People v. Stein

320 P.2d 519, 157 Cal. App. 2d 259, 1958 Cal. App. LEXIS 2234
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJanuary 29, 1958
DocketCrim. No. 5906
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 320 P.2d 519 (People v. Stein) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
People v. Stein, 320 P.2d 519, 157 Cal. App. 2d 259, 1958 Cal. App. LEXIS 2234 (Cal. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

WOOD (Parker), J.

Defendant was charged in four counts with grand theft and in one count with issuing a check without sufficient funds. In an non jury trial he was acquitted of the grand theft charges and was convicted of the charge of issuing a check without sufficient funds. Proceedings were suspended and probation was granted. Defendant appeals from “the judgment of conviction” and the order granting probation. (An order granting probation is deemed a final judgment. Pen. Code, § 1237.)

Appellant contends (1) that the acquittal on the grand theft charges “is fatal to the judgment on the bad cheek [260]*260charge” under the doctrine of collateral estoppel by judgment, and by the judgment of acquittal it was determined that there was no intent to defraud in the alleged grand theft transaction which also involved the check; and (2) that the evidence was insufficient to support the judgment of conviction.

Defendant allegedly was in the business of buying and selling scrap metal. Mr. Babbitt was the president of Century' Industries, a corporation, which manufactured aluminum articles. He was also president of Fred’s Trading Company, a corporation, which bought and sold surplus materials and scrap metal. Both companies transacted business at the same location. Century, in its process of manufacturing, accumulated scrap aluminum. Defendant and Mr. Babbitt became acquainted in the early part of March, 1956. At the time Mr. Babbitt said that his companies had some scrap metal that might be of interest to defendant. A few days later defendant inspected scrap aluminum at Century’s factory and took samples of the aluminum for the purpose of ascertaining how much prospective purchasers would offer for it. There were contaminants on the aluminum, such as paint, paper, and plastic. Fred’s Trading Company was the company that was interested in the matter of the sale. About March 20 the defendant returned and told Mr. Babbitt that the Apex Smelting Company offered prices ranging from 16% cents to 21% cents per pound, depending upon the various degrees of contamination. Mr. Babbitt testified that he and defendant discussed what the total amount would be for Fred’s Trading Company; defendant said that he worked on three cents a pound and that his driver and truck would deliver the scrap to the foundry; Mr. Babbitt said that the only way he would work with defendant on the matter would be two cents a pound, that Mr. Babbitt’s men would load the truck and handle the whole matter with defendant, and that it was a middleman transaction as far as defendant was concerned; defendant said that he would do that on the basis of two. cents a. pound; Mr. Schary, the warehouse superintendent for the companies, was present at the conversation just referred to, and Mr. Babbitt told him to work directly with defendant with the scrap and to follow the whole transaction through; defendant said to Babbitt that since it was a transaction where defendant would get two cents a pound, he would have the Apex checks come to Babbitt, and defendant would not have any bookkeeping transaction other than' the amount he received from Babbitt when the matter was settled.

[261]*261The aluminum scrap, weighing 39,967 pounds, was delivered to Apex on March 27 and 28.

Mr. Babbitt testified further than on March 30 defendant told him, in the presence of Schary, that there was a question as to the grade, contaminants, and weights of the material that had been delivered to Apex and that all the material would be reinspeeted at Apex and adjustments would be made as to classification and weight so that the prices would truly reflect the condition, and therefore the cheek was not being made by Apex at that time and when it was all completed a check would be forthcoming; at that time defendant also said he wanted to continue to do business with Babbitt and he did not want him to feel bad because Apex was holding back the money, and that he wanted to give Babbitt his (defendant’s) check for $5,000 on account of the money Apex was supposed to pay; Babbitt replied that defendant did not have to do that, and Apex was good for the money; defendant said he wanted to do that to create good will; Babbitt replied that if defendant wanted to give the check, that was fine; then defendant wrote the check for $5,000 (Exhibit 2—signed by defendant, dated March 30, 1956, payable to Fred’s Trading Co., Inc., and drawn upon City National Bank of Beverly Hills); defendant stated further that when they finally straightened the classification matter with Apex, Babbitt would have the full sum and then Babbitt could take the check of Apex and repay the $5,000 plus two cents a pound and that the balance would remain with Fred’s Trading Company.

The $5,000 check (which was made and delivered on Friday, March 30) was deposited in a bank on Monday, April 2. The check was not paid by the bank upon which it was drawn, and it was returned to Babbitt.

Babbitt testified that a few days thereafter (and before he knew the check had been returned by the bank) the defendant told him, in the presence of Schary, that he had received a $13,000 bad check and that some of the checks he had been writing might “bounce” and he hoped that the check he gave to Babbitt had gone through; defendant asked whether the check had bounced; Babbitt replied that he did not know but he would find out; after defendant had gone, Babbitt ascertained that the check had been returned; about April 9 Babbitt asked defendant what he had done to make the check good; defendant said he had been to Apex and the matter was being brought to a conclusion and the classification of [262]*262certain material had been changed and Apex was giving different prices which would increase the amount due; Babbitt did not know at that time that Apex had paid money to defendant for the scrap aluminum.

About March 26 Apex gave defendant a purchase order for the scrap aluminum on the basis that the price therefor would be “open” (between 16% and 21% cents a pound) and would depend upon the amount of contamination. At the time of giving the order Apex did not know that Babbitt or Fred’s Trading Company was interested in the- transaction. On March 27 after the first delivery to Apex, defendant asked Apex for an advance payment of $1,000 on the aluminum. Thereupon Apex paid that amount to defendant. On March 28, at defendant’s request, Apex paid him $1,500 as another advance payment. On March 29, at his request, Apex paid him $2,000. It thus appears that when defendant gave his $5,000 cheek to Babbitt on March 30 and explained that Apex was delaying payment to Babbitt because Apex was reinspecting the aluminum, defendant had received $4,500 from Apex in part payment of the purchase price. On April 3 Apex paid defendant an additional amount of $2,227.33. Adjustments in the additional amounts of $87.81 and $27.72 were also paid to defendant. The total amount received by defendant from Apex was $6,842.86, and that amount was the total price of the aluminum.

On April 1 defendant delivered to Babbitt a check for $1,249.60, which check was drawn by Ben Kasle and was payable to Fred’s Trading Company. The amount of that check was the difference between $5,000 and $6,249.60. The $6,249.60 was the amount which defendant and Schary computed to be the amount due to Fred’s Trading Company (other than the $5,000) from the sale of the aluminum, after deducting from the total price of $6,842.86 an amount representing the number of pounds of aluminum at two cents a pound, and then adding approximately $190 for material sold by defendant to another company.

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Related

People v. McAffery
182 Cal. App. 2d 486 (California Court of Appeal, 1960)
People v. Kitchens
331 P.2d 127 (California Court of Appeal, 1958)
People v. Croxton
327 P.2d 611 (California Court of Appeal, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
320 P.2d 519, 157 Cal. App. 2d 259, 1958 Cal. App. LEXIS 2234, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/people-v-stein-calctapp-1958.