Reliance Universal, Inc. v. ICS CORPORATION

452 S.W.2d 926, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2572
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 27, 1970
Docket17077
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 452 S.W.2d 926 (Reliance Universal, Inc. v. ICS CORPORATION) 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
Reliance Universal, Inc. v. ICS CORPORATION, 452 S.W.2d 926, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2572 (Tex. Ct. App. 1970).

Opinions

OPINION

BREWSTER, Justice.

This is a venue matter. Suit was filed in Tarrant County. Defendant, a corporation, filed a plea of privilege seeking to have the case transferred to Harris County where it had its principal place of business. The trial court overruled the plea of privilege and defendant has appealed.

Plaintiff’s petition alleged that between January, 1967 and June, 1967, plaintiff and defendant made numerous contracts whereby defendant sold to plaintiff over 17,000 gallons of paint to be used in painting the insides of pipelines located in Colorado and Wyoming. It alleged that in connection with such contracts there were two warranties made by defendant, namely: (1) Defendant’s employees expressly warranted that the paint was suitable for the purpose for which it was intended, and (2) there existed an implied warranty that the paint was suitable for the purpose for which it was intended. It alleged that the paint was in fact defective and not suitable for the purposes for which it was intended. The sale of such defective paint to plaintiff by defendant constituted a breach of both the implied and express warranties and resulted in great damage to plaintiff, for which plaintiff sued.

In the alternative, plaintiff alleged that defendant was negligent in compounding and developing such paint and that this negligence proximately caused great damage to plaintiff.

Plaintiff contended at the hearing and in its controverting plea that venue was properly in Tarrant County because of Section 23 of Art. 1995, Vernon’s Ann. Civ.St., which provides: “ * * * Suits against a private corporation, * * * may be brought in the county in which its principal office is situated; or in the county in which the cause of action or part thereof arose; * *

In order for plaintiff to successfully maintain venue of this case in Tarrant County under that venue provision it was necessary for it to plead and prove that it had a cause of action against the corporate defendant. See Jones v. Philco Distributors, Inc., 416 S.W.2d 611 (Fort Worth,, Tex.Civ.App., 1967, no writ hist.), and Lloyds Casualty Insurer v. McCrary, 149 Tex. 172, 229 S.W.2d 605 (1950).

In addition to that it was necessary for plaintiff at the venue hearing to plead and prove by a preponderance of the evidence that part of the transaction which creates the right or involves the breach, or both, occurred in the county where venue is sought to be maintained. McDonald Texas Civil Practice, Vol. 1, Venue, Sec. 4.30.2, page 519, and cases there cited.

[928]*928A cause of action for a breach of contract consists of two elements, namely, (1) the contract itself, and (2) the breach thereof by defendant. Panther Oil & Grease Mfg. Co. v. Schumaker, 166 S.W.2d 205 (Galveston, Tex.Civ.App., 1942, no writ hist.).

The record here is undisputed that the paint in question was by defendant shipped to and delivered to plaintiff in the states of Colorado and Wyoming. The paint was applied to pipelines in those states and any damage complained of was sustained in those two states.

Defendant’s point 4 is that the plea of privilege was erroneously overruled because there is no evidence and insufficient evidence to show that the cause of action sued on or a part thereof arose in Tarrant County.

The evidence in the record shows that as a result of the dealings of plaintiff and defendant with each other between December 15, 1965, and the time the purchases were made in the first half of 1967 of the paint used in the Wyoming and Colorado jobs in question.that the price defendant was offering to sell this paint to plaintiff for had become well established at $6.20 per gallon.

It was also established that defendant’s prices generally included having defendant prepay the freight. So when a new job was obtained by I. C. S., its employees would call defendant prior to ordering any paint for this new job to determine whether there would be any difference in price as a result of the paint being shipped to a different place.

In each instance where defendant had sold to plaintiff the particular type paint in question from the time their dealings first started in December, 1965, and continuing through July, 1967, the price defendant charged plaintiff per gallon for this particular paint was always the same —$6.20 per gallon. And this was true regardless of the destination to which such paint was shipped.

The evidence showed that the particular paint used in the Wyoming and Colorado jobs was sold to plaintiff by defendant as a result of a number of different purchase orders for this paint being placed with defendant by plaintiff during the period starting early in 1967 and ending in July, 1967.

The evidence showed that some of these orders would be phoned in to the defendant’s plant in Houston. Others would be placed by a note being handed to them in Houston by an I. C. S. representative, and still others were placed by I. C. S. making out and executing a purchase order in Arlington (Tarrant County) and mailing it to defendant in Houston. But in every instance where an order of any type was placed by I. C. S. the defendant insisted and required that a written purchase order be prepared by I. C. S. and sent to them in Houston. Such purchase orders would be prepared in Tarrant County.

Prior to the sale by defendant to plaintiff of any of the paint used in the Wyoming and Colorado jobs in question, there were two meetings held between officials of the plaintiff and defendant companies.

Defendant company’s business was that of manufacturing and marketing industrial paints, including a paint used as a coating for the inside of pipelines.

Plaintiff company’s business was that of painting the inside of in-service pipelines.

Defendant’s letter of December 15, 1965, from its president to plaintiff I. C. S. makes it obvious that defendant was quite desirous of selling its internal pipe coating paint to I. C. S. to be used by it in connection with its business.

One of the meetings between officials of the two companies was held at a bank in Fredericksburg. I. C. S. had gotten behind on its account with defendant and owed defendant money. Defendant at that time would not sell plaintiff any further paint unless plaintiff furnished defendant with an irrevocable letter of credit from a bank [929]*929guaranteeing that defendant would be paid for such paint. The purpose of this gathering of the officers at this bank was for defendant to inform plaintiff of the terms on which they would be sold paint for use in the Wyoming and Colorado jobs. Plaintiff’s credit had been cut off. At this meeting the Fredericksburg bank furnished defendant with an irrevocable letter of credit guaranteeing to pay for up to $70,000 worth of paint to be ordered from defendant by plaintiff for the Wyoming and Colorado jobs. This was all done before any paint at all was purchased for these contracts. This met the defendant’s requirement and cleared the road for plaintiff to order paint from defendant.

The other meeting between officials of the two companies was held at Arlington. It involved a discussion of the Wyoming and Colorado jobs that I. C. S. had gotten and of problems related to such jobs.

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Reliance Universal, Inc. v. ICS CORPORATION
452 S.W.2d 926 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1970)

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Bluebook (online)
452 S.W.2d 926, 1970 Tex. App. LEXIS 2572, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reliance-universal-inc-v-ics-corporation-texapp-1970.