Mira-Pak, Inc. v. G. E. Posey Corp.

566 S.W.2d 86, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3246
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 27, 1978
DocketNo. 5788
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 566 S.W.2d 86 (Mira-Pak, Inc. v. G. E. Posey Corp.) 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
Mira-Pak, Inc. v. G. E. Posey Corp., 566 S.W.2d 86, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3246 (Tex. Ct. App. 1978).

Opinion

OPINION

JAMES, Justice.

This is a suit in contract, quasi-contract and negligence to recover $4,067.42 representing penalties and expenses incurred by Plaintiff-Appellee G. E. Posey Corporation (hereinafter called “Posey”) while acting as a customs broker for Defendant-Appellants in connection with an automatic wrapping machine owned by Defendant-Appellant Mira-Pak, Inc., and exported by Mira-Pak to a customer in Montreal, Canada. Upon the refusal of the Canadian customer to accept the machine (because it was damaged), the machine was reimported back into the United States at Houston, Texas, [87]*87to Mira-Pak. Specifically, Plaintiff Posey sued to recover the penalties and expenses incurred by it in obtaining the release of the machine from the U. S. Customs Service at the time the machine was returned from Canada to Houston.

As stated, Plaintiff Posey is a corporation engaged in the business of customs brokering. Defendant Mira-Pak is a corporation in the business of manufacturing and shipping automatic packaging machines. The other Defendant-Appellant is Constable and Madison, Inc., a corporation engaged in the business of freight forwarding.

Trial was had to a jury which found (or failed to find) as follows:

(1) Plaintiff Posey acted as agent for Defendant Constable and Madison in making the Consumption Entry to obtain release by Customs of the packaging machine to Defendant Mira-Pak.

(2) Plaintiff Posey acted as agent for Defendant Mira-Pak in making said Consumption Entry.

(3) Payment by Reliance Ins. Co. to Customs of the dutiable amount set forth on the Consumption Entry was a payment made as a matter of business necessity or compulsion.

(3A) Plaintiff Posey paid Reliance Insurance Co. the dutiable amount which Reliance Ins. Co. paid to the Bureau of Customs.

(4) Plaintiff Posey’s payment to Reliance of the amount paid by Reliance to Customs was made as a matter of business necessity or compulsion.

(5) The charges made by Reliance Ins. Co. for its services in paying the dutiable amount set forth on the Consumption Entry were reasonable.

(6) The charges made by Plaintiff Posey for its services in connection with preparation of the Customs protest and payment of the dutiable amount on the Consumption Entry were reasonable.

(7) Failed to find that the agency between Defendant Constable and Madison and Plaintiff Posey was terminated on or before May 20, 1968.

(8) Failed to find that Plaintiff Posey acted as agent solely for Defendant Mira-Pak in connection with the transaction in question.

(9) There was no Special Issue Number 9 submitted.

(10) Failed to find that Plaintiff Posey failed to timely inform Defendant Mira-Pak that the machine in question should be reexported in order to avoid assessment of a penalty by Customs.

(13) Failed to find that Defendant Constable and Madison failed to timely inform Mira-Pak that the machine in question must be re-exported in order to avoid the assessment of a penalty by the Bureau of Customs.

After jury verdict the trial court entered judgment in favor of Plaintiff Posey against Defendant Constable & Madison and Defendant Mira-Pak, jointly and severally, in the amount of $4,067.42 with 6% interest per annum from May 31, 1973, to date of judgment, and 9% per annum from the date of judgment until paid. Defendant Constable and Madison was denied any judgment over against Defendant Mira-Pak for indemnity or contribution. In this connection it should be pointed out that Constable and Madison had pleaded and prayed for such relief against Mira-Pak. From this judgment both Defendants appeal. We reform the trial court’s judgment in the manner hereinafter indicated, and as reformed, we affirm said judgment.

Both Appellants assert there is no evidence and insufficient evidence that Plaintiff Posey paid Reliance Insurance Company any money. We overrule these contentions, because there is direct evidence in the record to the effect that Plaintiff Posey paid and reimbursed Reliance Insurance Co. the dutiable amount theretofore paid by Reliance to the Bureau of Customs.

Appellant Constable and Madison further contend that there is no evidence and insufficient evidence that Plaintiff Posey was acting as agent for Constable & Madison in performing the acts of clearing the machine [88]*88through U. S. Customs. We overrule these contentions, and hold that such evidence of agency is both legally and factually sufficient.

Plaintiff Posey was licensed by the Bureau of Customs as a customhouse broker, whose function is to receive documents covering merchandise entering this country and to prepare the necessary documents for clearance through Customs. Included in such function is obtaining the release from Customs of shipments by either paying the duty or by posting a bond for the release of the shipment so that it can be delivered to the inland carrier for transportation to final destination.

Prior to the events which led to this litigation, Posey had for several years acted as customhouse broker on behalf of Mira-Pak through Constable & Madison in connection with the importation of packing machines from West Germany.

The machine in question had been exported by Mira-Pak from Houston, Texas, to a customer in Montreal, Canada. When the Canadian customer received the machine, it was damaged, and the customer refused to accept it, and thereupon ordered it returned to Mira-Pak. When the machine was in the process of re-entering the United States, the events occurred which brought about the instant litigation.

Mr. Woodman, Mira-Pak’s house counsel, telephoned Herman Constable, the president of Constable & Madison, and told Mr. Constable that the machine was in Customs at the Roadway Express Terminal in Houston, that Mira-Pak wanted to get possession of the machine so it could be repaired and then sent back to Mira-Pak’s customer in Canada. Woodman asked Constable what had to be done in order to have the machine released by Customs so that it could be delivered to Mira-Pak’s plant for repairs.

Constable then called Plaintiff Posey’s import manager, a Mr. Burrell, who advised Constable that Customs would release the machine upon the execution of a “Temporary Importation Bond” (T.I.B.), which is also called a “Consumption Entry.” Burrell told Constable that this was the most efficient method of handling the matter. Constable then, at the request of Mira-Pak, asked Plaintiff to get the machine released from Customs and to go to Roadway Express so as to pick up the invoice and other necessary shipping documents in order to obtain the information needed to prepare the Consumption Entry for submission to Customs.

Plaintiff carried out Constable’s request, and prepared the Consumption Entry dated May 20, 1968, and the following notation appears thereon:

“Imported for the purpose of re-working and repairing and return to Canada. Not imported for sale or for sale on approval.”

The above notation was based on information furnished by Mira-Pak’s chief export clerk to Constable & Madison, and then in turn relayed by Constable & Madison to Plaintiff.

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Bluebook (online)
566 S.W.2d 86, 1978 Tex. App. LEXIS 3246, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mira-pak-inc-v-g-e-posey-corp-texapp-1978.