Morgan v. Inter-Continental Trading Corp.

232 F. Supp. 444, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6540
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Wisconsin
DecidedMay 4, 1964
DocketNo. 59-C-180
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 232 F. Supp. 444 (Morgan v. Inter-Continental Trading Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Wisconsin primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morgan v. Inter-Continental Trading Corp., 232 F. Supp. 444, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6540 (E.D. Wis. 1964).

Opinion

TEHAN, Chief Judge.

In this action the plaintiffs, Lyman Morgan and Robert Dalton, residents of Wisconsin and co-partners, seek to recover damages they claim to have sustained as a result of the fraud and misrepresentation on the part of defendant, Inter-Continental Trading Corporation, through its agents, Robert Miesemer, Joseph Magisana and Gerhard Hirsch. Jurisdiction is based on diversity of citizenship.

Pursuant to stipulation and pre-trial order the issue of liability was severed from the issue of damages for purposes of trial and tried to the court. The court having heard the evidence adduced at the trial and having considered the briefs submitted on behalf of the parties, and being fully advised, is prepared to render its decision.

The following facts are undisputed:

Plaintiffs, Lyman Morgan and Robert Dalton, were salesmen by occupation and co-partners doing business as Rite-Type Company, from September, 1958 to June 20, 1959. Defendant, Inter-Continental Trading Corporation, is a foreign corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware with principal offices in the City and State of New York, and is now and was from May 7, 1958 to June, 1959, engaged in the importation and sale of Olympia typewriters through dealers at wholesale.

Gerhard Hirsch, during said times, was Vice-President of defendant in charge of sales, and Robert Miesemer, during said times, was his assistant.

Joseph Magisana, at said times, was the sales manager of defendant corporation in among other places, the Milwaukee area including the counties of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Washington, Waukesha, Racine and Kenosha, pursuant to a written contract entered into with the defendant dated June 1, 1958 and amended August 1,1959.

In September of 1958, plaintiffs and defendant executed two written non-exclusive franchise agreements by which plaintiffs agreed to buy and defendant to sell Olympia typewriters. One of said written contracts granted plaintiffs the right to purchase portable typewriters at wholesale and sell the same at retail. The other granted plaintiffs the non-exclusive right to purchase Olympia standard typewriters from defendant at wholesale and sell them at retail in Milwaukee County. These contracts were executed on behalf of the plaintiffs by L. A. Morgan in Wisconsin on September 13, 1958, and forwarded to the office of defendant for signature in New York. The contracts were signed on behalf of defendant by Gerhard Hirsch, Vice-President on September 18, 1958. The contracts were negotiated on behalf of the defendant by Joseph Magisana. Both of the contracts had provisions (1) that any modifications were to be in writing, and (2) that either party had the option to cancel the agreement upon five days written notice.

From September, 1958 to June, 1959, the plaintiffs bought typewriters from defendant at wholesale and resold them at retail until the defendant by formal written notice, dated June 15, 1959, signed by Gerhard Hirsch, terminated the written agreements and refused thereafter to sell any more typewriters to the plaintiffs.

In the original complaint, the plaintiffs alleged three causes of action, the first, grounded on breach of a distributorship contract by defendant, the second, on estoppel of defendant from denying that plaintiffs have an exclusive distributorship and the third, grounded on fraud and deceit. After issue was joined defendant moved for summary judgment relying upon the written contracts which require by their terms that any modification be in writing in conformity with the laws of the State of New York and “plaintiffs rely on alleged agreements in direct conflict with the written contracts.” Thereafter, pursuant to stipula[446]*446tion the hearing on this motion was held in abeyance to give plaintiffs an opportunity to amend their complaint. The amended complaint subsequently filed by plaintiffs sets forth a single cause of action for fraud and deceit only.

Nevertheless, at several conferences following trial of the cause and by letter to counsel, the court gave every opportunity to plaintiffs to move pursuant to Rule 15(b) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, if they believed the record would support an alternative cause of action for breach of contract. Plaintiffs have failed to so move, and have elected to stand on the cause of action for fraud and deceit stated in the amended complaint.

In their amended complaint, plaintiffs make the following allegations:

“4. Commencing in the month of July, 1958, and until on or about the 20th day of February, 1959, when Mr. Gerhard Hersch as vice-president of the Trading Corporation intervened, Magisana as said district manager of the Trading Corporation in the Milwaukee area, assisted by Robert Miesemer as the .assistant sales manager of the Trading Corporation for the United ■States, stated and represented to the plaintiffs, with the intention that ■they rely and act thereon, that:
“(a) Magisana was interested in .finding someone in the Milwaukee ■area who would take on the Olympia typewriter line on an exclusive basis and promote it because Milwaukee was the biggest trouble spot in the United States.
“(b) If plaintiffs took on the Olympia line, opened a store and set up a service department they would receive an exclusive dealership, similar to the one that AAA Typewriter Company in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota, had, for the Milwaukee area consisting of the Counties of Milwaukee, Waukesha, Racine, Kenosha, Washington and Ozaukee.
“(c) Such exclusive dealership should commence upon the purchase by plaintiffs of fifty (50) Olympia typewriters from the Trading Corporation, and should continue so long as the distributorship produced reasonably satisfactory sales, in the absence of other justifiable cause for termination.
“(d) From the 13th day of September, 1958, until the purchase of said fifty (50) typewriters plaintiffs should operate under a non-exclusive franchise in written form signed by them as a matter of formality so that Olympia typewriters could be purchased by them.
“5. Said representations alleged in paragraph 4 were made by defendant and Magisana as said district manager falsely and fraudulently and with intent to defraud the plaintiffs and to induce them to take the steps and undertake the matters alleged in paragraph 7.1
“6. Said representations were false in fact and known to be false by said defendant and Magisana as said district manager, at the time they were so made and in truth and in fact said defendant and Magisana had no intention of giving to plaintiffs the exclusive franchise hereinbefore alleged.”

The answer of the defendant (1) denies that Magisana had any authority with respect to granting or continuing dealer franchises in the Milwaukee area or anywhere else; (2) denies that defendant made the representations alleged and alleges that at the time the defendant entered into the written contracts, it did intend to grant plaintiffs an exclusive distributorship for the sale of Olympia standard typewriters for the [447]

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Bluebook (online)
232 F. Supp. 444, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6540, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morgan-v-inter-continental-trading-corp-wied-1964.