Lower Terrebonne Refining & Mfg. Co. v. Barrow

52 So. 487, 126 La. 263, 1910 La. LEXIS 643
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedMarch 28, 1910
DocketNo. 17,773
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 52 So. 487 (Lower Terrebonne Refining & Mfg. Co. v. Barrow) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lower Terrebonne Refining & Mfg. Co. v. Barrow, 52 So. 487, 126 La. 263, 1910 La. LEXIS 643 (La. 1910).

Opinion

Statement of the Case.

MONROE, J.

This case has been thoroughly considered and correctly determined by the learned judge of the district court, and we cannot do better than adopt his opinion (save in one particular, which will be noted) and affirm his decree. The particular to which we refer is this: Under the contract sued on, plaintiff agreed to dig, or dredge out, a certain extension of a canal, belonging to defendant, at an estimated cost of $3,500, in consideration whereof defendant accorded plaintiff the privilege of carrying its freight and the freight of Ashland Plantation (belonging to another concern, but of which one of the parties interested in the plaintiff company was part owner) through the canal, at certain special rates of toll, and agreed that the tolls debited to plaintiff should go in reimbursement of the $3,500 to be expended by it, until the accounts should balance each other, provided that plaintiff should make shipments enough to accomplish that result within three years; otherwise plaintiff’s obligation to reimburse the $3,500 to be considered canceled. There was no stipulation in the contract that the tolls due upon the shipments of Ashland Plantation [265]*265should be thus dealt with, and, though our learned Brother of the district court says, at one place in his opinion, “Under the terms of the contract, the plaintiff had the right to receive credit for tolls on its own freight and that of Ashland Plantation,” he reached a different conclusion before entering his judgment, and, in effect, decided that plaintiff did not have that right. His opinion reads as follows:

Opinion rendered in this case by Hon. W. P. Martin, judge of the district court:

“The plaintiff institutes this suit to recover of the defendant the sum of $3,096.21, on a written contract, under the terms of which the plaintiff alleges that it was agreed that the plaintiff should do a certain amount of dredging, in the canal of defendant, with its dredge-boat, and that no charge should be made for the use of the dredge, but that the defendánt should pay, or refund, to the plaintiff, the expense ofv operating the dredge, including the necessary' repairs, provided that the , dredging done did not exceed the sum of $3,500'.
“That this amount was to be paid, or refunded, by permitting the plaintiff to ship its freight and that of Ashland Plantation through the canal at the rates set forth in said contract ; it being stipulated that plaintiff was to keep an exact account of the expenditures for cutting the canal, and the defendant was to keep an account of the amount of freight shipped through the said canal, which was to be credited to the amount due the plaintiff for work and dredging done in the said canal.
“That it was further stipulated in the said contract that the plaintiff was to have three years, from notice that the said canal was open for business, in which to ship a sufficient amount of freight to cover $3,500 expended in dredging.
“Plaintiff then avers that it fulfilled its portion of the contract by cutting the said canal, and, in so doing, expended $3,949.43, a detailed statement of which was rendered the defendant. That the said defendant, thereupon, paid plaintiff, on January 6, 1906, the excess over $3,500 expended by it in the digging of the said canal; that is to say, $449.43.
“That having, on November 29, 1905, received notice from the defendant that his canal was open and ready for business, it proceeded to ship its sugar and molasses through the said canal and to receive freight from New Orleans in the same manner, and that, within the three years, it shipped and received an amount of freight, which, under the tolls stipulated in the contract, was more than sufficient to cover the $3,500 due for work done by its dredgeboat in defendant’s canal. That the said defendant paid plaintiff $403.79 for freight on 11,537 barrels of sugar, shipped through the said canal, at the rate of 3% cents peí oarrei, leaving, however, a balance of $3,096.21 still due and unpaid, which plaintiff prays to recover.
“The defendant, Barrow, first pleaded the general issue, admitting, however, the contract sued on.
“The defendant sets forth a history of the Barataría & Lafourche Canal, dwelling ui>on the magnitude of the work which its opening to navigation involved, and also sets forth the causes and inducements which led him to enter into the contract sued on, as well as certain negotiations and agreements had with the plaintiff previous to the signing of the said contract, all of which, being irrelevant to the issue involved, makes it unnecessary to here consider those unnecessary averments.
“The defendant then avers that the contract sued on contemplated the building of barges by the plaintiff, for the purpose of shipping and receiving its freight in the manner and for the tolls set forth in the contract.
“That, after the said contract was completed, in November, 1905, the defendant, finding that the plaintiff was not shipping its freight through the said canal as per agreement, went to Mr. H. G. Bush, the then secretary and treasurer of the plaintiff corporation, and inquired of'him the reason why his freight was not being shipped through the said canal. Mr. Bush having stated that he found it impossible to build barges in time to market the crop of 1905 and 1906, he, therefore (in order to encourage Capt. Bradford, who was operating a boat in the said canal), agreed with Mr. Bush that, if he would ship the crop of 1905 by the boat of Capt. Bradford, he (defendant) would allow the plaintiff, on all freight so shipped, for that season, the same refund of tolls as was provided in the written contract. That, notwithstanding this inducement, the plaintiff shipped but a small portion of its crop of 1905 through the said canal, by Capt. Bradford, and, since then, it has not shipped any freight at all through the canal.
“That, according to his agreement, the defendant refunded to the plaintiff the tolls collected upon freights shipped by Capt. Bradford during the season of 1905. That the said agreement was only for the season of 1905, and that, although the crops of 1906-1907-1908 have, since, been marketed by plaintiff, it failed to transport its freight through the defendant’s canal in the manner contemplated by the contract, but has shipped the same by rail.
“After making certain averments in regard to certain agreements between plaintiff and the railroad company, in regard to freight, which averments were stricken from defendant’s answer, previous to trial, the defendant, finally, avers that the plaintiff, having failed to ship its freight through his canal, as contemplated in the contract, and the time having elapsed in which the plaintiff enjoyed the right to ship its freight under the terms and inducements [267]*267set forth in. its contract, so much of the money as was expended by plaintiff in tolls has, ipso facto, been forfeited by defendant.
“Reserving his right to sue the plaintiff for the violation of its contract, the defendant finally prays to be dismissed, with costs.
“Opinion.
“The solution of the issues involved in this case depends upon the interpretation of the contract sued on.

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Bluebook (online)
52 So. 487, 126 La. 263, 1910 La. LEXIS 643, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lower-terrebonne-refining-mfg-co-v-barrow-la-1910.