R. S. Stokvis & Sons, Inc. v. Kearney & Trecker Corp.

58 F. Supp. 260, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1698
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedAugust 3, 1944
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 58 F. Supp. 260 (R. S. Stokvis & Sons, Inc. v. Kearney & Trecker Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
R. S. Stokvis & Sons, Inc. v. Kearney & Trecker Corp., 58 F. Supp. 260, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1698 (S.D.N.Y. 1944).

Opinion

COXE, District Judge.

This is an action to recover various sums aggregating $1,459,646.35 as damages for alleged breaches of an exclusive sales representation agreement made by the defendant. In 1939 and 1940, a French corporation known as R. S. Stokvis & Fils, S. A., was the exclusive sales representative of the defendant in France. During those years the defendant made large direct sales of milling machines and equipment to the French Government. It is the contention of the plaintiffs that these sales entitled the French corporation to be paid the sums now sought to be recovered, either (1) as agreed percentages of the amounts of the different sales, or (2) as damages for violation of the exclusive sales representation agreement. The claims of the French corporation have been assigned to and are now held by the plaintiff, R. S. Stokvis & Sons, Inc.

The action was tried by the court without a jury.

The plaintiff, N. V. Handelmaatschappij R. S. Stokvis & Zonen (referred to as the Dutch Stokvis Company) is a corporation of the Netherlands, formerly domiciled in Rotterdam, Holland, but now domiciled in Curacao, Dutch West Indies. It is joined as a plaintiff solely because it was a party to the exclusive sales representation agreement with the defendant, and it claims no beneficial interest in any recovery in the action. The plaintiff R. S. Stokvis & Sons, Inc. (referred to as the New York Stokvis Company), is a New York corporation, all of the stock of which is owned by the Dutch Stokvis Company. It sues as the assignee of R. S. Stokvis & Fils, S. A. (referred to as the French Stokvis Company), a French corporation, all of the stock of which, except directors’ qualifying shares, is likewise owned by the Dutch Stokvis Company. The defendant, Kearney & Trecker Corporation, is a Wisconsin corporation, engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling milling machinery and equipment at West Allis, Wisconsin.

The complaint contains three separate causes of action, all based on an exclusive sales representation agreement entered into between the Dutch Stokvis Company and the defendant in November, 1923. Copies of the documents constituting this agreement are attached to the complaint. It is alleged that the agreement was entered into by the “Dutch Stokvis Company on behalf of itself and the French and Belgium Stokvis companies for their respective territories.” The Belgian Stokvis Company referred to is a wholly owned subsidiary of the French Stokvis Company. The complaint further alleges that after the agreement became effective on January 1, 1924, these different Stokvis companies acted as the defendant’s exclusive sales representative for their respective countries, and that as a result of their activities “the name and reputation of the defendant and its products became well [262]*262and favorably known in Holland, France and Belgium and their respective colonies”.

The first cause of action concerns sales by the defendant of 129 milling machines and equipment covered by contracts Nos. 1218, 483 and 1365 between the defendant and the French Government. It is alleged that in the latter part of 1939 the French Stokvis Company placed orders with the defendant for these machines and equipment, for an aggregate sales price of $810,135, which included a commission of 15% for the French Stokvis Company, to be sold directly to the French Government; that the defendant accepted such orders and subsequently entered into contracts therefor with the French Government; that the defendant thereby agreed to pay the French Stokvis Company 15% of the sales price, or $121,520.25; and that the defendant has received payment in full for all the machinery and equipment covered by the contracts.

The second cause of action is similar to the first, except that it involves 1415 milling machines, and equipment therefor, having an aggregate sales price of $13,-381,261. It is alleged that the French Stokvis Company consented that the defendant might sell these machines and equipment directly to the French Government, “but only upon condition that the French Stokvis Company receive 10% of the sales price thereof”; and, further, that the defendant by entering into contracts therefor with the French Government (Nos. 240 and 240-A) agreed to pay to the French Stokvis Company 10% of the sales price thereunder, or an aggregate of $1,338,126.10.

The third cause of action is alternative to the first two, and is based on the theory that the defendant breached the exclusive sales representation agreement by itself selling direct to the French Government, and that the French Stokvis Company was damaged thereby in the sum of $1,459,646.35.

The defendant’s answer admits the existence of the documents alleged to constitute the 1923 agreement; admits that after January 1, 1924, the Dutch Stokvis Company acted as the defendant’s exclusive dealer in Holland, The French Stokvis Company as its exclusive dealer in France, and the Belgian Stokvis Company as its exclusive dealer in Belgium; admits that the name and reputation of the defendant and its products became well and favorably known in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and certain of its colonies “partly as a result of the activities” of the Stokvis companies; and admits that it made the sales in question to the French Government. In other respects, the answer is in substance a general denial; it also sets up various affirmative defenses which will be dealt with later.

The Dutch Stokvis Company was incorporated in Holland in 1922; the business was an old one, and had first been conducted as a partnership, and later as an English Company; the activities were numerous, and included the purchase and sale of machine tools of foreign origin. The French Stokvis Company was incorporated in France in 1914, and continued the machine tool business there, which had previously been conducted by the Dutch Stokvis Company. In 1939 and 1940, Hugo Stokvis was the Administrateur Delegue of the French Stokvis Company. The Belgium Stokvis Company was incorporated in Belgium in 1919.

The predecessor of the Dutch Stokvis Company commenced dealing in the defendant’s products in 1902, and, after the French Stokvis Company was incorporated, that company dealt in such products in France until 1919. From 1919 to 1923, the defendant’s products were sold in Holland, Belgium and France through an American concern known as Allied Machinery Company, and in the latter part of 1923 the sales representation agreement, which is the basis of the present action, was entered into between the Dutch Stokvis Company and the defendant. This agreement is in the form of a letter written by the Dutch Stokvis Company to the defendant from New York City, dated November 23, 1923, and a telegram of confirmation from the defendant, dated December 12, 1923, and received by the Dutch Stokvis Company at New York City on the same day. The letter from the Dutch Stokvis Company evidencing the agreement is as follows:

“We hereby beg to confirm in writing the agreement verbally made with your Mr. Kearney with regard to the territory embodied in Holland, Belgium, France and its respective colonies.
“You grant us the exclusive representation for the above mentioned territories beginning January 1, 1924, for an indefinite time, subject to a written notice of six (6) months, with the understanding [263]*263that we push the sale of your products in the territories granted to us to the best of our ability, exclusive of any other American make.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 F. Supp. 260, 1944 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 1698, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/r-s-stokvis-sons-inc-v-kearney-trecker-corp-nysd-1944.