Minneapolis-Moline Company v. Purser

361 S.W.2d 239, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 1861
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJune 22, 1962
Docket16016
StatusPublished
Cited by44 cases

This text of 361 S.W.2d 239 (Minneapolis-Moline Company v. Purser) 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
Minneapolis-Moline Company v. Purser, 361 S.W.2d 239, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 1861 (Tex. Ct. App. 1962).

Opinions

YOUNG, Justice.

Appellee has no objection to the following statement of nature of case as made by appellant: “Payne Implement & Supply Company, located in Happy, Texas, was a dealer for the Appellant Minneapolis-Mo-line Company. As such dealer, Payne sold to Appellee J. A. Purser one 5-Star Minneapolis-Moline Tractor, together with swinging draw bar, cultivator and planter, for a total purchase price of $6,550.00. Appel-lee traded to Payne one 1952 Model Ford Tractor and a demonstration certificate, for which he received a total credit of $2,150.-00. The balance of the account, including carrying charges, was $5,203.06, payable as follows:

January 1, 1959
$ 304.61
January 1, 1960
1,517.53
January 1, 1961
1,637.97
November 1, 1961
1,742.95
“The transaction was consummated by the execution of a conditional sales contract, which was thereafter assigned, by Payne Implement & Supply Company to appellant for a valuable consideration.
“Appellee made the first payment of $304.61, but refused to make any further payment. Appellant brought suit in the Trial Court for the balance due under the contract in the sum of $4,898.45, together with $500.00 attorney’s fees, and prayed for a foreclosure of its lien against the tractor and implements. Appellee pleaded and the jury found a breach of warranty, and based upon such verdict the Trial Court entered judgment for the Appellee that the Appellant take nothing by its suit. This left the Appellee in the position of having title to and possession of the tractor and implements and at the same time relieved Appel-lee from paying for the same. From this judgment Appellant has perfected its appeal to this Court.”
[241]*241Appellee adds to above statement that “he has repeatedly since January 1960 offered the tractor to appellant and appellee still offers appellant the tractor today.”

There was a jury trial, their answers being in substance as follows: (1) that the hydraulic system of the tractor in question proved defective during the first six months after October 20, 1958; (2) that the seller (Payne Implement & Supply Company) failed to carry out the warranty to the defendant pertaining to the tractor in question; (3) that the Payne Implement & Supply Company was an agent for the plaintiff (Minneapolis-Moline Company); (4) that the Payne Implement & Supply Company represented to the defendant that if the tractor was not in good working condition for a period of six months, then the defendant would be furnished all the necessary parts, material and labor by the plaintiff to place the tractor in good working condition; (5) that this representation on the part of Payne Implement & Supply Company induced the defendant to enter into said conditional sales contract; (6) plaintiff failed to place the tractor in good working condition; (7) the sum of $500 is reasonable compensation for the plaintiff’s attorneys for services rendered in this case.

Appellee had pled that the dealer, Payne Implement & Supply Company, was the agent of appellant (Minneapolis-Moline Company); developing the facts and circumstances with respect to this issue from Richmond J. Payne, manager of the dealer concern, who stated that his company was operating under a franchise from Minneapolis-Moline Company of Dallas, Texas. Appellant had denied the agency relationship, pleading that at all times material here it had been an independent dealer and independent contractor. A Provision of this franchise contract between appellant and Payne Implement & Supply Company reads: “Dealer not Agent. The Dealer is not the company’s agent in any respect or for any purpose and is not authorized to incur any obligations or make any agreement, provisions, warranties or representations in its behalf.” On the trial and relevant to the issue of agency, appellant had offered this franchise contract in evidence but same was excluded by the court on ground principally that above quoted provisions of the instrument was self-serving; and appellant asserts court error (1) in refusing to admit into evidence the written contract between Minneapolis-Moline Company and Payne Implement & Supply Company; (2) in submitting issue No. 3 and definition of the word “agent” in connection therewith. Together with Issue No. 3 the jury was instructed “that an agent is one who acts in behalf of another under the latter’s authority and for the latter’s benefit.”

It was error to exclude this franchise contract on the issue of agency. It was properly offered from the testimony of G. A. Wright, credit manager of appellant, identified by him as taken from the company files and indeed the instrument had also been identified by Richmond J. Payne as the contract under which his concern had been operating since 1953. Agency is the creature of contract, either expressed or implied, and ■ if a contract expressly states that no agency relationship is intended, such is conclusive evidence that no agency exists. White Sewing Mach. Co. v. Sneed, Tex.Civ.App., 174 S.W. 950. Appellant further correctly states that issue No. 3 above submits merely a question of law; appellee relying solely on the testimony of Payne, the dealer, to establish any agency in fact: “The question whether an agency relation exists between an alleged principal and agent is a question of law that must be determined solely by the trial court, in the light of the relations of the parties under the agreement between them or in view of their acts and conduct. More specifically, it is the function of the trial court alone to determine whether, under an ascertained state of facts, a legally valid agency relation exists between the parties. The province of the jury in this connection is to determine only whether or not certain facts exists — not whether, if such facts do exist, [242]*242they are legally sufficient to constitute the alleged agency.” 2 Tex.Jur.2d 694.

Since Payne Implement & Supply Company had no actual authority under its franchise with appellant to act as its agent, the only other theory upon which an agency relation could be based, as appellant points out, is that of apparent or ostensible authority, which doctrine is based upon the theory of estoppel, and must be both pled and proven, which appellee failed to do in the case at bar. 2 Tex.Jur.2d “Agency” p. 676. Here the actual facts and circumstances surrounding the relationship existing between Payne Implement & Supply Company and appellant was developed only from its manager, Payne. But “the doctrine cannot be relied on by a third party to charge a principal, unless such a person has been induced to act in good faith on certain representations made by the principal * * *. Such (apparent) authority must be determined solely by the principal’s acts, and not by those of the agent.” 2 Tex.Jur.2d pp. 484, 485. (emphasis ours).

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Bluebook (online)
361 S.W.2d 239, 1962 Tex. App. LEXIS 1861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/minneapolis-moline-company-v-purser-texapp-1962.