Oklahoma City General Hospital v. Weathers

1930 OK 577, 294 P. 98, 147 Okla. 25, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 345
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedDecember 16, 1930
Docket19666
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 1930 OK 577 (Oklahoma City General Hospital v. Weathers) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oklahoma City General Hospital v. Weathers, 1930 OK 577, 294 P. 98, 147 Okla. 25, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 345 (Okla. 1930).

Opinion

HEFNER, J.

This is an appeal from a judgment and verdict of a jury in the district court of Oklahoma county for $850 in favor of P. H. Weathers, the defendant in error, hereinafter called defendant, against the Oklahoma City General Hospital, plaintiff in error, hereinafter called plaintiff. A judgment was rendered on the cross-petition for defendant.

It was alleged that plaintiff employed defendant in his professional capacity as an architect to prepare certain preliminary sketches and estimates of costs of improve *26 ment for a building winch plaintiff proposed to 'construct upon its grounds,' and that the eontract of employment was made for plaintiff corporation by Doctor Harbison, the agent of plaintiff, acting within the scope of his authority. The plaintiff specifically denied under oath that Doctor Harbison was the agent of the corporation, or that he had any authority to bind the corporation as its agent. The following special interrogatories were submitted to the jury and answered in the affirmative: (1) “Did Doctor Harbison make a contract with Weathers to furnish plans for the hospital? A. Tes.” (2) “Did the -Oklahoma Oity General Hospital permit Doctor Harbison to hold himself out as having authority to contract? A. Yes.”

We think the evidence establishes the following facts: The corporation owned the real estate and hospital building. The board of directors consisted of Doctor Harbison, president, and two others. The directors did not hold formal meetings with reference to the business of the company. There was a general discussion about improvements of the •building by the three directors. They did not make any formal minutes of their meetings, but met and talked things over and planned the improvements. It was agreed that it was necessary for the directors to •employ a contractor to construct the improvements and an architect to draw the plans. Thereafter Doctor Harbison, the president, saw Mr. Weathers, the architect, and had him prepare the'plans in question. After the plans had been prepared, Doctor Harbison and Mrs. Jones, who was a director, went to the office of the architect and suggested changes in the plans, and at their suggestion the changes were made. The plans were delivered to the president, and were later seen in the office of the company, and were never returned to- the defendant. All three of the directors saw the plans. When called upon to pay for the work the president of the company admitted that the work was satisfactory, but said that in order to procure a loan sufficient to build the new hospital they had to let the persons furnishing the loan select their own architect, which was done, and the plans of that architect were used.

It is admitted that the president of the corporation employed the defendant to draw the'plans and specifications. It. is denied that he had any authority so to do from the board of directors. It is well settled that the president of a corporation, as such, has no authority to contract for the corporation. He has no more authority than any other director. Quaker Oil & Gas Co. v.

Jane Oil & Gas Co., 63 Okla. 234, 164 Pac. 671. Under section 5334, C. O. S. 1921, the powers of the corporation must be conducted and controlled by a board of directors.

We think the real question in this case is whether or not the contract with the defendant made by the president was made with the knowledge, acquiescence, or consent of the directors. There is no doubt but that the president of the corporation employed the defendant to draw the plans. The authority of the president to make this contract need not necessarily be an express one from the board of directors, but it may be implied from the circumstances. Evidence of the ratification of or consent to or acquiescence. in his acts is. admissible in evidence under the general allegation that the acts were done by the corporation. Ardmore Hotel Co. v. J. B. Klein Foundry, 104 Okla. 125, 230 Pac. 734. In that case this court said:

“The authority of an officer or agent of a corporation need not necessarily be express, but it may be implied from the circumstances.
“Evidence of the ratification of the acts of corporate officers or agents is admissible under a general averment of authority or under allegations that the acts were done by the corporation.”

There were but three directors. Two of them were in the office of the defendant and went over the plans with him and suggested changes. The third one saw the plans in the office of the company and saw the name of the defendant thereon. We think it is a fair deduction from the evidence that the plans made by the defendant were retained by the company. They were delivered to the president, they were seen in the office of the company by the director who did not examine them in the office of the defendant. We think this evidence is sufficient to support the verdict of the jury when it found that the corporation permitted Doctor Harbison to hold himself out as having authority to contract. That being true, this court will not disturb the verdict of the jury. In the case of Western Natural Gas Co. v. Cooper, 121 Okla. 127, 247 Pac. 978, this court said:

“In a law action, based upon a contract, the authority for making which is in dispute by the pleadings, if there is any evidence reasonably tending to support the finding of the jury, this court will not disturb the judgment based upon such finding.
“Where plaintiff pleads a contract made with a representative of a corporation, and in defense to said action the corporation contends that the representative had no au *27 thority to employ the plaintiff, a ratification or not of the unauthorized action of the representative is a question of fact to be passed upon by a jury, under all the evidence.’’

There can be no doubt but that all three of the directors knew that services were being rendered by the defendant. Two of- the directors approved the plans, the third knew of them and made no objection thereto. Having this knowledge, if the president did not have the authority to make the contract, it was their duty to immediately bring his lack of authority to the attention of the defendant, and this was not done.

In the Rainbow Oil & Gas Co. v. Barton, 70 Okla. 271, 173 Pac. 1135, this court said:

“Where a corporation permits services to be rendered under a contract of employment and receives the benefit of ■ such services, it cannot escape payment of such services on the ground that the corporate officers, entering into the contract on behalf of the company, had no authority so to do.”

The facts in this case seem also to bring it within the terms of section 5013, C. O. S. 1921; it is as follows :

“A voluntary acceptance of the benefit of a transaction is equivalent to a consent to all the obligations arising from it so far as the facts are known, or ought to be known, to the person accepting.”

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Bluebook (online)
1930 OK 577, 294 P. 98, 147 Okla. 25, 1930 Okla. LEXIS 345, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oklahoma-city-general-hospital-v-weathers-okla-1930.