South Dakota Wheat Growers' Ass'n v. Farmers' Grain Co.

237 N.W. 723, 58 S.D. 480, 1931 S.D. LEXIS 108
CourtSouth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 17, 1931
DocketFile No. 7139
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 237 N.W. 723 (South Dakota Wheat Growers' Ass'n v. Farmers' Grain Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering South Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
South Dakota Wheat Growers' Ass'n v. Farmers' Grain Co., 237 N.W. 723, 58 S.D. 480, 1931 S.D. LEXIS 108 (S.D. 1931).

Opinion

RUDOLPH, J.

This is an action brought to recover the value of approximately 13,000 bushels of durum wheat. The action was tried to- the court, judgment was entered for the plaintiff, and, from an order denying a motion for a new trial, the defendant has appealed. There is no material dispute in the facts. The defendant elevator company was engaged in the grain warehouse business at Firesteel, S. D. The plaintiff is the owner of a large number of grain warehouse receipts issued by the defendant elevator company during the fall of 1928. The plaintiff on January 18, 1929, made a demand upon the -defendant company for a delivery of the wheat represented by the receipts, at Firesteel, -S. D. The defendant company through its manager advised the plaintiff that it could not deliver this wheat at Firesteel, whereupon the plaintiff demanded delivery at Minneapolis, Minn., claiming that Minneapolis was a terminal market within the meaning of section 9753) Revised Co-d’e of South Dakota for the year 19191. The plaintiff at the time of making its demand tendered, the warehouse receipts and storage charges against the stored grain, and later deposited the receipts and the storage charges in the Bank of Timber Lake at Timber Lake, S. D., which bank was agreed upon by the parties. The plaintiff did not tender any freight charges. The defendant refused to deliver the durum wheat at Minneapolis, and gave as its reasons therefor that it was unable to deliver this particular kind of wheat at Minneapolis, and further that Minneapolis was not a terminal market within the meaning of section 9753 for this particular kind of wheat. The wheat represented by the tickets was wheat known to the wheat trade as “exportable durum.” The evidence further disclosed, and the court found as a fact, that on January 18, 1929, the date upon which the demand was mad'e by the plaintiff for the redelivery of the wheat, the defendant corporation had no wheat either in its warehouse at Firesteel, S. D-., or at any terminal market, of the kind, grade, and quality described in the warehouse receipts, and that prior to January 18, 1929, the defendant corporation had shipped- and sold all of the durum wheat [483]*483described in the warehouse receipts. The defendant -in its answer and at the time that demand was made upon it for the durum wheat covered by the receipts offered- to make delivery of the same grade, kind, and quality of wheat at Duluth, Minn.

The first question presented is whether Minneapolis, Minn., is a terminal market within the meaning of section 9753, which section in part provides as follows: “In the event of conditions arising that would prevent such warehouse or elevator from, delivering the grain covered by such receipts, at its elevator, it shall have the right to make the delivery at the terminal market which the owner of such receipts may designate, where such warehouse or elevator ships its grain.”

Neither party to this action has- attempted to- give any definition of a terminal market, and we have been unable to find any such definition. If the term “terminal market” has any general or accepted meaning, there has been no attempt to bring that before this court. It is necessary, therefore, to look to the law itself, and the manner in which the grain business is conducted, and determine the meaning of the term “terminal market” as- used in the statute.

There are certain facts in the system of grain marketing that are generally recognized. In the marketing of grain, the grain is first deposited in the local or country elevators. These elevators are only large enough to accommodate sufficient grain- to facilitate marketing, 'and a shipment of the great bulk of, the grain to the large or central markets is necessary. Having been received into the local or country elevator, the grain is there loaded into- cars and shipped to the large market where there are great elevators to store and hold this grain, and it -is there deposited in one of these great elevators and a warehouse receipt issued' covering the grain. Through this receipt the grain goes into- commerce, and it may he sold and resold many times with the transference of this receipt. From this central market it -is finally again loaded into cars or ships and sent to its final desination. At these central markets large stocks of this grain accumulate in these great elevators, and it is there available for the trade.

Our statute contemplates a delivery of the grain, not the identical grain, but only grain of the same amount, kind', and quality. National Bank of Wheaton, Minn., v. Elkins, 37 S. D. [484]*484479, 159 N. W. 60. The warehouse receipt, in form prescribed by the Board of Railroad Commissioners, provides for a redelivery of the grain, or grain of like amount, kind, and quality. In view of this fact, that is, that the statute and the contract between the parties contemplates a redelivery of grain of like amount, kind, and quality, either at the elevator or at the terminal market, it is onty reasonable to conclude that in the use of the term, “terminal market” the law designates that place where the particular kind of grain in the ordinaiy and natural course of the trade accumulates in the larg’e elevators in storage, where large stocks of this gram are available, and the transfer of the grain is accomplished by a transfer of the warehouse receipt issued1 against -it.

The facts in this case with reference to whether or not Minneapolis is a terminal market, for the particular kind of grain covered by the storage tickets, are not in any material manner in dispute. The grain was described as No. 1 mixed durum; this is a grade of wheat that is not of milling quality, and is known to the. trade as “exportable durum.” Minneapolis is the recognized market for milling durum, whereas Duluth is the recognized market for the poorer grades of durum which are used for export purposes, such as the grain covered by the warehouse receipts in this case. In shipping this kind of grain from points from which it must pass through 'Minneapolis on its way to Duluth, the railroad companies give the privilege of trying’ the market at Minneapolis. At Minneapolis there is a limited quantity of the “exportable durum” purchased for manufacture of low grade flours ■and for feed purposes. At Minneapolis also there are buyers of this kind of wheat who buy it at Minneapolis but for delivery at Duluth; these buyers buy the wheat at Minneapolis on the basis of delivery at Duluth, and the wheat is unloaded at Duluth. If a satisfactory bid is not received for the car of this wheat offered at Minneapolis, it is continued on its wajr to Duluth, where it is sold to the best possible advantag’e upon arrival, without any additional freight charge because of the stop-over in Minneapolis. There are no stocks of this so-called “exportable durum” accumulated in Minneapolis, but stocks of this grain are accumulated in the warehouses in Duluth. It is not disputed but that from January 18, 1929, the date that the demand was made, and until April 17, 1929, the date this action was started, an amount of this kind [485]*485of grain equal in amount to that covered ¡by the storage tickets could have been bought on the “spot market” car by car at Minneapolis. By “spot market” is meant the actual offerings of grain car by car at the Minneapolis Chamber of Commerce.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Robert L. Preston v. United States
696 F.2d 528 (Seventh Circuit, 1982)
United States v. United Marketing Ass'n
220 F. Supp. 299 (N.D. Iowa, 1963)
Dilley v. Gruver
98 S.W.2d 368 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1936)
State Ex Rel. Harding v. Hoover Grain Co.
248 N.W. 275 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1933)
Utne v. McCabe Bros.
237 N.W. 775 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1931)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
237 N.W. 723, 58 S.D. 480, 1931 S.D. LEXIS 108, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/south-dakota-wheat-growers-assn-v-farmers-grain-co-sd-1931.