M. Perez Co. v. Davidson Bros.

166 Iowa 59
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 14, 1914
StatusPublished

This text of 166 Iowa 59 (M. Perez Co. v. Davidson Bros.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
M. Perez Co. v. Davidson Bros., 166 Iowa 59 (iowa 1914).

Opinion

Gaynor, J.

The plaintiff is a corporation engaged in the manufacture of tobacco and tobacco products, having its place [60]*60of business in the city of New York. The.defendant is a jobber in tobacco, doing business in Des Moines.

On the 4th day of November, 1912, the plaintiff filed its petition in the district court of Polk county, in which it alleged that prior to the 5th day of October, 1912, the plaintiff sold and delivered to the defendant certain cigars at the agreed wholesale price of $425, which cigars the defendant was to have the option of returning to the plaintiff, and receive a credit at the list price thereof, in case the said cigars should not have been sold by it. The defendant elected to return said cigars and take credit upon the amount due from defendant to the plaintiff for the wholesale price thereof, and that, in pursuance of said election, it was given credit in the sum of $425 on its account; that on or about said date the plaintiff demanded the delivery to it of said cigars, but that the defendant refused to deliver the same, and then and there converted the cigars to its own use; that the value of the cigars so converted, at the time of the conversion, was $425, and for this plaintiff asked judgment.

The defendant, for answer to said petition, alleged that heretofore, on the 18th day of October, 1911, the plaintiff brought an action at law against the defendant in this court upon the petition in which it is alleged that on the 15th day of March, 1909, plaintiff and defendant entered into an agreement, in writing, by the terms of which the defendant was made the sole distributor of a certain brand of cigars, manufactured by the plaintiff, for a certain limited territory in the state of Iowa. The defendant, by the terms of the contract, agreed to pay plaintiff for all goods ordered within sixty days from the day of invoice, less a discount of 2 per cent. The plaintiff agreed to take back, at list price, any cigars that might not prove satisfactory to the defendant or its customers within ninety days from the date of the invoice, the agreement to be terminated by either party at any time the same proved unsatisfactory, that the said agreement went into effect immediately, and continued in full force up to the [61]*613d day of April, 1911, that, under and in accordance with the terms of said contract, defendant ordered, and the plaintiff shipped to defendant, cigars of the agreed price and value of $849.99, and that the purchase price of said shipment became due within sixty days from the date of shipment, and that said goods were shipped during the time said agreement was in full force and effect; and defendant in said petition demanded judgment against the plaintiff for said amount, with interest at 6 per cent.

To the petition so filed, defendant, on the 23d day of May, 1912, filed an amended and substituted answer as follows:

That, during the time between the execution of the written contract and the beginning of the action by the plaintiff, the plaintiff shipped to the defendant a large amount of cigars consisting, in a large part, of sizes and kinds unsalable and undesirable. That, under the terms of the written contract, the defendant, within ninety days from the receipt thereof, notified the plaintiff of its refusal of the same, and of its intention to return the unsalable and undesirable varieties to the plaintiff. That thereupon, and within sixty days from the day of the contract, one R. S. Winter, vice president of the plaintiff company, requested the defendant not to return said cigars, but to hold the same temporarily as bailee, and for the benefit of the plaintiff, in order that the plaintiff might place the goods elsewhere, and the plaintiff thereupon undertook and agreed to place said goods elsewhere within a reasonable time. That, in pursuance of this second agreement, the defendant held said cigars as bailee, and did not return or reship them to the plaintiff, and the said vice president further requested the defendant to take the same course with all other goods, which might be shipped in the future, which proved unsalable and unsatisfactory, and the defendant, as an accommodation to the plaintiff, consented to act as bailee for said goods then on hand, or that might thereafter be shipped, when the same proved unsalable and unsatisfactory. That thereafter the defendant requested the plaintiff to comply with said agreement and make disposition of the unsalable and unsatisfactory cigars then on hand. That the plaintiff refused to comply with its agreement so made by its vice president, and that thereupon defendant [62]*62notified plaintiff that it would discontinue handling plaintiff’s cigars. Thereafter, and on the 18th day of December, 1909, one Morris Winter, president of the plaintiff corporation, came to Des Moines and, acting for the plaintiff, entered into a new oral contract with the defendant in abrogation and substitution of the contract sued on. That, by the terms of this last contract made with Morris Winter, the plaintiff did then and there ratify the terms and modifications of the written contract, made by the defendant with R. S. Winter, and further agreed, in consideration of its continuing to purchase goods from the plaintiff, that they would either take back, at cost, any goods that might prove unsatisfactory for any reason to the defendant, or its customers, or make disposition of the same to others, and that the plaintiff company would, upon the expiration of the contract, or whenever the defendant ceased to handle plaintiff’s cigars, take back from the defendant all goods on hand at such'time, and give defendant credit therefor, at the invoice price. That, before the beginning of' this action, the said contract expired, and the defendant demanded that plaintiff take all goods on hand, or make disposition of the. same, as required by the terms of the contract, and that the defendant be credited with the invoice value thereof, but that plaintiff utterly refused and failed to carry out this agreement, or any part thereof, and the defendant now has on hand, subject to return and credit, at invoice prices, under the terms of the contract, more than $1,100 worth of cigars, and the defendant states that it still holds the same subject to the order and disposition of the plaintiff, and that it denies any property or interest therein as stated, and defendant demands and claims a credit, against the plaintiff therein, in the amount of $1,065, under the terms and conditions of said contract.

To the answer so filed by the defendant in this original case, the plaintiff filed the following reply:

‘Plaintiff denies each and every allegation of defendant’s answer.’ Plaintiff, further answering, says that thereafter, on the 8th day of June, 1912, the issues being thus joined between the parties, the cause known as No. 20,793 proceeded to trial before the court and jury, upon the testimony of wit[63]*63nesses produced and sworn upon the part of plaintiff and defendant.

At the conclusion of the trial, the cause was submitted to the jury by the court in the following language:

‘The plaintiff, for cause of action, states that it is a corporation organized under the laws of the state of New York; that the defendant is a corporation organized under the laws of the sta’te of Iowa. States: That on the 15th day of March, 1909, the plaintiff and the defendant made and entered into an agreement in writing, known as Exhibit A, introduced in evidence in this case.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
166 Iowa 59, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/m-perez-co-v-davidson-bros-iowa-1914.