Oliver v. Grande Ronde Grain Co.

142 P. 541, 72 Or. 46, 1914 Ore. LEXIS 5
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJune 9, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 142 P. 541 (Oliver v. Grande Ronde Grain Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oliver v. Grande Ronde Grain Co., 142 P. 541, 72 Or. 46, 1914 Ore. LEXIS 5 (Or. 1914).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Burnett

delivered the opinion of the court.

1. The bill of exceptions has attached to it what purports to be a literal transcript of the testimony, with [50]*50the various objections of counsel to testimony, offers to prove, and the like. Many of the assignments of error set out in the plaintiff’s abstract relate to matters not disclosed in the hill of exceptions proper. The new series of decisions, so to speak, on the structure of the bill of exceptions begins with Keady v. United Rys. Co., 57 Or. 325 (100 Pac. 658, 108 Pac. 197), and ends with National Council v. McGinn, 70 Or. 457 (138 Pac. 493). The essence of these decisions, which are continuations of many others from the early history of the court to the present time is that a literal rehearsal of the whole testimony of the case will he considered for two purposes only: One for determining the correctness of a judgment of nonsuit; and the other on the direction of a verdict at the close of all the testimony. Governed by the rules thus established, we must ignore many of the assignments of error set out in the abstract.

2. In passing we hold that the judgment of non-suit was properly entered as to all the defendants, except the Grain Company, for the reason that they were all parties to the suit to foreclose the lien, by the decree in which the status of the property was fixed as to them, and there was no testimony whatever that any change of possession respecting those defendants happened afterward affecting the grain in question. It was not shown that any of them had any custody of the wheat or .anything to do with it, as claimed in the complaint.

3, 4. It is assigned as error that the court refused to admit in evidence the judgment-roll in the foreclosure suit, but the bill of exceptions shows, on page 10 thereof, that the judgment-roll in question was admitted in evidence. The purpose of this document was to impute notice to Ed Kiddle of the claim of the plain[51]*51tiff under Ms supposed lien and thus to affect the Grain Company, although it was not a party to the foreclosure suit. This depended upon the admitted fact that at all times named in the pleadings Kiddle was at once president of both corporations and upon that basis the plaintiff maintained that, although the Grain Company was not concerned in that litigation, yet notice to him as an individual defendant and as president of the Mill Company would bind the corporation which was not a party to the suit. This also depended upon whether or not the Grain Company had purchased the grain prior to the commencement of the foreclosure suit without notice of the claim of the plaintiff. The lease was not acknowledged or recorded so as to impart constructive notice like that arising from the record or filing of a chattel mortgage. Among the terms of the lease under which the plaintiff claimed a lien are these:

“And the said Frank Cullen does hereby promise and agree to pay to the said E. W. Oliver therefor the following yearly rental, to wit: For the season of 1910, a cash rental of $4,333.50 (and so on, naming the cash rental for each year to and including the year of 1916), payable on the first day of October of each year respectively, out of the first moneys received for said years’ crops, the said E. W. Oliver to hold lien upon said crop until such rent is paid, said yearly rentals being evidenced by seven promissory notes of even date herewith. ’ ’

In addition to whatever effect may be given to the judgment-roll in the foreclosure suit, the plaintiff affirmed, as a witness in rebuttal, and Ed Kiddle denied, also as a witness, that in June, 1911, the two men met in the City of Portland, and in a casual conversation Kiddle was informed by the plaintiff that the latter had a lien for the rent. Conceding, without deciding, [52]*52that the language of the lease already noticed would be more than a mere agreement to establish a lien in the future, and would amount to a present lien, and, further, that the same is sufficiently pleaded in the complaint, its validity must depend upon whether or not the Grain Company had notice thereof, because, as already stated, the lease was not recorded in the manner required by law to impute the statutory constructive notice of any claim against the grain on behalf of the plaintiff. The general rule is that a principal is bound by what knowledge the agent acquires while acting for his principal within the scope of his authority. That is the ruling principle in all the cases which have been decided on that point in this court: Rayburn v. Davisson, 22 Or. 242, 243 (29 Pac. 738); Dight v. Chapman, 44 Or. 265-278 (75 Pac. 585, 65 L. R. A. 793); Hoffman v. Habighorst, 49 Or. 379-386 (89 Pac. 952, 91 Pac. 20); Dillard v. Olalla Min. Co., 52 Or. 126-132 (94 Pac. 966, 96 Pac. 678). The essence of all of them is that the knowledge was gained by the agent while in the actual transaction of business for the principal. In other words, the agent, being at the time the actor in place of the principal, or the other self of the latter, is for all practical purposes the principal himself, and. the latter is bound by the knowledge of his substitute obtained while active in the fiduciary relation. The principle has been extended also to include knowledge of the agent acquired in other relations and independent of his principal’s business, but with this qualification: That if the principal is to be bound by subsequent transactions conducted by the agent who acquired such previous knowledge from independent sources, it must be shown that he had in mind and remembered the previous information thus received, or it must be so recent and under such en[53]*53vironments as to lead the jury to conclude as a matter of fact established by circumstantial evidence, that he must have had the same in mind. It is thus reduced to a question of fact in the latter case for the jury to determine whether the agent had in mind and so was affected vicariously for his principal by the previous knowledge obtained while not connected with or acting for his employer. It cannot he said in reason that every scrap of information acquired by an individual in a social or casual way or wholly disconnected with any business transaction will charge every institution of which he may chance to be a member absolutely and in all events in all subsequent transactions. On the other hand, it would not be consonant with common honesty for an agent having such information which he is at liberty to disclose to willfully disregard the same or dismiss it from his mind. On this branch of the case the court gave the following instruction to the jury, of which the plaintiff principally complains:

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Bluebook (online)
142 P. 541, 72 Or. 46, 1914 Ore. LEXIS 5, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oliver-v-grande-ronde-grain-co-or-1914.