Skillman Lumber Co. v. Love

183 N.W. 210, 214 Mich. 399, 1921 Mich. LEXIS 672
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJune 6, 1921
DocketDocket No. 99
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 183 N.W. 210 (Skillman Lumber Co. v. Love) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Skillman Lumber Co. v. Love, 183 N.W. 210, 214 Mich. 399, 1921 Mich. LEXIS 672 (Mich. 1921).

Opinion

Stone, J.

The plaintiff - is a Michigan corporation, doing business at Grand Rapids. Defendant is doing' business at Pine Bluff, Arkansas, as J. C. Love Lumber Company. In this action plaintiff sued defendant to recover damages because of defendant’s alleged breach of a contract to deliver to plaintiff two car loads, of [400]*400lumber. Under the plea of the general issue the defendant gave notice that if any contract was made as alleged by plaintiff, it was, on or about March 28, 1919, canceled by the plaintiff by its refusal to accept further shipments thereunder, which cancellation rendered said contract of no further force or effect. The contract and the relation existing between the parties are, as testified to by plaintiff, “all fixed and determined by the correspondence,” all of which was received in evidence and is embodied in the record. The case was tried by the court without a jury and resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff for $766 damages, and costs.

Defendant having requested special findings, the court below made and filed certain findings of fact and conclusions of law, and found that plaintiff was entitled to recovery for the following reasons:

“1. That there was a full, complete and definite contract between the parties for four cars of lumber which contract was never canceled by the parties.
“2. The defendant shipped two cars of lumber under the contract, but definitely refused to ship the other two cars of lumber to plaintiff, and has never done so.
“3. The defendant having breached the contract on November 2, 1919, the plaintiff is entitled to recover as his damages for breach of said contract the difference between the contract price and the market price at the time of the breach.”

The defendant duly proposed amendments to said findings, all of which were refused, and exceptions were duly taken to such refusal.

Prior to February 21, 1919, there was some correspondence between the parties relative to lumber which defendant had for sale, and which plaintiff might purchase. An intelligent statement of the correspondence must necessarily be somewhat lengthy. After a careful reading and consideration of the record we [401]*401think that the following statement sets forth the dealings and material correspondence of the parties: On or about February 21, 1919, the plaintiff sent to the defendant its order 2,012 for lumber reading as follows:

“Purchasing Order.
“Date: Feb. 21, 1919.
Our Order No. 2,012.
Shipping Date: See below.
Routing: See below.
“To J. C. Love Lumber Co.,
“Address, Pine Bluff, Ark.
“Ship to Skillman Lumber Co.,
“Delivery, Grand Rapids, Mich.
“Charge to Skillman Lumber Co.
“Terms 2 per cent, off for cash in 10 days, net 90 days note from date of invoice.
“Four cars of approximately 15 M. feet each 5/4 No. 1 common to' include the selects, plain sap gum at $35.50 per M. f. o. b. cars Grand Rapids, Michigan, buyer to pay war tax on freight bill.
“Lumber to be good widths, standard lengths, well manufactured, thoroughly dry, and no No. 2 common to be included. We must have a good straight car of No. 1 common, to be subject to the National Association rules of inspection.
“You may load one car of this stock at any time that suits your convenience, and ship it as stated above, and be sure to get our name right, and specify on the bill of lading, routing to be I. C. and P. M. from Chicago.
“If this car is satisfactory when it comes in, then we will take the other three cars to be shipped at the rate of one per month, or faster if we can get our customers to take it.
“Yours truly,
“Skillman Lumber Co.”

On receipt of this order, and on February 24, 1919, the defendant wrote the plaintiff, in part, as follows:

“Replying to yours of the 21st, enclosing order for 5/4 common sap gum, we thank you for this business. [402]*402We are operating our business on a small capital and it is very necessary that our invoices are paid promptly, in order that we may continue in business. In selling you this stock it was our understanding that the, terms were to be regular 2 per cent, off for cash, or 60 days net. We note on your order you have the terms 2 per cent. 10 days, or net 90 day note. We trust that you will be able to discount these invoices.”

The first car of lumber shipped under order 2,012, being car 84,011, was invoiced February 28, 1919, and was received by the plaintiff on March 27, 1919. Plaintiff did not pay for the car on terms of 2 per cent, off for cash 10 days, net 90 . day note from date of invoice, but paid for it with two notes dated April 19, 1919, and due respectively on July 16th and July 22, 1919. The date of the invoice was February 28th. The car was not satisfactory to the plaintiff, and, on the day of its receipt, plaintiff wrote defendant as follows:

“Please do not ship any more lumber on our order 2,012, until you hear from us again. This stock that you are sending us.is not satisfactory to us. We are going to write you fully in a day or two.”

On March 28, 1919, plaintiff again wrote defendant as follows:

“We are able to give you a report on the cars that have come in and been turned over to our customer, and been unloaded either by them or by ourselves in our yard, some of which have been refused by our customer because the stock was not what they bought, nor what we bought, and we have had them unloaded in our yard. We have commented on each car, and we cannot take any more of your stock, and neither can we settle for these cars, as we had agreed to do, for the reason that if the stock had been what we bought or bargained for, it could have gone direct to our customer, and we would have been able to give you a settlement as per the terms agreed upon. Now, please cancel any unfilled orders that you have from [403]*403us, and let us hear from you about the cars that we are reporting on.”

The only unfilled order at that time, appearing in this record, was order 2,012, the one in question.

On March 31,1919, defendant wrote plaintiff in part as follows:

“We want you to let us complete the 5/4 common sap order, and the writer will load this out himself, as we are anxious to find out just what grade your people require. We will not ship you any more stock until we get this matter cleared up.”

To this letter there was the following reply by plaintiff, dated April 3, 1919:

“We note contents of yours of 31st of last month, and as stated in our previous letter, we do not want to take in any more of your lumber until such time as we come to a satisfactory settlement on what has been shipped.”

On April 24th plaintiff wrote defendant as follows:

“Now, there are three cars of 5/4 No.

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Bluebook (online)
183 N.W. 210, 214 Mich. 399, 1921 Mich. LEXIS 672, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/skillman-lumber-co-v-love-mich-1921.