Milligan v. Keyser

52 Fla. 331
CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJune 15, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 52 Fla. 331 (Milligan v. Keyser) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Milligan v. Keyser, 52 Fla. 331 (Fla. 1906).

Opinion

Whitfield, J.

(after stating the facts) : A declaration in an action at law should allege distinctly every fact that is essential to the plaintffs’ right of action. South Florida Tel. Co. v. Maloney, 34 Fla. 338, 16 South. Rep. 280; Savannah, F. &. W. R. Co. v. Willett, 43 Fla. 311, 31 South, Rep. 246; Bennettt v. Herring, 1 Fla. 387.

Where an action is brought to recover damages for the breach of an executory contract containing mutual undertakings, and' those on the part of the plaintiffs are to be performed before the defendants are to perform their part, the declaration should allege a performance by the plaintiffs of their undertakings, or a sufficient excuse for nonperformance; and an allegation'that it was the duty of the defendants under said contract to perform their part, without stating the facts imposing such duty, is not equivalent to an allegation that the plaintiffs had performed their part. See Thompson v. Klye, 39 Fla. 582, 23 South. Rep. 12, S. C. 63 Am. St. Rep. 193. Myrick v. Merritt, 22 Fla. 335; 9 Cyc. 721; City of Buffalo v. Holloway, 7 N. Y. 493, S. C. 57 Am. Dec. 550; Ball v. Doud, 26 Oregon 14, 37 Pac. Rep. 70.

Section 1057 of the Revised Statutes of 1892 and also Circuit Court Rule 14 which require the contract, &c., upon which suit is brought, or a copy thereof, to be filed with the declaration, do not make the contract so filed a part of the pleading, and a copy of a contract annexed as an exhibit to a declaration cannot on demurrer to the [348]*348declaration be used to supply an essential allegation of fact omitted from the declaration. See Hooker v. Gallagher, 6 Fla. 351; First Nat. Bank of Florida v. Savannah, F. & W. Ry. Co., 36 Fla. 183, 18 South. Rep. 345; Penrose v. Pacific Mut. Life Ins. Co. of California, 66 Fed. Rep. 253; Oh Chow v. Hallett, 2 Sawyer (U. S.) 259, S. C. 18 Fed. Cases 10, 469; Aultman & Co. v. Siglinger, 2 South. Dak. 442, 50 N. W. Rep. 911; Marshall v. Hamilton, 41 Miss. 229; 8 Ency. Pl. & Pr., 741.

The first, second and fourth counts of the declaration in slightly varying language allege an executory contract by which plaintiffs agreed to sell and deliver and defendants agreed to buy lumber cut “in accordance with sizes and prices in said contract stated, and that the defendants should move” such lumber; and it was the duty of the defendants under said- contract to remove the lumber cut by the plaintiffs for defendants under said contract; and that- defendants neglected and refused to move the saíne. Under the contract as alleged in these counts it was the duty of the plaintiffs to sell and deliver to the defendants lumber cut during the stated period by plaintiffs’ mill “in accordance with sizes and prices in said contract stated” before it became the duty of the defendants to buy or to remove the lumber, and the performance of such duty of the plaintiffs should be alleged in stating a cause of action. There is no allegation in any of these counts that the lumber which the defendants neglected or refused to move was cut “in accordance with sizes and prices in said contract stated,” or even that the lumber was cut under the contract, and there is no general allegation of performance by the plaintiffs of their undertaking ; neither is an excuse for non-performance alleged. The [349]*349allegations of the duty and obligation of the defendants under the contract are mere conclusions not supported by the facts stated in the counts. Allegations that it was the duty of the defendants to move lumber cut “under the said contract” do not supply allegations that the lumber was cut “in accordance with sizes and prices in said' contract stated.” The contract “annexed marked Exhibit ‘A’ and made a part” of counts one, two and four cannot on demurrer be used to supply an omitted allegation of fact essential to the cause of action; and even if it could be so used it is an executory contract, and, of course, does not contain a statement that its provisions on the part of the plaintiffs have been performed. In the absence from these counts of an allegation that the plaintiffs had performed their part of the contract which is a prerequisite to the duty of the defendants to perform their part no right of action against the defendants is shown. The allegations in count numbered four as to a supplemental agreement to pay the damages complained of are insufficient, since it is not alleged that the plaintiffs had a right to rescind the contract, and no other consideration for the agreement is alleged.

Counts numbered' six and seven allege a contract containing an agreement to sell and deliver and to buy all the lumber cut during a stated year by plaintiffs’ mill “in accordance with sizes and prices in said contract stated, and that the lumber so cut should be placed upon plaintiffs’ mill yard at Milligan, and be therefrom removed by the defendants;” and count numbered six contains the further allegation “and that the defendants should move every size of the said lumber so contracted for at least once during the year, and the -said plaintiffs aver that, notwithstanding the obligation of defendants [350]*350to move every size of said lumber cut by plaintiffs for defendants under said contract during the year, the defendants neglected and refused to move the same or any of said sizes, during the year.” Count numbered' seven differing from number six alleges “that it was the duty of the defendants during the period of the performance of the said contract, and such was contemplated and intended by the said parties when they entered into the same, to move from plaintiffs’ said' mill yard lumber cut by plaintiffs for defendants under the said contract, at such times and in such quantities as to avoid so covering up and blocking the said mill yard as to interfere with the operation of the said mill; and plaintiffs aver that notwithstanding the premises the defendants refused to so move such lumber.” Neither count alleges that the plaintiffs cut any lumber “in accordance with sizes and' prices in the said contract stated.” The agreement as alleged in both counts “that the lumber so cut should be * * * removed by the defendants” contemplated that “the lumber so cut” should be cut “in accordance with sizes and prices in the said contract stated,” and there is no allegation that it was so cut. The agreement alleged in count numbered' six “that the defendants should move every size of the said lumber so contracted for at least once during the year” refers to lumber cut “in accordance with sizes and prices in the said contract stated,” and it is not alleged that the lumber defendants refused to move was so cut. The obligation and duty of the defendants stated in the two counts are mere conclusions not supported by the facts previously alleged' in the counts. An allegation that it was the duty of the defendants to move “lumber cut by plaintiffs for defendants under said contract,” is not sup[351]*351ported by the allegations of fact in the count when there is no allegation that the lumber was cut “in accordance with sizes and prices as in the said contract stated.” Allegations as to what the parties contemplated and intended cannot vary the terms of the contract as stated'. See Perry, Gov. v. Woodberry, 26 Fla. 8á, text page 91. The demurrers to these counts were properly sustained.

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Bluebook (online)
52 Fla. 331, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/milligan-v-keyser-fla-1906.