Planters' Oil Co. v. Hill Printing & Stationery Co.

208 S.W. 192, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 82
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 2, 1919
DocketNo. 6001.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 208 S.W. 192 (Planters' Oil Co. v. Hill Printing & Stationery Co.) 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
Planters' Oil Co. v. Hill Printing & Stationery Co., 208 S.W. 192, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 82 (Tex. Ct. App. 1919).

Opinion

BRADY, J.

This suit was instituted by appellee to recover from appellant the purchase price of certain cotton receptacles, which were alleged to have been purchased by appellant of appellee upon a certain signed written order. The case was submitted to the jury upon special issues, and judgment was rendered for appellee upon the verdict of the jury for the amount sued for, and appellant duly appealed to this court.

Findings of Fact.

Appellant executed and delivered to ap-pellee, on or about the 24th day of July, 1915, a certain written order, ordering from appellee 20,000 cotton receptacles, at the price'of $9.25 per thousand, the said order being as follows:

“Hill Printing & Stationery Company, Waco, Texas, date 7/24/1915.
“Charge the following articles to Planters’ Oil Co.:
“Salesman’s Order No. -. Register No.
-. Address, Hearne, Tex.
“Ship by -, care -.
“Ship to -. When ship, Aug. 10th, T5.
“All bills are due and payable in current funds at Waco, Texas, on the 5th of month following date of purchase. This order is not subject to countermand.
“-, date received. Register No. -.
Date shipped,-. File No.-. F. O. B.
Waco factory.
“Ship following order, which is subject to your approval, on terms stated above. This, as well as all previous and all subsequent purchases and indebtedness, is payable at your office in Waco, Texas, with interest after maturity at 10 per cent, per annum until paid, and 10 per cent, additional on amount of principal and interest unpaid for attorney’s fees if placed in the hands of an attorney for collection.
“Quantity. Stock or Class No.
20 M Cotton receptacles. 9.25
“Imprints to follow and shipping instructions to follow.
*193 “The terms of this shipment is strictly cash.
“F. O. B. Waco.
“Should order run less than above amount, we will protect Planters’ Oil Company on the quantity.
“[Signed] P. O. Co., O. Robinson.”

The cotton receptacles referred to in this memorandum of contract consisted of pasteboard boxes for the use of ginners in placing samples from bales of cotton ginned by them, and on the imprint of the boxes was a place for putting certain data, containing the name of the ginner, the person to whom the cotton belonged, the grade, etc. The imprints were to be printed on posters and affixed to the boxes. Pursuant to the said order, and before shipment, appellee’s agent called up the manager of appellant and requested instructions for shipping and imprints, but appellant’s manager notified ap-pellee that appellant would not accept delivery of any of the receptacles, and that it did not desire any imprints forwarded. Appellant’s manager, who handled this transaction, admitted that he never at any time furnished appellee with any instructions as to imprints, and testified that he would not have accepted delivery of any imprints had they been tendered.

Appellee wrote a number of letters to appellant, to which it received no reply, and shipped the goods to appellant; but acceptance of delivery was refused, and when notice that the goods were at the depot at Hearne was received by appellant’s manager he declined to receive them.

There was no evidence that there were any other terms or conditions of the contract agreed upon between the parties, except as substantially set out in said written memorandum of the contract. Appellant contended by 'its pleadings that the contract was not complete, and that it was not obligated to take the quantity of receptacles provided in the contract, nor any part thereof; but the testimony of appellant’s manager shows that he executed and delivered the signed order, with the statement to appel-lee’s salesman that he did not know whether or not appellant could use as much as 20,-000 receptacles, and that said salesman informed him that appellee would protect appellant in the matter of quantity, and that appellant would not have to take the 20,000 receptacles, unless it needed them. Appellant’s manager further testified that he never ordered out any part of the receptacles, and never furnished appellee with imprints or shipping instructions. His testimony also shows that appellant did not undertake to accept part of the goods, but refused to accept any of same, and that the reason for declining to accept any part of the shipment was that he had found the ginners in his territory overstocked with such receptacles, which they had purchased at a lower price than appellant had agreed to pay appellee, and, further, because appellant had never received any orders from any ginners for the receptacles.

The special issues submitted to the jury and the answers thereto are as follows:

“Special Issue No. 1. Was the contract entered into between plaintiff and defendant a complete contract for the purchase of the 20,-000 cotton receptacles, or was it an optional contract, subject to the option of the Planters’ Oil Company to later order such of the cotton receptacles as they might desirei?
“If you pnd that the contract mentioned was a complete contract your answer to the above question will be ‘Complete’; but if you find it was optional, as above inquired about, then your answer will be ‘Optional.’ ”
Answer: “Complete.”
“Special Issue No. 2. Did the plaintiff, Hill Printing Company, ship to the defendant, Planters’ Oil Company, 20,000 cotton receptacles of the kind and grade agreed upon prior to August 10, 1915?”
Answer: “Yes.”

Opinion.

[1-3] Appellant’s first assignment of error presents the point that the trial court erred in overruling its general demurrer to appellee’s petition, because the petition showed on its face that the pretended order was not a complete contract, but was a mere optional contract or order, and that there were no averments showing any subsequent order or contract completing the purchase, nor any compliance with the provisions of the contract as to imprints and shipping instructions, nor any delivery of the order alleged, but a mere allegation of the execution of the instrument.

We think this assignment is groundless, for the order does not appear on its face to be an incomplete or partial memorandum of the contract, but contains all the necessary elements to constitute a valid written contract under all the averments of the petition. The allegation that appellant executed the order was sufficient, as against the general demurrer, to constitute an averment of delivery. The word “executed” in a legal sense includes delivery, and implies a completed contract. Lomax v. Bank, 39 S. W. 655; Koppelmann v. Koppelmann, 94 Tex. 40, 57 S. W. 570; Words & Phrases, vol. 3, p. 2558.

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Bluebook (online)
208 S.W. 192, 1919 Tex. App. LEXIS 82, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/planters-oil-co-v-hill-printing-stationery-co-texapp-1919.