Page & Hill Co. v. Shreveport-Eldorado Pipe Line Co.

5 La. App. 20, 1926 La. App. LEXIS 452
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 30, 1926
DocketNo. 2114
StatusPublished

This text of 5 La. App. 20 (Page & Hill Co. v. Shreveport-Eldorado Pipe Line Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Page & Hill Co. v. Shreveport-Eldorado Pipe Line Co., 5 La. App. 20, 1926 La. App. LEXIS 452 (La. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinion

ODOM, J.

This is- á suit to recover $912.00 for a lot of cedar poles which plaintiff shipped to defendant on December 6, 1922.

In answer, defendant denied that it ordered the poles from plaintiff and, on the contrary, alleged that it ordered, the poles from Interstate Electric Company , of Shreveport, Louisiana, and that it had no contractual relations with plaintiff and owed it nothing.

Defendant further alleged that it ordered the poles from Interstate Electric Company because of its representations that it had the poles at Kansas City and could ship them from that- point immediately and’ make quick delivery and for that reason alone it ordered them from said Interstate Electric Company.

Paragraph “V” of defendant’s answer reads—

[21]*21“Your defendant denies that it evfer or'-1"* dered any poles from- said plaintiff, but that its contract was with the Interstate Electric Company as aforesaid, and denies that it is under any obligation to said plaintiff tp pay it for the same.

“And further answering the plaintiff’s demands, your defendant shows that while it had some communications with said plaintiff- with reference to said shipment, it at all times believed and considered that-it was dealing with the Interstate Electric Company as the principal and was bound to pay, if at all, the said Electric Company for said poles; that while said poies were ordered on December 2, 1922, for 'a rush order, the same did not arrive at Eldorado, Arkansas, until January 10, 1923, or more than thirty (30) days after the same had been ordered, too late for it to use them as it had been forced to purchase them elsewhere.”

In paragraph “III” of the answer, it' is alleged that on December 9, 1922—

“It notified the Interstate Electric Company to cancel such order, and the Electric Company ..wired said plaintiff cancelling said order; that it had no dealings with said plaintiff except' as set forth and considered it was dealing entirely with the Interstate Electric Company, from whom it contracted to purchase said poles, and said Interstate Electric Company recognized the right of your defendant to cancel said order, and advised the plaintiff of the can-, eellation thereof, and it' is not indebted to the plaintiff in any sum because its contract and agreement was made with the Interstate Electric Company and not with said plaintiff.”

The lower, court rejected plaintiff’s, demands, but reserved its right to sue defendant for damages, and defendant has appealed.

OPINION.

It will be noted by the above references to and quotations from defendant’s answer that it interposed the sole defense that it had not purchased the poles, from plaintiff and therefore it owed plaintiff nothing.,,,

Incidentally it is .set up in the answer that -the' poles were to be shipped, from Kansas City in • order that quick delivery might be made and that otherwise defendant would not halve ordered them fróm the Interstate Electric Company.

The • testimony introduced on trial shows that the only point stressed was^that the poles were ordered from the. .Interstate Electric Company and that the order was cancelled.

However, the brief filed in this court by counsel for defendant indicates that that defense has been abandoned entirely, for counsel state—

“The defense is, that this is an executory. contract of sale with a suspensive condition; that the only right plaintiff had was to sue for damages for breach of contract and not for the 1 purchase price of the goods.”

And further quoting from said brief—

“Plaintiff should have brought this suit-for damages. He did not do so.”

And it is further stated in defendant’s brief that in the case at bar the defendant, had agreed to buy from plaintiff certain-telegraph poles delivered' at Eldorado. The' argument throughout the brief is that the contract was executory and did not amount to a sale; therefore, when defendant can-celled the order, plaintiff’s only remedy was to sue for damages, and the only authorities cited are in support of that theory.

Under the strict rules of pleading and ¡practice, the only question which the coilrt should consider are those raised by the pleadings as filed or as they may be amended or enlarged by the introduction of testimony without objection.

However, as the - lower court seems to have based its decision upon the point. raised in defendant’s brief and as counsel [22]*22for plaintiff urge no objection thereto, we shall pass upon that point as well as that specially urged in the pleadings.

On the point raised by defendant’s answer, we find that the Interstate’ Electric Company of Shreveport was at the time of the transaction agent for Page & Hill Company, the plaintiff, with authority to solicit orders for cedar poles in this territory, as shown by contract dated August 1, 1922, filed in evidence. And while Mr. Gray, who represented defendant in giving - the order for the poles, testified that all his dealings were with Interstate Electric Company, he did not say that he was not aware of this agency when he gave the order. But whether he knew that or not we think is immaterial, because subsequent to the date on which the order was placed '-Gray was informed that the order had been placed with plaintiff and he, Gray, representing defendant, took up negotiations directly with plaintiff, as is shown by his telegram dated December 7, 1922, which reads as follows:

“Page and Hill, Minneapolis, Minn. We placed order for car of poles with you through Interstate Electric Company upon being guaranteed shipment from Kansas City. We are greatly disappointed and inconvenienced by shipment having been made from other point. We expect you to do everything possible to rush car to destination. (Signed) Shreveport-Eldorado Pipe Line Co.”

This telegram shows conclusively that defendant knew that it was dealing with plaintiff, which completely disposes of the defense raised in the answer, and it also disposes of defendant’s contention, suggested in answer but not contended for in brief, that it should not accept the poles because they were not shipped from Kansas City as was originally agreed upon; for by communicating with plaintiff, as defendant did in the telegram, defendant recognized the fact that the poles were shipped from another point and tacitly at least agreed to accept them. It thereby waived the other defense.

Mr. Gray admitted that he sent the telegram of the 7th.

There are also numerous letters in the record written by plaintiff to defendant which Mr. Gray admits he received.

With this testimony in the record, it is readily understood why counsel are shifting their position and seeking another defense.

Referring now to the point raised and stressed in counsel’s brief that this was an executory contract and that the transaction did not ripen into a sale, we have reached the conclusion that the testimony does not support their contention.

The order for the poles was placed with plaintiff by defendant through plaintiff’s representative by telegram as follows:

“Shreveport, La., 11-29-22. Page & Hill Company, 717 Bryant, Bldg., Kansas City, Mo. Ship Shreveport-Eldorado Pipe Line Company, Eldorado, Arkansas, three hundred fifty, twenty foot five inch and seventy-five twenty-five foot five inch Northern White Cedars. Ship immediately from stock over Missouri Pacific. Trace same as this is very urgent.

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Bluebook (online)
5 La. App. 20, 1926 La. App. LEXIS 452, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/page-hill-co-v-shreveport-eldorado-pipe-line-co-lactapp-1926.