Phœnix Furniture Co. of Port Arthur v. Kay

10 S.W.2d 422
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 19, 1928
DocketNo. 1717.
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 10 S.W.2d 422 (Phœnix Furniture Co. of Port Arthur v. Kay) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Phœnix Furniture Co. of Port Arthur v. Kay, 10 S.W.2d 422 (Tex. Ct. App. 1928).

Opinion

O’QUINN, J.

Appellee sued appellant, a private corporation, for debt in the sum of $2,300, and for attorney’s fees in the sum of $250. He alleged that in May, 1023, he entered into an oral contract with appellant that he was to work for appellant for $250 per month until January 1,1924, after which date ho was to receive $300 per month; that shortly after January 1, 1924, at the request of appellant, it was agreed between them that, instead of appellee receiving $300 per month, he should receive $250 per month, and on January 1, 1925, he was to receive $600 additional for his services in 1924; that, at the beginning of 1925, appellant did not refuse to pay the $600, but again promised to pay same, and, at request of appellant, they made an agreement that appellant was to receive during the year 1925 the sum,of $225 per month, and at the end of that year, or the beginning of 1926, appellant would pay to appel-lee the $600 past due for 1924, and $900 additional for 1925; that the same contract was entered into between them in the beginning of 1926 as for 1924 and 1925; that said contracts or agreements were never canceled, changed, or in any manner revoked, and that, at the time the suit was filed, December 29, 1926, appellant was due and owing to appellee the sum of $600 balance due for 1924, $900 balance due for 1925, and $800 balance due for 1926, and that demand for payment of same had been duly made, and appellant refused to pay same or any part thereof. Ap-pellee further alleged that the amount sued for was for labor done and performed for appellant at its special instance and request, and that appellant had refused to pay same, and that it became and was necessary for him to employ an attorney to file suit for his debt, and that he had contracted to pay his said attorney the sum of $250* as attorney’s fee, for which he prayed judgment, in addition to his debt.

Appellant answered by a general demurrer,, special exception to appellee’s petition for attorney’s fees, pleaded the two-year statute of limitation against all sums claimed for services rendered prior to December 29, 1924, and a general denial of appellee’s cause of action as alleged. Appéllant specially further answered:

(a) That, if any such agreement was made as alleged by appellee, such agreement' was one that could not have been executed within a year, was not in writing, in violation of the statute of frauds, and therefore void.

(b) That one Stovall had been manager of its furniture store at Port Arthur, Texas, and that appellee was employed by said Sto-vall at $250 per .month in 1923, and that the directors of appellant instructed said manager, Stovall, to cut all salaries of its employees in 1925, and to pay a bonus to employees at the end of said year, if appellant had made a profit, and that, in accordance with said instructions, appellee’s salary was cut to $225 per month for 1925; that said manager, Sto-vall, was discharged in March, 1926, and ap-pellee’s salary raised back to $250 per month in October, 1926; that said manager, Stovall, was without authority to make any such agreement or contract as alleged by appellee, but that his authority to employ persons to work in appellant’s store was only in the usual course of business. Appellant further answered and alleged that, after appellee’s salary had been cut from $250 to $225 p'er month, and after he had notified the directors that he had a claim for back pay in March, 1926, he received and accepted a raise in his salary back to $250 per month, and continued to work under that agreement until December, 1920, when he quit work and filed this suit, whereby he ratified a working agreement to the effect that he was employed upon a salary of from month to month, and prayed that appellee take nothing by his suit.

By supplemental petition appellee answered: (a) That, because he had made demand in writing upon appellant for his debt more than 30 days before filing his suit, he was entitled to his attorney’s fee; and (b) that Stovall was the general manager of appellant’s business; that he had control of said business, with authority to hire and discharge employees and to fix their salaries; that appellant, acting through its said general manager and agent, made the contracts with appel-lee alleged; and that said Stovall, as general manager of said business for said appellant in the conduct of said business, was acting within the scope of his general authority, or, if not, then within the apparent scope of his authority; and that appellant was estopped to deny its liability on said contracts.

The case was tried to a jury upon special *424 issues, in answer to which they found that ap-pellee’s salary was not fixed at $300 per month for 1924, and that there was no agreement that appellee was to receive $250 per month for 1924 and at the end of the year an additional $600; that appellant, acting through its general manager and vice president (Stovall), did enter into a contract with appellee to pay him $300 per month for 1925, and that same should be paid $250 per month, and ap-pellee to receive $600 additional at the end of the year; that appellant, acting through its vice president and general manager (Sto-vall), agreed with appellee to pay him $300 a month for 1926, and that appellee should receive $225 per month during said year, and $900 additional at the end of said year. Upon the answers of the :iury, judgment! in favor of appellee was entered for $1,700 and costs of suit. Motion for a new trial was overruled, and appellant has appealed.

Appellant’s first proposition contends that the court erred in overruling its general demurrer, for in that appellee’s petition attempts to allege a cause of action based upon an oral contract to render personal service, and fails to allege a performance of such service. The assignment is overruled. The petition alleges that the amount for which suit is brought is for labor done and performed by appellee at the special instance and request of appellant. This is a sufficient allegation of performance under-the alleged contract.

Appellant’s second, third, and fourth propositions are presented together. They are:

Second Proposition: “It is the right of a party plaintiff or defendant to have submitted to the jury every issue which is properly made by the pleadings and supported by the testimony and which is material in the determination of the case, and where a trial court fails to submit such an issue, a refusal of a special charge presenting that issue to the jury will require the reversal of the judgment.”
Third Proposition: “Where a defendant has pleaded a specific group of facts as a.defense and has offered competent evidence to sustain his allegations, which said group of facts were material in the determination of the case, in that if proven, they would have constituted an affirmative defense to plaintiff’s cause of action, and where the trial court failed to submit the issue raised by such group of facts, a refusal of a special charge presenting that issue to the jury is reversible error.”

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Bluebook (online)
10 S.W.2d 422, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/phnix-furniture-co-of-port-arthur-v-kay-texapp-1928.