Spur Bottling Co. v. Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc.

98 F. Supp. 972, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2339
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedJuly 17, 1951
DocketCiv. No. 925
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 98 F. Supp. 972 (Spur Bottling Co. v. Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spur Bottling Co. v. Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Inc., 98 F. Supp. 972, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2339 (W.D. Ark. 1951).

Opinion

JOHN E. MILLER, District Judge.

A motion for summary judgment under Rule 56 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A., has been filed by the defendant and written briefs in support of and in opposition to the motion have been filed by the attorneys for the respective parties.

The motion alleges “that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that defendant is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” It is further alleged that the motion is based upon (a) the pleadings, (b) the admissions on file set forth in pretrial conference order of January 22, 1951, and (c) the admissions on file set forth in stipulation signed by respective attorneys for plaintiff and defendant.

Rule 56(b), provides that ,a party against whom a claim is asserted may, at any time, move with or without supporting affidavits for a summary judgment in his favor as to all or any part of the claim.

In Subsection (c) of the Rule it is provided: “The judgment sought shall be rendered forthwith if the pleadings, depositions, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. A summary judgment, interlocutory in character, may be rendered on the issue of liability alone although there is a genuine issue as to the amount of damages.”

In Ramsouer v. Midland Valley Railroad Company, 8 Cir., 135 F.2d 101-105-196, the court said: “the issue to be tried on a motion for summary judgment is whether or not there is a genuine issue as to any material fact, and not how that issue should be determined. In considering such a motion as in a motion for a directed verdict, the court should take that view of the evidence most favorable to the party against whom it is directed, giving to that party the benefit of all favorable inferences that may reasonably be drawn from the evidence. If, when so viewed, reasonable men might reach different conclusions, the motion should be denied and the case tried on its merits.”

In Sartor v. Arkansas Natural Gas Corporation, 321 U.S. 620, 64 S.Ct. 724, 88 L.Ed. 967, the Supreme Court held that the rule authorizes summary judgment only where the moving party is entitled to judgment as a matter of law, where it is quite clear what the truth is, and that no genuine issue remains for trial. It is not the purpose of the rule to cut litigants off from their right of trial by jury if they really have issues to try.

No affidavits have been filed by either party and the question whether a genuine issue as to any material fact exists must be determined upon the pleadings, with their exhibits, and the admissions of the parties made at a pre-trial conference and the facts set forth in the stipulations signed by the.respective attorneys and filed herein.

The record, consisting of the above, discloses the uncontradicted facts to be as follows:

(1) The original complaint was filed on September 29, 1950. The answer to that complaint was filed November 8, 1950.

(2) The plaintiff is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Arkansas with its principal place of business in the City of Fort Smith in said State.

The defendant is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Delaware [974]*974and on all dates material herein was engaged in business in the State of Arkansas.

The amount in controversy exceeds in value the sum of $3,000.00, exclusive of interest and costs.

On February 20, 1939, Barq’s Bottling Company was organized as a corporation under the laws of Arkansas with its principal place of business in Fort Smith in said State. On April 14, 1947, an Amendment to the Articles of Incorporation was duly executed and filed 'by which the name of the corporation was changed to Spur Bottling Company.

(3) On August 27, 1947, the plaintiff and defendant entered into a distributorship agreement whereby the defendant appointed the plaintiff as exclusive distributor for Canada Dry beverages in certain designated territories. That contract was canceled on January 17, 1949, and was superseded by another contract to become effective as of December 1, 1948. The contract which became effective on December 1, 1948, is evidenced by a letter, a copy of which is attached to the original complaint. Under the terms of the letter-contract, the plaintiff was appointed as distributor for Canada Dry beverages in the territory described in a license agreement existing between the parties and the distributorship was subject to the conditions set forth in the letter-contract. Briefly, those conditions were that the distributorship should cover only the products and sizes which the defendant should advise the plaintiff from time to time were available for sale in the territory. All orders for merchandise and payments therefor were to be sent to the defendant at its Dallas, Texas, Office. Provisions were made as to prices to be paid and the time of payment therefor. There was no stipulation that the plaintiff should purchase any specific amount of merchandise from the defendant but generally it was provided that the plaintiff would distribute the products of the defendant and account for all bottles and material furnished the plaintiff by the defendant.

The letter-contract contained the following agreement:

“In the event that this agreement shall be terminated for any reason other than commencement of operations as a licensed bottler, then you shall return to us all re* usable empty bottles and cases which you have in inventory and we shall refund to you the amount of deposits which you shall have paid thereon. You shall also return any full goods which you may have in inventory and we shall refund to you the price at which they were originally billed to you.
“The distributorship agreement shall be terminated by either party upon ten (10) days’ written notice to the other or, in the event that our license agreement with you should be terminated or canceled for any reason whatsoever, this agreement shall be deemed automatically terminated.”

Under this letter-contract the plaintiff worked the territory with specially built and equipped trucks, bearing appropriate advertising thereon, and devoted all of its time to the business of manufacturing and selling bottled Canada Dry products and building up the good will for the defendant’s products in the territory covered by the distributorship agreement and license agreement hereinafter mentioned, and was so engaged at the time the distributorship agreement and license agreement were terminated by the defendant.

(4) Subsequent to the filing of the answer the case was set for trial on January 29, 1951, but, prior to that date and on January 22, a pre-trial conference was held. At that conference the issues in the case were discussed and it was admitted by the plaintiff that the contract upon which it bases its claim is evidenced by the letter dated January 17, 1949, addressed to it and written by the defendant and attached to the complaint as Exhibit “A”.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
98 F. Supp. 972, 1951 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2339, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spur-bottling-co-v-canada-dry-ginger-ale-inc-arwd-1951.