Moore v. H. Seay & Co.

228 S.W. 610, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 764
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 1, 1921
DocketNo. 2362.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 228 S.W. 610 (Moore v. H. Seay & Co.) 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
Moore v. H. Seay & Co., 228 S.W. 610, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 764 (Tex. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinions

WILLSON, C. J.

(after stating the facts as above). The principal contention presented by the assignments, and the only one it will be necessary to state, is that it appeared from the allegations in Seay & Co.’s petition and from the testimony that the contract be-, tween them and Moore was a gambling transaction and therefore not enforceable. As supporting the contention, Moore and the appellant bank rely on Burney v. Blanks, 136 S. W. 806, and Wolfe v. Andrews, 192 S. W. 268; while Seay & Co. rely on Heidenheimer v. Cleveland, 17 S. W. 524, and Smith v. Duncan (Com. App.) 209 S. W. 140, as supporting a contrary view. The parties, respectively, to "the contention each insist that *612 the cases relied upon by the other are plainly distinguishable from this one on their respective facts.

In the Heidenheimer Case, Heidenheimer on February 1, 1SS3, sold Cleveland & Cameron 200,000 pounds of bacon at 10.85 cents per pound, to be shipped from Kansas City on a day in August, 1883, to be designated by Cleveland & Cameron, and to be paid for by the latter when they received the invoice and bill of lading covering the shipment. It was stipulated in the contract that if the price of bacon advanced before Cleveland & Cameron designated a day in August for shipping same, Heidenheimer 'should pay Cleveland & Cameron a sum representing the amount of the advance, and if the price declined Cleveland & Cameron should pay Heidenheimer a sum representing the amount of the decline. It seems that validity of the contract was not questioned because of the stipulation referred to, for the stipulation was not discussed in any of the opinions disposing of the appeals of the case. 17 S. W. 524; 11 Tex. Civ. App. 546, 32 S. W. 826; 44 S. W. 551; 92 Tex. 108, 46 S. W. 30. The contract was attached on the ground alone that it appeared from its face that a delivery of the bacon was not contemplated by the parties. This contention was overruled, and judgment establishing the validity of the contract was rendered on the finding of a jury that a delivery of the bacon was contemplated. We do not regard the case as of value as authority in the instant case. .

In the Smith Case, it appeared that Duncan on November 11, 1912, sold and delivered 1,188 bales of cotton to Smith, who was to pay and did then pay him about 10 cents per pound therefor, and who agreed, if the price of such cotton advanced before March 1, 1913, to pay Duncan a sum representing the amount of such advance on a day before said March' 1, to be designated by Duncan. After-wards Duncan named November 27, 1912, when the cotton was worth more than 12 cents per pound, and his suit against Smith was to recover the difference between the sum Smith had paid and the value of the cotton at the advanced price. The Commission of Appeals held the contract to be a valid one. A difference between that case and this one, it will be noted, lies in the fact that in that one no part of the money paid by the buyer to the seller at the time of the sale was in any event to be paid back to the buyer. By ¿he terms of the contract in that case the seller was to get at least as much as the price then paid him for his cotton, and was to get more if the price of such cotton advanced before the time specified. It was a case where only one of the parties, and not both, as in the instant case, “jeopardized something" and therefore the transaction in that case was not within the definition of a wager. 20 Cyc. 921.

In the Burney Case, Blanks,.by a contract made February 28, 1908, bought 133 bales of cotton of Burney to be delivered in March, 1908, and bound himself to pay and did pay Burney 10.80 cents per pound therefor. The contract contained q stipulation that if the price of such cotton should be in excess of 10.80 at any time before April 30, 1908, Bur-ney should have the right to demand that Blanks pay him the difference, and that if the price of such cotton was less than 10.80 Burney should pay Blanks the difference. The cotton was actually delivered by Burney to Blanks. It was contended there, as it is in this case, that it was the intention of the seller to sell, and of the buyer to buy, the cotton at a price to be determined by the market value thereof at a future time, and that the payment then made by the buyer of the market value of the cotton was intended merely as an advance or partial payment. In overruling the contention the Austin Court of Civil Appeals said:

“There is no ambiguity in the terms of the contract by which the defendants agreed to sell to the plaintiff, and the plaintiff agreed to purchase from the defendants the cotton for a consideration of 10.80 cents per pound. The contract itself specifically specifies that as the amount of consideraion which plaintiff was to pay for the cotton, and the further stipulations contained in the contract do not in any wise modify the stipulation referred to. The other stipulations securing to each party an option to demand an additional settlement do not prescribe that the amount paid as a result of such settlement shall be any part of the consideration for the cotton. In fact, an additional settlement under the option conferred upon the plaintiff could not result in an additional payment for the cotton, because such payment would be made by the seller to the purchaser, instead of by the purchaser to the seller.”

After holding that the facts that the optional features of the contract were connected with it and that the cotton was actually delivered did not relieve it of the charge that it was a wagering contract, the court said:

“In appellee’s brief it seems to be conceded that in contracts of this character, if the parties have no interest in the future contingency, upon the happening of which one or the other is to be paid a sum of money, other than the interest secured to them.by the contract, then such contract is a wager, and not enforceable; but it is contended that aside from the optional feature of this contract, both parties had an interest in the subsequent value of the thing sold. We are unable to sanction that contention. The cotton having been sold by the defendants to the plaintiff, and he having paid the full consideration therefor, the defendants were not thereafter interested in- the value of the cotton. It no longer belonged to them, but to the plaintiff, who had paid the contract price for it. Hence it follows that, after the sale was made and the cotton paid for, only one, and not both, of the parties, had an interest in its subsequent value, except as *613 such interest was created by the optional feature of the contract.”

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Bluebook (online)
228 S.W. 610, 1921 Tex. App. LEXIS 764, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-h-seay-co-texapp-1921.