Pape v. Ferguson

62 N.E. 712, 28 Ind. App. 298, 1902 Ind. App. LEXIS 26
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 4, 1902
DocketNo. 3,416
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 62 N.E. 712 (Pape v. Ferguson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pape v. Ferguson, 62 N.E. 712, 28 Ind. App. 298, 1902 Ind. App. LEXIS 26 (Ind. Ct. App. 1902).

Opinion

Robinson, P. J.

J. — Suit by appellees for damages for breach of a written contract to sell and deliver logs and lumber. The case was tried by the court, and at the conclusion of the evidence and the argument, both parties being present, it was shown to the court that the original complaint, in three paragraphs, had been lost; and upon leave of court, and without objection, appellees filed a substituted complaint. The statute expressly authorizes such proceeding. §382 Bums 1901. Such substituted complaint, unless the contrary is shown, is presumed to he an exact reproduction of the original pleading and takes its place as of the date of the original filing with reference to all pleadings filed and proceedings had'subsequent to such original filing.

[300]*300At the time of filing the substituted complaint, both parties being present, appellees, without objection, filed an amended first paragraph of complaint. Three days later, both parties being present, the court filed its finding of facts and conclusions of law. At no time was any objection made to the trial court to the filing of the amended pleading, nor was any attempt made by appellant to show the trial court that he was misled or prejudiced by the amendment. It was based upon the same written contract and did not change the cause of action. It did enlarge the amount of .recovery, but it conformed to the facts proved. The evidence necessary to sustain the amended pleading was properly admissible under another paragraph of the complaint. See, Raymond v. Wathen, 142 Ind. 367; Stanton v. Kenrick, 135 Ind. 382; Child v. Swain, 69 Ind. 230.

At a subsequent day, at the same term, and before judgment, the court modified three of its findings and its conclusions of law. These modifications were as to the date when interest should begin, and it is not claimed that they were not authorized from the facts proved. Moreover, as the modifications were all in appellant’s favor, they could not have been to his prejudice. Royse v. Bourne, 149 Ind. 187; Thompson v. Connecticut, etc., Ins. Co., 139 Ind. 325; Dowell v. Talbot Paving Co., 138 Ind. 675.

The court found the facts to be that on the 5th day of October, 1897, appellees and appellant entered into a written contract, by the terms of which appellant agreed to sell appellees certain lumber and logs at an agreed price, in payment for which appellees agreed to execute their three certain notes or acceptances, due in sixty, ninety, and one hundred and twenty days, each in the sum of $2,200; and on the same day appellees executed and delivered to appellant these notes or acceptances, which, at the request of appellant, were made payable to the Peters Box and Lumber Company, a corporation of which appellant was president, and which notes were afterwards by such corporation trans[301]*301ferrecl, by indorsement thereon, and delRered to appellant, who discounted tliem at a bank and received tlxe amount of such notes less the discount thereon, and appropriated the same to his own use. All of the notes were afterwards paid by the appellees as they severally matured. The $6,600 represented by these notes was intended by appellees to be, and'was received by appellant as a prepayment by the appellees for the logs and lumber mentioned in the contract. Appellant never repaid the $6,600, excepting the sum of $4,016.74, which was paid by appellant.by delivering that amount of lumber, leaving a balance due appellees of $2.583.26, with interest thereon at six per cent., making a total of $2,732.67. Appellant failed and neglected to deliver the balance of the logs and lumber, although requested in writing so to do. .A^ppellees in all things complied with and performed the provisions of the contract on their part, and the only part of the contract which appellant on his part complied with was the delivery by him of lumber to the amount above mentioned. At the time the contract was made, appellees and appellant Avere dealers in lumber, and appellant kneAV that appellees purchased from him the lumber and logs for the purpose of reselling at a profit. Facts are also found shoAving that appellees had orders from customers for the lumber and logs at a certain price, and were prevented from selling them at such price because of appellant’s failure to deliver them; and the court also found the value of the lumber and logs at the time and place they should have been delivered, that appellant had ample time and opportunity to make the delivery, and that, because of the failure to deliver the balance of the lumber and logs, appellees had been damaged in a named sum, which, Avith interest, amounted to $1,110.72. The court also found that under another and different contract, made some time before the contract in question, appellees, at the beginning of this action, were indebted to appellant in the sum of $1,081.23, and that appellant was [302]*302entitled to a further set-off in the sum of $346.56. The court stated as a conclusion of law that appellees were entitled to recover from appellant the sum of $2,415.60. The evidence sustains the court’s findings, and no conclusion of law could have been made, other than that stated.

Objection was made to the introduction in evidence, by appellees, of these notes or 'acceptances. The contract upon which suit was brought provided that appellant was to deliver to ’appellees certain lumber and logs, and that appellees, upon the execution of the contract, should execute to appellant their acceptance for $6,600; $2,200 to mature in sixty days, $2,200 in ninety days and $2,200 in four months from date of contract, which sum appellant was to indorse on his book to appellees’ credit, and, upon the receipt and acceptance of lumber and logs, appellant should charge ■against such credit the amount of such shipments until the amount of such shipments should equal the credit, at which time the contract was to end. These notes or acceptances were certainly competent evidence, under the substituted pleadings, to show a compliance with the contract by appellees. It is true, the payee named is the Peters Box and Lumber Company; but the third paragraph of complaint avers that this company was a corporation of which appellant was and is president, and that the notes were executed to the corporation at appellant’s request, and were afterwards by the corporation assigned by indorsement and delivered to appellant, Who discounted them at a bank, and appropriated the proceeds to his own use, and that all the notes were paid-by appellees as they matured.

Objection was made to the introduction in evidence by appellees of a copy of a letter, the original of which had been placed in an envelope addressed to appellant and properly stamped and mailed at the postofiice. The witness designated the copy as an “impression copy,” by which he said was meant an exact copy. The court, upon application, ordered the production of the original, to which order objec[303]*303tion was made because' of the limited time appellant had been notified. But aside from the question of the sufficiency or insufficiency of the notice, it appears that appellant’s son, designated as clerk or secretary, testified that he made search for the letter in the places where letters,were kept, and did not find it, and did not think any further search would-discover it. Erom the facts disclosed, the presumption is that the letter was received. “The rule is well settled,” said the court in Rosenthal v. Walker, 111 U. S. 185, 4 Sup. Ct.

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Bluebook (online)
62 N.E. 712, 28 Ind. App. 298, 1902 Ind. App. LEXIS 26, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pape-v-ferguson-indctapp-1902.