Stanton v. Estey Manufacturing Co.

51 N.W. 101, 90 Mich. 12, 1892 Mich. LEXIS 577
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 22, 1892
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 51 N.W. 101 (Stanton v. Estey Manufacturing Co.) 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
Stanton v. Estey Manufacturing Co., 51 N.W. 101, 90 Mich. 12, 1892 Mich. LEXIS 577 (Mich. 1892).

Opinion

McGrath, J.

This is trover for the conversion of certain logs.

Plaintiff, acting for Dwight & Co., of Detroit, prior to February. 23, 1889, had arranged with J. W. Holm, [14]*14who had a saw-mill at Middleton, that he (Stanton) should furnish the cash and pay for logs to be delivered at Holm’s mill; that Holm should saw the logs into lumber; that Dwight & Co. would take the lumber at certain fixed prices; that Holm should retain the mill culls, and be charged, as against the price to be paid for the lumber, the price paid for the logs, and Dwight & Co. should pay the difference. About 80,000 feet of logs were bought under this agreement, delivered at Holm’s mill, and about 8,000 feet had been sawed and the lumber delivered. Dwight & Co. became involved, and on the date last named executed a chattel mortgage to plaintiff covering these logs, with others at other points, to secure the payment of certain drafts drawn by Stanton on Dwight & Co. and held by certain banks. The chattel mortgage was filed in Detroit, and in the township where Holm’s mill is located. On April 17, 1889, an agreement was entered into between Stanton, Dwight & Co., and the banks holding the paper, by the terms of which Dwight & Co. waived the conditions of the power of sale in the mortgage, and it was agreed that Stanton should have full power and authority to proceed under the mortgage, manufacture the logs into lumber, pay the expenses, take up the drafts aforesaid, and pay the surplus, if any, over to Dwight & Co. Stanton thereupon assigned the mortgage to himself as trustee. When Holm learned of Dwight & Co.’s financial embarrassment, he shut down the mill, and in March following gave a bill of sale of the logs to. Phinney, and Phinney sold to defendant.

Defendant contends that Dwight & Co. had simply advanced the money to buy the logs, and that the title to the logs vested in Holm, and, in any event, that, plaintiff having placed the logs in Holm’s possession and stamped them with Holm’s log-mark, defendant is [15]*15an innocent purchaser without notice and for value, and plaintiff is estopped from setting up title as against defendant.

The jury found for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.

Several assignments of error relate to the admission and exclusion of evidence as to the quantity and value of the logs, and the amount paid for them; but the court instructed the jury that, if they found for the plaintiff, I think there is no dispute about the amount; it has been testified to, and the figures here given are conceded to be correct.”

The admissions and concessions of counsel are not always made during the taking of testimony. They may be made during the argument, and in such case do not appear in the record. If recited in the court’s instructions to the jury, such concessions will be presumed to have been made, unless the record shows that immediately, or before the jury has retired, the court’s attention has been called to the matter, and an opportunity given to the court to correct the charge in that respect. Here no question was raised until the errors were assigned, and in such case it will be presumed that the court was warranted in so instructing the jury. This being the case, the question of the quantity and value of the logs, and the amount paid for them, was not determined by the jury, and the admission or rejection of testimony regarding those matters will not be considered here.

Defendant insists that, inasmuch as plaintiff is described in the declaration as Erastus J. Stanton, trustee,” he cannot recover; but this point is expressly ruled by Smith v. Pinney, 86 Mich. 484, 492.1

[16]*16Error is assigned upon the admission of the chattel mortgage, and because the court allowed proof of the filing of the same in the township. The chattel mortgage was part of plaintiff’s chain of title. The agreement referred to it, and it was properly admitted. The admission of proof that it was filed in the township, could not have prejudiced defendant. Defendant did not claim through the mortgagors, and the proof of filing did not aid plaintiff’s title. It is urged, however,, that the jury may have regarded the filing as constructive notice of title. No such claim was made for it. Uncontradicted testimony shows that defendant had actual notice of plaintiff’s claim of title before defendant paid for the logs, and that Phinney had sufficient notice to put him upon inquiry. Actual notice having been shown, defendant could not have been prejudiced by proof which the jury may have regarded as tending to-show constructive notice.

The defendant requested the court to instruct the jury as follows:

“1. If the jury find, from the evidence that the mark J. H. was the mark of Holm & Butterfield, which was used to designate logs belonging to them, and that said mark was put upon the logs in question with the knowledge of Dwight & Co.’s agent, and that the defendant is an innocent purchaser of said logs, then your verdict should be for the defendant.
“2. The plaintiff in this case is a trustee of some of the creditors of Dwight & Co., and the only interest, title, or right he has to maintain this action is derived from an instrument dated April 17, 1889, and marked in this case ‘Exhibit B,’ which it is claimed creates such trust. Such paper does not create in him or give him any control over rights of action that had accrued to Dwight & Co. at the time the logs were taken possession of by the defendant, which the declaration alleges and the evidence shows to have been on the 22d day of March, 1889, which is several days prior to plaintiff’s claim. Tour verdict will therefore be for defendant.
[17]*17“3. There is no evidence in this case that Exhibit A (being a chattel mortgage given to Mr. Stanton by Dwight & Co.) was ever recorded in the city of Detroit, Mich., where the mortgagors reside, and there is no evidence to show that the defendant ever had any notice of such mortgage; therefore you will not consider it; and as Mr. Stanton, the plaintiff, did not take possession of the logs before the defendant purchased, it is therefore void as to defendant, and your verdict will be for the defendant.”

The court refused, and error is assigned upon such refusal.

1. The testimony was uncontradicted that when Post, who was defendant’s agent, the man who scaled the logs for defendant, and who superintended the sawing of them into lumber for defendant, came to Middleton to scale and take possession of the logs, before the quantity had been ascertained and before any money had been paid upon them, Naldredt, who was acting for plaintiff, told Post that the logs belonged to Dwight & Co., and warned him not to touch them. Notice to defendant’s agent was notice to defendant, and the defendant could not thereafter be regarded as an innocent purchaser. The testimony showed that the logs were marked with Holm’s mark because the stamp used by Dwight & Co. was broken. It was not claimed that defendant relied upon the manner in which the logs were marked, or that any of its officers or agents ever saw the logs before the purchase was concluded, except that they had not been inspected, nor had the quantity been determined, and before this was done, or any money paid, defendant was informed of plaintiff’s claim of title.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
51 N.W. 101, 90 Mich. 12, 1892 Mich. LEXIS 577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/stanton-v-estey-manufacturing-co-mich-1892.