Sanger Lumber Co. v. Western Lumber Exchange

222 P. 609, 128 Wash. 335, 1924 Wash. LEXIS 1008
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 31, 1924
DocketNo. 18217
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 222 P. 609 (Sanger Lumber Co. v. Western Lumber Exchange) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sanger Lumber Co. v. Western Lumber Exchange, 222 P. 609, 128 Wash. 335, 1924 Wash. LEXIS 1008 (Wash. 1924).

Opinion

Main, C. J.

This action is the aftermath of a decision of this court in Sanger Lumber Co. v. Western Lumber Exchange, 123 Wash. 418, 212 Pac. 580. Briefly stated, the facts were: In November, 1919, the plaintiff and defendant (and by those appellations we will continue to call them, as both parties are appealing here) entered into a written contract for the manufacture of lumber by the plaintiff and sale by the defendant. The defendant was to make certain ad-[336]*336vanees to the plaintiff to assist in the plaintiff’s logging and sawmill operations. As interpreted in the prior decision, this contract was one creating the relationship of principal and agent between the plaintiff and the defendant, by which the defendant as agent was to sell the lumber manufactured by the plaintiff at a priee to be agreed upon, and to retain $2 per thousand feet for its service in making the sale. The plaintiff claims that out of these sales, the defendant had no right to retain any amount other than its commission, but was compelled to account to the plaintiff for the entire sum received by it, less the commission, and relies upon a statement in the 123 Washington Report which it contends so interprets the contract. On the other hand, the defendant claims that the contract gave it the right to retain out of the amounts received by it from purchasers charges made on account of advancements, and calls attention to another paragraph in the same opinion to that effect. Whether the contract expressly allowed the defendant to deduct from the amount received from purchasers charges on account of its advancements to the plaintiff or was entirely silent on this subject is immaterial; for, in the absence of a provision to the contrary, the law is* settled that, where an agent has made advancements for his principal, he has a right to reimburse himself for all such advancements from funds belonging to his principal which are in his hands. Mechem on Agency (1st ed.), § 652. So that we may take it as settled under the contract that the defendant had the right to retain any of the funds arising from the sales which were necessary to reimburse the defendant for advancements which it had made.

The case in 123 Washington was one against the defendant claiming that the contract had been breached, [337]*337and asking for damages; and to that action the defendant counter-claimed, setting up that there was a balance due to it from the plaintiff of $16,000 for advancements made under the contract, the advancements above referred to. Upon the trial of that case judgment was entered dismissing the plaintiff’s cause of action and giving the defendant a judgment against the plaintiff for-$16,500 on account of the advancements. The plaintiff appealed, and on February 3, 1923, this court affirmed the judgment in so far as it denied relief to the plaintiff, and reversed it in so far as it awarded any judgment to the defendant, holding that there had been no breach of the contract between the parties and saying:

“. . . neither of the parties to this action has been at fault under the contract, and the result of that conclusion must be that the contract stands just as it would have stood had not this suit been brought, . . . This is one of those cases where the parties should be left in identically the same position as they would have been in had this litigation not occurred.”

The plaintiff had furnished no supersedeas bond on that appeal, and after the judgment had been entered in the trial court, the defendant procured execution to be regularly issued on the judgment in its favor, directed to the sheriff of Whitman county, who, in pursuance of the execution, levied upon certain lumber situated at Tekoa which had been manufactured by the. plaintiff and which lay piled along the railroad, and on February 23, 1922, held an execution sale, at which the defendant purchased the lumber. Immediately thereafter, the defendant procured buyers for the lumber which it had secured on the execution, and in May and June, 1922, sold all of the lumber at the highest, price obtainable on the market.

[338]*338After the remittitur had gone down, following the decision in 123 Wash., the plaintiff proceeded to secure a writ of restitution to have returned to it its property or the value thereof taken under execution, by virtue of §1742, Rem. Comp. Stat. [P. C. §7327], providing as follows:

“If by a decision of the supreme court the appellant becomes entitled to a restoration of any part of the money or property that was taken from him by means of the judgment or order appealed from, either the supreme court or the court below may direct an execution or writ of restitution to issue for the purpose of restoring to the appellant his property, or the value thereof. But property acquired by a purchaser in good faith, under a judgment subsequently reversed, shall not be affected by such reversal. ’ ’

The hearing on the plaintiff’s application resulted in the court making the following findings, conclusions and judgments:

“Findings.
“I. That pursuant to the execution heretofore issued in this cause, at the instance pf defendant, the sheriff of Whitman county offered for sale and sold at public auction at Tekoa, Washington, on the 23rd day of February, 1922, 603,000 feet of lumber of the plaintiff, Sanger Lumber Company, of the reasonable market value, at the time of said sale, of $15 per M, or a total of $9,045.
“II. That at said public sale defendant, Western Lumber Exchange, a corporation, through and in the name of its agent, A. T. Allen, became the purchaser of said lumber, though it did not pay or cause to be paid anything whatever of value to said sheriff or to anyone else therefor.
“III. That on the 3rd day of February, 1923, the judgment of this court in favor of defendant, Western Lumber Exchange, on which said execution was issued, was reversed, set aside and held for naught by the Supreme Court of the State of Washington.
[339]*339“IV. That defendant, "Western Lumber Exchange, immediately following said sheriff’s sale, took possession of said lumber and thereafter sold, removed and converted the proceeds thereof to its own use.
“V. That no supersedeas bond was furnished by the said plaintiff on the said appeal.
“VI. That at all times from the rendition of the judgment aforesaid from the superior court and at the time of the hearing of this proceeding, plaintiff was indebted to defendant in a sum in excess of $16,000 for advancements made under their contract heretofore mentioned.
“From the foregoing Facts the court draws the following
“Conclusions op Law
“I. That defendant should be required by order of court to pay into the register of this court for the use and benefit of plaintiff, the said sum of $9,045, with interest thereon at the rate of 6% per annum from the 23rd day of February, 1922, together with plaintiff’s costs and disbursements incurred in this proceeding and taxed by the Clerk at $............................
“II. That said order should provide for the holding of said moneys by the Clerk of this court for the period of sixty days and for the repayment thereof at the end of that period to the defendant unless in the.

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Related

Plaza Farmers Union Warehouse & Elevator Co. v. Tomlinson
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Sanger Lumber Co. v. Western Lumber Exchange
11 F.2d 489 (Ninth Circuit, 1926)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
222 P. 609, 128 Wash. 335, 1924 Wash. LEXIS 1008, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sanger-lumber-co-v-western-lumber-exchange-wash-1924.