S. A. Trufant Commission Co. v. Yazoo & M. V. R.

35 So. 792, 111 La. 633, 1903 La. LEXIS 561
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedNovember 3, 1903
DocketNo. 14,227
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 35 So. 792 (S. A. Trufant Commission Co. v. Yazoo & M. V. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
S. A. Trufant Commission Co. v. Yazoo & M. V. R., 35 So. 792, 111 La. 633, 1903 La. LEXIS 561 (La. 1903).

Opinion

Statement of the Case.

NICHOLLS, C. J.

The plaintiff prayed for judgment against the defendant for $G,135, with legal interest thereon from the 1st of December, 1892, until paid. In its petition the plaintiff alleged: That it was engaged in the commission business and grain business, handling large quantities of grain in the West, which it shipped to and through New Orleans for sale. That it was particularly well known to be engaged in such business by the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Company, all of whose property and obligations had been transferred to and assumed by the defendant,-which was its successor.

That in the regular course of its business during the fall of 1891, in anticipation of the business of the coming season, it applied for and obtained from the Louisville, New Orleans '<& Texas Railway Company, through its general traffic manager, E. W. How, the right of transferring through the elevator of [635]*635said railway company in the city of New Orleans 25,000 bushels of grain, said company agreeing that it would always and at all times have that capacity at the disposal of petitioner, and always and at all times take care of and handle that quantity of grain for it, under the rules and regulations adopted by it and published.

That upon said agreement petitioner made contracts for the sale of grain during said season of 1891 and 1892, and purchased large quantities of grain in the West for shipment to and through the said elevator in New Orleans, the sales and shipments having been made on the faith of and in reliance upon the said agreement. That up to the 15th day of April, 1892, it sustained no loss. That subsequent to said date it suffered loss and damage by reason of the failure of the Louisville, New Orleans & Texas Railway Company to carry out its agreement to keep at the disposal of petitioner room for $25,000 bushels of grain in its elevator, and the failure of said company to transfer from cars-to the elevator, take care of, and handle in said elevator the grain shipped by petitioner to said elevator, within said guaranty, to the extent of 25,000 bushels. That by reason of said company’s overcrowding its elevator, and giving to others the room allotted to it, and not promptly receiving into its elevator under said agreement, it allowed a large number of petitioner’s cars of wheat to remain on the side track and in its yard for a longtime, and at the date when, owing to the weather conditions then prevailing, it was to the knowledge of said company dangerous and negligence of the highest character to allow the wheat to remain in the cars on the side tracks and in the yards, said wheat being thereby to. its knowledge likely to deterioration and to loss in value.

Petitioner annexed to its petition an Exhibit A, which it declared showed by numbers the cars of wheat which defendant permitted to remain on its tracks and in its yards, together with a statement of the quantity of wheat contained therein.

It averred that said wheat was known as No. 3 wheat, which it had sold at the rate, of 82% cents per bushel, and was well worth said sum in the city of New Orleans, but that, owing to the negligence and- delay of the defendant company in unloading these cars into its elevator, the wheat, by reason of its exposure and the length of time it was allowed to remain upon the tracks and in the yards, suffered, and was graded by the inspectors as No. 4 wheat.

That during said season and at the time aforesaid the demand was for No. 3 wheat, there being no demand for No. 4 wheat or other grades of wheat, and all of the wheat passing into and through said elevator was of No. 3 grade. That subsequently, on the 15th of April, 1893, defendant company, well knowing this fact that there was no demand for No. 4 wheat, and that all the wheat it had in its elevator, or which was likely to be handled therein, was of No. 3 grade, as a matter of protection to itself notified petitioner in writing that it would not handle in its elevator any No. 4 wheat, and petitioner relied upon this notice, and also upon the custom and usage of said elevator to notify petitioner and its other patrons whenever any of their wheat misgraded. That under said notice and the custom aforesaid it became the duty of defendant company to notify it that certain cars of wheat belonging to it were claimed to have misgraded, in which case, as was well known to defendant, it had the right to appeal .from the decision of the inspectors and call for a reinspection, and had the right of demanding that its said wheat be placed in special and separate bins, but defendant company, in violation of its aforesaid notice and its well-established mode of dealing, upon which petitioner relied, and without giving it a chance of appealing from the decision of the inspectors, and without petitioner’s knowledge, unloaded and delivered into the elevator all of petitioner’s wheat which had been graded by the inspectors as No. 4 Wheat.

That, having received' notice of the misgrading of its cars of wheat, it immediately exercised its right of appeal from the decision of the grain inspectors, which appeal was rendered of no avail by the unloading of the cars aforesaid.

That its said appeal was made before it had any notice or knowledge of any kind that its said cars of wheat had been unloaded in the elevator, and as soon as petitioner was so informed it protested against the action of the defendant company. Petitioner averred that its wheat was of excellent qual[637]*637ity, and a reinspection of the highest importance.

Plaintiff annexed to its petition an Exhibit B, which it declared contained a list of the cars of wheat which it alleged had been misgraded and graded No. 4 instead of No. 3, and which it averred- had been unloaded into the elevator by defendant company contrary to its notice and agreement.

It alleged further, that, there being no demand that season for No. 4 wheat, it became necessary for its own benefit as well as that of the defendant company, in order to decrease any loss which might be entailed by the negligent acts of the defendant, to do all in its power to dispose of the wheat to the best advantage, and that the only way in ■which it could be disposed of to advantage at the time was by bringing down from the "West sufficient wheat grading No. 2 to enable the aforesaid No. 4 wheat, when mixed with No. 2, to grade No. 3. That, therefore, acting- in the best interest of all concerned, and to decrease the damages, after consultation with the grain inspectors at New .Orleans, it purchased in the West and shipped to New Orleans some 12,000 bushels of No. 2 wheat, which wheat (with the exception of two cars, containing about 1,600 bushels) reached- the city of New Orleans. Said two car loads disappeared, and could never be traced up by the railway company, which paid for the same.

It alleged that when said wheat No. 2 reached New Orleans it was found that the wheat in the elevator which defendant offered to deliver to petitioner for the wheat of petitioner which it had received into its elevator was not No. 4 wheat, but buggy and weevily “no grade” wheat. That, had the defendant company delivered the wheat which it had received into its elevator, and in the condition in which it received it, or even other wheat which graded No. 4, it would have been able, by mixing said No. 2 wheat with the No. 4 wheat, to turn the whole out as No. 3 wheat, and to sell the same as such, thereby sustaining a loss which would have been much smaller than the actual loss.

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125 So. 2d 198 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1960)

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Bluebook (online)
35 So. 792, 111 La. 633, 1903 La. LEXIS 561, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/s-a-trufant-commission-co-v-yazoo-m-v-r-la-1903.