Morse v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R'y Co.

34 N.W. 825, 73 Iowa 226
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedOctober 27, 1887
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 34 N.W. 825 (Morse v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R'y Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Morse v. Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific R'y Co., 34 N.W. 825, 73 Iowa 226 (iowa 1887).

Opinion

Rothrock, J.

The learned judge before whom the case was tried made and filed in the case a finding of facts and his conclusions of law, and, as the facts are somewhat involved, and cannot be briefly stated so as to be understood, and as the conclusions of law appear to us to be stated with remarkable clearness., we here insert all of the findings of the court:

“ In these cases, which were tried together by consent of the parties, all questions of law and fact were submitted to the court for determination, with the exception of one question of fact, which was submitted to the jury, with instructions by the court relative to such questions. The question of fact submitted to the jury is hereinafter referred to and set forth. .

“FINDINGS OF FACT.

“ The plaintiffs in each case, grain dealers residing at Minneapolis, Minnesota, sold to another firm of grain dealers, (Kelley & Co.,) residing at the same place, on April 1, 1884, a car load of wheat. The contract of sale was oral, and as follows: Plaintiffs agreed to sell and deliver a car load of wheat, like a sample shown, to Kelley & Co., loaded, in Morse & Sammis’ case, on a car of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern, or Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific Railway Co., and in Taylor & Co.’s case, on a car of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway Co., for which Kelley & Co. agreed to pay ninety cents per bushel. Such sales, according to the custom prevailing at Minneapolis, are cash sales, payment and delivery to be concurrent acts, and such a construction would also be placed on the contract by the law in the absence of such custom, as it is evident that both parties contemplated a cash sale. According to the custom, and also according to what the law is in the absence of such custom, the vendee has the right to inspect the grain after it is placed in the car, before accepting and paying for it, in order that he may reject it if it is not in accordance with the sample. The said plaintiffs directed the delivery of the car load [229]*229of grain to Kelley & Oo. by directing the elevator company having custody of their grain to load the car for Kelley & Co. In pursuance of this order, the elevator company loaded the car, and delivered it to Kelley & Co. It is not shown that Kelley & Co. were guilty of any fraud in procuring the contract of sale or the delivery of the grain.

“Kelley & Oo. received the grain from the elevator company, inspected and accepted it, and on the same day shipped it to George Herman, at Davenport, Iowa, taking a bill of lading for each car load from the railroad company by which it was shipped, in which they were named as consignors, and George Herman as consignee. On the same 'day, in order to borrow money, they attached each bill of lading to a sight-draft on Herman for $500, and discounted both drafts at the First National Bank of Minneapolis. The bill of lading was attached to each draft by Kelley & Co., with the intention of pledging the grain as security for the payment of the draft, and the draft was discounted, and the money was placed to the credit of Kelley & Go. by the bank in good faith, and in reliance on the delivery of the bill of lading as constituting a pledge of grain. On the same day Kelley & Co. paid (by check on the bank) a note for $1,000 which they owed the bank, and which was given up to them. The credit given for the drafts was drawn against by the check.

“ The bank sent the drafts to Herman, at Davenport, who accepted them in good faith, relying on the bills of lading. After acceptance, Herman was notified by plaintiffs not to pay the drafts, and that they owned the grain. It does not appear in what state the grain was at the time of acceptance of the drafts. The drafts were never paid, the grain never delivered to Herman, but the same was taken by the said plaintiffs, respectively, on the writs of replevin in these causes, and converted to their use. Herman was acting as a commission merchant or factor for Kelley & Co., and had not agreed to buy the grain in question. It was his habit to [230]*230pay drafts drawn by Kelley & Oo. against shipments to him, and to sell the grain for them, deducting from the proceeds his advances and’commissions.

“ It is conceded that the contracts of sale to Kelley & Co. were not recorded, as required by 1 St. at Large, Minn., 1873, p. 717, § 22, which statutes were offered in evidence.

“The question whether or not plaintiffs waived the condition that title should not pass to Kelley & Co. until payment, was submitted to the jury, and the jury found that the condition was not waived. It is consequently not necessary to detail the circumstances under which the grain was delivered to Kelley & Oo. ' The court, however, finds that, while such delivery was not a waiver of the condition, it was a complete' delivery of possession, as distinguished from permitting Kelley & Co. to inspect or have manual custody of the grain while in the possession of plaintiffs. It was a complete delivery of possession and control of the grain for the time being, and until plaintiffs might reclaim possession; but, as was found by the jury, such possession was not given with the intention of waiving the condition that the title should not pass until payment, which was never made.

“ From the foregoing facts, the court draws the following conclusions: When the contract in question was entered into, it was an agreement for a future sale on certain conditions. On the part of plaintiffs the agreement by them to sell and deliver was conditional upon payment being made at the time of such sale and delivery. Their agreement was to transfer both ownership and possession upon condition of payment being made when such transfer was made. They did not agree to transfer either possession or ownership prior to-such payment; , On the part of Kelley & Co. the contract was an agreement by them to pay for the grain upon transfer of ownership and possession, and they were entitled to inspect the grain before accepting such transfer,-and could reject it, if not equal to sample.

. “ Plaintiffs might waive the condition that the possession [231]*231should not be transferred until payment, without waiving the condition that title should not pass until payment, just as they might have contracted in the first instance to deliver the grain at once, but to retain the ownership until payment therefor. In other words, delivery of possession does not necessarily include the transfer of ownership. (Thorpe v. Fowler, 57 Iowa, 541.) Had they originally agreed to deliver at once, title to remain in them until payment, which should be made on demand, they would have been in substantially the same condition that, they were in when they delivered the grain; waiving the retention of possession, but not waiving the retention of ownership until payment. By waiving their right to retain possession until payment, they voluntarily transformed their executory agreement into a conditional sale partly executed. (Benj. Sales, [4th Amer. Ed. by Corbin,] §§ 360-362; Thorpe v. Fowler, supra.)

“ After the delivery and the acceptance by Kelley & Co., plaintiffs had performed all that was to. be done on their part, and could at once have sued Kelley & Co. for the price of tne grain, and the delivery and acceptance would have taken the case out of the statute of frauds. While the vendors were under no obligation to deliver the grain prior

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Bluebook (online)
34 N.W. 825, 73 Iowa 226, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/morse-v-chicago-rock-island-pacific-ry-co-iowa-1887.