O. L. Shull Lumber Co. v. F. J. Paxton Co.

1 Tenn. App. 253, 1925 Tenn. App. LEXIS 39
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedOctober 31, 1925
StatusPublished

This text of 1 Tenn. App. 253 (O. L. Shull Lumber Co. v. F. J. Paxton Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
O. L. Shull Lumber Co. v. F. J. Paxton Co., 1 Tenn. App. 253, 1925 Tenn. App. LEXIS 39 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1925).

Opinion

OWEN, J.

The defendant, a corporation, has appealed from a decree rendered against it in favor of O. L. Shull Lumber Com-pany which is the trade name of O. L. Shull, a citizen of Lonoke County, Arkansas. Said decree was for the sum of eight hundred 'and forty-nine dollars and thirty cents ($849.30) principal and interest from April 1st, 1922, amounting to one hundred and thirty-six dollars and fifteen cents ($136.15). The bill was filed to recover of the F. K. Paxton Company for two carload lots of lumber. It appears that a contract had been entered into by the *254 Paxton Lumber Company of Bristol, Tennessee, to buy said stock of lumber from the complainant. Tbe Paxton Lumber Corporation went out of business and was succeeded by the defendant F. K. Paxton Company.

Complainants shipped a number of carloads of lumber to the-defendant Paxton Company. There is no dispute as to the contract between the complainant and defendant. The contract was made up by various exhibits found in the transcript consisting of letters and telegrams. There is no dispute as to the price to be-paid for the lumber. The defendant, ordered two hundred and fifty thousand feet (250,000) of lumber. The lumber was to be-shipped with bill of lading attached. Twelve cars were shipped. Bight of the cars were paid for. The defendant is a lumber broker. The complainant operates a saw mill in the State of Arkansas.

The complainant did ship the lumber to various customers, of the defendant in carload lots. The contract provided that each ear was to be inspected as it was loaded by an inspector of the National Hardwood Lumber Association. The lumber was delivered in carload lots f. o. b. Cullor, Arkansas. Complainant drew a-three days’ sight draft, payable upon receipt of invoice, and the invoice had to be aceompained with a certificate of the inspector of the National Hardwood Lumber Association. The contract further agreed that in case of a dispute between the seller and the-buyer, or between complainant and defendant, the National Hardwood Lumber Association’s rules were to govern, and said association held itself responsible for any loss by reason of such inspection.

On December 8, 1921, two cars of lumber were duly shipped according to the terms of the contract, being in cars C. & N. W. 81004 and R. I. ear 38585. These are the two cars that the complainant is seeking to recover, and which lumber shipped in the two cars amounted to eight hundred and forty-nine dollars and thirty cents ($849.30). It appears that prior to the shipping of these two cars which were the last two shipped, two cars were-shipped by the complainant, one being in car R. I. 99322, and L. & N. car 63390. The inspector, Mr. Short, switched or changed the-bill of ladings for these cars and thus the two cars last mentioned went to the wrong destination. By transposing the numbers a draft was drawn for a higher priced lumber, when in fact, the car had an inferior, or, lower grade, and vice versa. By this error of the inspector the defeñdant’s two customers refused the two-shipments. They went to different States. This confusion and error caused quite a bit of correspondence between the complainant and the defendant. The complainant rendered all assistance he- *255 could to get it straightened out, and it appears that the National Hardwood Lumber Association settled with the defendant. The complainant filed a bill to collect the amount due from the last two cars shipped. The defendant filed an answer and also a cross-bill, alleging that complainant had breached its contract, that the complainant had not shipped the entire purchase of two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) feet of gum lumber.' The complainant’s bill was sustained, and he was granted a decree from'the amount he sought to recover. The defendant’s cross-bill was dismissed.

It appears that the last two ears of lumber were shipped without bill of lading attached and they came into the possession of the complainant without payment as a result of the oversight or error of the inspector in getting the two previous cars mixed. The defendant and cross-complainant prayed and was granted an appeal to this Court and has assigned three errors. These three errors raised the following propositions:

1. That the Chancellor erred in finding that the defendant breached the contract.

2. The Chancellor erred in holding that the record did not justify the cross-complainant in its withholding payments from the complainant until all installments of lumber had been shipped.

3. The Chancellor erred in dismissing the cross-bill and taxing defendant with costs.

In deciding this case Chancellor Haynes rendered a written opinion which is set forth in a decree as found on page 200 to 202 of the transcript, copy from said decree and opinion is as follows:

“This cause was heard on a former day before Chancellor Haynes, on the record at large, after consideration of which,together with argument and briefs of counsel, the court, on this December 1, 1924, is of opinion and doth order, adjudge and decree:
“(1) The complainant is entitled to recover and cross-complainant is held not entitled to the relief sought.
“It seems highly probable to this court, that cross-defendant’s plea of estoppel, is sustained by the record, and that the defendant and cross-complainant, by its course of conduct in dealing with the National Hardwood Lumber Association, in respect of the two cars of lumber, designated in the record as the ‘cars in error,’ and insisting upon and obtaining settlement on the re-sales of said car, with approximately the same profit admittedly received, as it would have obtained on the original sales, had no error occurred, cannot rely upon said *256 error, as a reason for refusing to settle for the two other ears, for which it owes complainant Shull.
“ (2) But the case is not decided by this court, exactly upon said question of estoppel, since, although equitable in nature, said estoppel seems more technical and going somewhat less to the merits, than the straight question of the first party to breach the .contract involved, which this court finds determinative of the case, upon the admissions and undisputed fact of this record. >
“In any event and upon any theory of-the case, defendant had no right to withhold from complainant, longer, or any more of the money received by it, in settlement for said cars in error, than was necessary to protect it from loss. But, the correspondence filed, and admitted facts, show.that defendant, for considerable time after it had collected at least several hundred dollars, of - the total amount claimed by it on said settlement, not only did not offer or tender to complainant said sum, but insisted that it should receive full and final settlement first, and finally insisted that complainant should complete all shipments, before it would turn over to complainant said fund, or, in other words, pay to complainant the amount due it on the said two other cars of lumber.

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Bluebook (online)
1 Tenn. App. 253, 1925 Tenn. App. LEXIS 39, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/o-l-shull-lumber-co-v-f-j-paxton-co-tennctapp-1925.