Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Dennis

19 S.W.2d 339, 1929 Tex. App. LEXIS 811
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 18, 1929
DocketNo. 1840.
StatusPublished

This text of 19 S.W.2d 339 (Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Dennis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Co. v. Dennis, 19 S.W.2d 339, 1929 Tex. App. LEXIS 811 (Tex. Ct. App. 1929).

Opinions

HIGHTOWER, C. J.

The appellant, Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Company, prosecutes this appeal from a judgment in favor of appellees, W. L. Dennis, A. M. Tomforde, and E. Tomforde, composing the firm of Dennis & Tomforde, for the sum of $6,064.01, with interest on that sum from the date of the judgment at the rate of 7 per cent, per [340]*340annum. This was the full amount sued for .by the appellees, who were the plaintiffs below, and judgment was rendered upon a jury’s .verdict peremptorily instructed in favor of the appellees.

Appellees alleged as their cause of action the following, in substance: That they, at the special instance and request of appellant, procured and had written for appellant a number of policies of insurance,' for which the usual and customary charges were made and for which payments had been made from time to time by appellant, as shown by Exhibits A and B that were attached to the petition. These exhibits are very lengthy and show in detail the many policies that were written and caused to be written by appel-lees for appellant, the nature of the insurance, the rates of premium charged therefor, and the payments that had been made at stated times by appellant therefor, etc. The period of time covered by these transactions, shown by the exhibits attached to the petition, was from July 1, 1924, to June 6, 1926, and the payments made by appellant extended from about October 13, 1924, to June 4, 1927.

Appellees further alleged that on June 28, 1926, appellant was in possession of a number of fire and tornado insurance policies written by appellees, which would expire on July 1, 1926, and that on that date appellant owed appellees the sum of $12,371.51, being the full amount of premiums and unpaid interest, as the parties themselves had agreed upon.

In this connection we quote from the petition: “That the firm of Dennis & Tomforde” (this firm was the successor to W. L. Dennis & Co., who had written insurance for appellant some time before the organization o-f Dennis & Tomforde) “was unwilling to renew said policies of insurance unless satisfactory arrangements were made for the payment of said debt and securing of the premiums on future policies. That on June 30, 1926, the Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Company, acting through C. S. Kinney its president, had their auditor check up with the auditor of Dennis & Tomforde the condition of the account and it was agreed by and between Dennis & Tomforde and the Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Company that , on June 30, 1926, the balance due from the Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Company to Dennis & Tomforde was the principal sum of $11,309.13, plus accrued interest at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum, amounting to $1,062.38, making a total of $12,371.51. It was further agreed that Dennis & Tomforde would thereupon rewrite and renew the insurance required by the Magnolia Compress & Warehouse Company, and that the insurance was to be paid for in installments beginning $2,000 on September 1, 1926, and $3,-000 a month thereafter until the entire account had been taken care of.”

Appellees then alleged, in substance, that appellant continued to make payments of this claimed account for a period of approximately seven months after June 30, 1926, as it had agreed to do, but that, after about the expiration of seven months thereafter, appellant declined to make further payments on the indebtedness due appellees, as shown by the agreed account, and that appellees were forced to bring this suit to collect the balance of the account, as stated between the parties, and prayed for judgment accordingly.

Appellant, after general demurrer and general denial, specially denied that it was indebted to appellees in the amount sued for by them, and specially averred that, prior to the issuance of any of the policies mentioned in the petition of appellees, a certain contract was entered into between W. L. Dennis & Co., predecessor of the present appellees', and appellant, acting by and through its president, C. S. Kinney, by the terms of which it was agreed that W. D. Dennis & Co. should write, and procure certain insurance policies on appellant’s properties, including all of the fire and tornado insurance which it desired, and that W. L. Dennis & Co. agreed that the premium rates on such insurance would not exceed the rates and premiums which any other reliable company doing busi-' ness in the city of Houston, Tex., would charge for such insurance. , Appellant then alleged a breach of this contract by appellees, in the following respects:

“(a) Plaintiffs adopted a form of tornado policy in writing the 'defendant’s tornado insurance which carried a substantially higher rate than other forms of tornado insurance policies.

“(b) That the rates charged for the form of tornado policies procured for defendant by plaintiffs were incorrect and excessive and not the usual and customary rates.

“(c) That in calculating the rates charged the defendant for its tornado insurance during the years 1924, 1925 and 1926, the plaintiffs placed higher values and a greater amount of tornado insurance on that class of property which carried a higher basic rate, and a lesser amount of insurance and a smaller value on buildings which carried a lower rate, thereby greatly increasing the average rate charged the defendant for its tornado insurance, and thereby greatly enhancing the total premiums charged defendant.

“(d) That other companies operating in Houston, Texas, would have written similar tornado policies in the same amounts at the same time at a premium and rate much less than that charged the defendant by plaintiffs, to defendant’s damage in the sum of $3,000.”

Appellant made further defensive allegations showing a breach by appellees of the contract under which they were to write insurance for appellant, but these become immaterial in the view we take of this case.

Appellant further specially denied that [341]*341it made any agreement as to the balance due by it to appellees on 'June 30, 1926, as alleged by appellees, and further averred that, if any such agreement was made between it and appellees as to the amount due by appellant at that time, such agreement was made under a mutual mistaken belief that the premiums which had been charged the appellant by appellees were correct, and in accordance with their contract, and that such agreement would not have been made by appellant had it not been for such mutual mistake of fact; that, if any agreement was made between appellant and appellees as to the amount due on June 30,1926, it was made under the mutual mistaken belief that the values used by appellees in writing the tornado insurance in 1924 and 1925 represented 50 per cent, of the actual cash value of the property covered ; that, if any agreement was made as to balance owing appellees by appellant as of June 30, 1926, it was made under the mutual mistaken belief that the rates charged appellant for its tornado insurance for the years 1924 and 1925 were the lowest obtainable from responsible insurance companies operating in Houston, Tex., at said time.

Appellant further averred, in substance, that the interest charged by appellees against it had been incorrectly figured and that there was no agreement to pay any interest subsequent to June 30, 1926, on the account at the rate of 7 per cent, per annum, as alleged by appellees.

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

Related

Finks v. Hollis
85 S.W. 463 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1905)
Price v. Biggs
217 S.W. 236 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1919)
Generes v. Security Life Ins. Co. of America
163 S.W. 386 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1914)
Tom v. Roberson
182 S.W. 698 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1916)
Brown v. Levy
69 S.W. 255 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1902)
Travelers Insurance v. Jones
73 S.W. 978 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1903)
Taylor Cotton Oil Co. v. Early-Foster Co.
204 S.W. 1179 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1918)
Continental Supply Co. v. Robertson
265 S.W. 659 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1924)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
19 S.W.2d 339, 1929 Tex. App. LEXIS 811, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/magnolia-compress-warehouse-co-v-dennis-texapp-1929.