Shipley v. Larrimore

1 Cal. Unrep. 297
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 13, 1866
DocketNo. 580
StatusPublished

This text of 1 Cal. Unrep. 297 (Shipley v. Larrimore) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Shipley v. Larrimore, 1 Cal. Unrep. 297 (Cal. 1866).

Opinion

SAWYER, J.

This is an action to recover the sum of two thousand eight hundred and seventy-five dollars, for moneys paid, laid out and expended by the plaintiff for and on account of defendant at his request. Also fifty dollars for the services' of the plaintiff rendered at defendant’s request in the [298]*298purchase of certain mining stocks. The cause of action is stated in the usual form of the common counts applicable to such demands, and the answer consists simply of denials of the allegations of the complaint. Plaintiff recovered and defendant appealed. The parties were examined on their own behalf, and the testimony of the plaintiff tended to show that defendant employed plaintiff, a stock broker, to purchase shares in a certain mining company; that plaintiff made inquiry 'as to what the stock could be bought for, and having ■ascertained the price reported it to the defendant; that defendant directed him to purchase ten shares at a price not exceeding a sum named, on thirty days’ time, twenty per cent to be paid down; that he made the purchase at a few dollars less than the amount authorized, and a few minutes after reported the purchase to defendant, who was satisfied with it, and promised to bring the twenty per cent advance on, Monday morning' — the purchase having been made late Saturday evening; that on Monday morning defendant said that he was disappointed in getting the money to pay the advance; that plaintiff then informed him that the stock had advanced, and he could sell so as to make for him some four hundred dollars, and advised a sale; that defendant expressed an opinion that the stock would go to a much higher figure, and asked plaintiff to advance him the money to make the payment, and thus enable him to hold the stocks, promising to secure it by a conveyance of some real estate; that plaintiff thereupon made the advance for the benefit of defendant and at his request, and on the same day, after the interview with defendant, signed a written contract with the seller for the purchase, but in his own name, and the stock was deposited with Dona-hoe, Ralston & Co., bankers, subject to plaintiff’s order on payment of balance; that on. the following day plaintiff and defendant met again, when defendant declined to execute the conveyance agreed upon, saying there was litigation about the property intended to be conveyed; that he then knew the advance had been made, and said “he would fix it in a few days”; that plaintiff saw no more of defendant till the 8th of February, the day on which the balance of purchase money fell due, when he again appeared in response to a note addressed to him by the plaintiff in regard to the matter and repudiated the whole transaction; that plaintiff then offered [299]*299him the stocks, and demanded payment, which was' refused by defendant, who denied that they were purchased by his authority; that plaintiff had the stocks in his possession at the time; that plaintiff told him that he should sell the stocks in the board of brokers and sue defendant for the difference; and informed defendant that it was customary to sell delinquent stock in the board; that he did sell, either on that or the following day, in the evening board, at a large loss. Plaintiff’s testimony was corroborated in many material particulars by other testimony.

The defendant in his testimony admitted conversations about the purchase, but denied that he employed or authorized plaintiff to malee the purchase; or that he requested him to make the advance; or that he promised to deed the real estate as security, and he wholly repudiated the purchases. On this.conflicting evidence the jury found the facts for the plaintiff, and the verdict, so far as the facts are concerned, must control the decision.

On this state of the pleadings and evidence, the points made and discussed by the appellants do not appear to me to arise in the case.

The first point is, that “The contract (the written contract of purchase signed by the vendor and plaintiff) was not the contract of defendant, because under seal, and the defendant nowhere appears as a party to it, and the plaintiff nowhere appears as the agent of the defendant.” But the question is not whether the vendor could maintain, an action on that instrument against the defendant in this suit. This suit is on a contract alleged to have been made by the defendant with the plaintiff by which the plaintiff purchased certain stocks for the defendant and advanced the money to pay for them a.t defendant’s request. The plaintiff alleges that he did make the purchase and advance at defendant’s request, and the defendant denies it, and the jury find against the defendant on the issue. It does not matter that the plaintiff, in dealing with other parties, made the purchase in his own name. He purchased stocks for the defendant and had them to deliver. The defendant found no fault before suit brought because the plaintiff made the purchase in his own name. He put his refusal to take the stocks on other grounds. The plaintiff himself also advanced the money to pay for the stocks at de[300]*300fendant’s request, and, unless there was some agreement to the contrary, he was entitled to hold them until reimbursed: Horton v. Morgan, 19 N. Y. 172, 75 Am. Dec. 311. But defendant denied that he employed the plaintiff to purchase at all, or that he requested him to make the advances. This is the sole ground upon which he repudiates the transaction.

The second point is, that the act of the plaintiff in buying the stock in his own name, without the consent, knowledge or ratification of the defendants, is a conversion of the stock by the plaintiff, and a waiver of all claim for advances and commissions. And the third: That the premature sale of the stocks in the board by the plaintiff without the knowledge of the defendant, or notice to him, was a conversion.

As to the second point, we are n.ot authorized by the record to say that the purchase in the name of the plaintiff wras without the consent, knowledge or ratification of the defendant. But there is no question of conversion in the case. No such defense was set up in the answer. The defendant did not claim, and does not now claim, that he ever had any interest in the stocks. His whole defense is upon the theory that he did not employ plaintiff to make the purchase, or request him to advance the money, and did not have any right to the stocks. He repudiated the authority to purchase at all, or to advance money on his account. He did this before the sale of the stocks while they were still in the possession and under the control of plaintiff, and refused to take them or pay for them on that ground, and no other. He did not claim the stocks or any interest in them. He said he never employed the plaintiff to buy any stock, or requested him to advance money on his account, therefore he would not have anything to do with them, nor did he claim the stocks on the 9th, or at any time after, nor does he now claim them. His defense and testimony to support it all goes upon the theory that there never was any agreement between him and plaintiff of any kind whatever in relation to the subject matter. On this ground he planted himself, and on this ground he must stand or fall. There was no agreement that plaintiff should wait thirty days for his advance. The thirty days ’ time was given on the purchase of the stocks, and before the expiration of this time defendant declined to take them, and left the stocks on the plaintiff’s hands. As defendant refused to take and [301]*301claimed, no interest in them, plaintiff was not bound to hold them longer subject to his order.

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Bluebook (online)
1 Cal. Unrep. 297, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/shipley-v-larrimore-cal-1866.