold the cotton they were enjoined from selling on the market at Clarksville during the gathering season of 1925-26 for $219,258. (19) While stored in the warehouse at Clarksville, the cotton lost 5 pounds per bale. (20) The average price per pound of cotton appellees were enjoined from selling on the Clarks-ville market March 28, 1929, was 17.5 cents. (21) Appellees were damaged by being deprived of the use of the cotton by the issuance of the writs of injunction. (22) Such damage amounted to $43,S51.60. (23) There was a decline in the price of the cotton appel-lees were enjoined by the Supreme Court from selling between September 18, 1929, and October 23, 1929. (24) The 1,095 bales of the 1919, 1920, and 1921 crops were sold by appellant on actual samples taken from the bales. (25) The 1,095 bales when sold by appellant did not bring their reasonable cash market value. (26) The 1,095 bales were stored, segregated, classed and graded separate and apart from all other cotton of the defendant association. (27) And same was sold in pools separate and apart to themselves. (28) The contract between appellant and appellees required the former to consult the latter and obtain their consent before selling the 1,095 bales of cotton. (29) The freight per bale on the 1,095 bales from Clarksville to Houston in 1922 was $3.89. (30) The reasonable and customary insurance charge at Houston ‘per $60.00 valuation on such cotton (the 1,095 bales) was 18 cents.’ (31) The ‘reasonable and customary storage charge, per bale, on such cotton during the year 1922! was ‘25½ per month.’ (32) The First National Bank of Clarksville ‘had a verbal mortgage or verbal lien’ on appellees’ ‘cotton of the 1925 year crop before the issuance of the injunction herein on August 31, 1925.’ (33) Warehouse receipts against ap-pellees’ ‘cotton of the 1925 year crop were in the hands of the First National Bank and being held by it as security for the indebtedness of the plaintiffs (appellees) at the time of the issuance of the writ of injunction herein on August 31, 1925.’ (34) Of the cotton held under warehouse receipts 35,000 pounds had been sold. (35) The amount appellant sold the 1,095 bales for, less the freight, insurance, storage, and interest on money it had advanced to appellees, was paid to them by appellant.
“On said findings of the jury and findings made by the court himself ‘on undisputed facts,’ he said, the court rendered judgment in appellees’ favor for $160,845.11, the differ-'enee, the court determined, between the amounts found in their favor and the amounts found in appellant’s favor.”

The defendant appealed to the ■ Court of Civil Appeals at Texarkana and by a divided court it was held that the trial court was correct in instructing the jury to return a verdict in favor of the defendant for the; sums of $37,783.15, $7,500, and $782.99, a total of $46,066.14. As to the other items, the Court of Civil Appeals reversed and rendered judgment in favor of the defendant for $13,-442.94, the difference between $32,623.20, the amount awarded plaintiffs on account of the breach of the contract by defendant, and $46,066.14, the amount awarded defendant as liquidated damages, etc. That part of the judgment denying specific performance of the contract in favor of the defendant was not disturbed and final judgment rendered in favor of the defendant against plaintiffs for the sum of $13,442.94. 37 S.W.(2d) 331. We refer to the various opinions rendered on former appeals for a more detailed statement of the case. Plaintiffs, Lennox & Len-nox, bring the cause to the Supreme Court by writ of error.

[545]*545This suit involves the construction of chapter 8, title 93, articles 5737 to 5764, enacted in 1921, and commonly known as the Co-operative Marketing Act (R. C. S. 1925) under which the Texas Earm Bureau Cotton Association was created, and the general marketing contract executed. In 1930 it changed its name to the Texas Co-Operative Marketing Association in which name it now appears in this suit.

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Bluebook (online)
55 S.W.2d 543, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lennox-v-texas-cotton-co-op-assn-texcommnapp-1932.