State ex rel. Yellowstone Park Co. v. District Court of the Fourth Judicial District

502 P.2d 23, 160 Mont. 262, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 740, 1972 Mont. LEXIS 378
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 18, 1972
DocketNo. 12292
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 502 P.2d 23 (State ex rel. Yellowstone Park Co. v. District Court of the Fourth Judicial District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
State ex rel. Yellowstone Park Co. v. District Court of the Fourth Judicial District, 502 P.2d 23, 160 Mont. 262, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 740, 1972 Mont. LEXIS 378 (Mo. 1972).

Opinion

PEE CURIAM:

Relator, Yellowstone Park Company, applied to this Court for a writ of supervisory control or other appropriate order granting relief from the order of the district court of the fourth judicial district, county of Missoula, dated May 25, 1972, wherein the district court granted plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment on the issue of liability. This Court issued an order to show cause on June 5, 1972. Briefs were submitted and oral argument had.

Relator Yellowstone Park Company is the defendant in two separate civil actions consolidated for trial in the district court. The district court cases are: “Handee Foods, Inc., Plaintiff v. Yellowstone Park Company, Defendant”, Cause No. 35336; and “Natinal Business Factors, Inc., Plaintiff v. Yellowstone Park Company, Defendant”, Cause No. 35799.

Plaintiffs filed a motion for summary judgment which was heard by the district court on May 25, 1972. On the same date, the district court entered its order granting summary judgment in part on the question of liability in both cases.

From the pretrial order, the agreed statement of fact reads:

“Handee Foods, Inc. is a business located in Missoula, Montana, represented by Mr. F. W. Krieger, General Manager and. President of the Company. It is a distributor of so-called ‘convenience foods’, which are foods that have been pre-cooked, refrigerated, and kept in a refrigerated condition until such time-as they are ‘reconstituted’ or cooked for service to a customer. It does not sell to the general public, but sells to institutions,, restaurants, and in general, the wholesale and retail market. Handee Foods has ‘0 degree’ storage facilities, located in Livingston, Montana, that are capable of handling large supplies of frozen food products over extended periods of time.
“H. Shenson, Inc. is a corporation located in San Francisco,. California, and is a meat purveyor, that sells generally to the-retail market, institutions, restaurants, and similar situated businesses. It likewise ‘breaks’ or ‘cuts up’ meats, refrigerates the-[264]*264same and offers them to its prospective customers. In the cause now before the Court, H. Shenson, Inc. is represented by Mr. Bud Murphy, Sales Manager for that company. National Business Factors, Inc., plaintiff herein, is the owner and holder of the account of H. Shenson, Inc., by virtue of an assignment made to it by H. Shenson, Inc.
“Yellowstone Park Company is a corporation which operates as a concessionaire under a concession agreement it has with the United States Department of Interior, National Park Service. Its activities in Yellowstone National Park include the owning and operating of several different hotels and restaurants which provide food and beverage service to the traveling public.
“The business of Yellowstone Park Company is highly seasonal with the primary concentration of visitors to the Park being in the months of June, July and August of each year. Yellowstone Park Company is represented in this matter by Mr. R. L. Boyd, its Vice President and Controller, Mr. Peter Rogers who was the Food and Beverage Director for Yellowstone Park Company in 1969 and 1970, and Mr. Percy Butler, who is the Executive Chef for Yellowstone Park Company.”

According to the pretrial order, plaintiffs contend:

1. That Yellowstone Park Company was to use all of the products ordered from Shenson, Inc. and Handee Foods, Inc., during the Yellowstone Park season of 1970, or to pay for such products as were not used.

2. That the total amount of the products for which Yellowstone Park Company is obligated to pay, is to Shenson Meats the sum of $4,119.12, and Handee Foods, Inc., in the sum of $36,621.52.

3. That Handee Foods, Inc., in addition to the price of the goods as represented by the account, is entitled to the cost of storage at the Livingston warehouse, at the rate of $600 per month, from October 1, 1970, to date.

According to the pretrial order, defendant contends:

1. That under the terms of the agreement between Yellowstone Park Company and Handee Foods, Yellowstone Park Company [265]*265issued its purchase orders for estimated approximate usages for the 1970 season and Yellowstone Park Company was obligated to pay for and did pay for only those items that were ordered specifically for delivery and delivered to Yellowstone Park Company in Yellowstone National Park; and that the total price of the goods so delivered under the terms of the agreement was $630,711.73, and that the exact same amount, $630,711.73, was paid by Yellowstone Park Company to Handee Foods, Inc.

2. That it was the intent of the parties to the agreement that Handee Foods, Inc., would be responsible for any oversupply of food products left on hand in the Handee Foods warehouse in Livingston at the end of the 1970 season.

3. That Yellowstone Park Company has paid for all of the goods delivered to it by Handee Foods, Inc. and Yellowstone Park Company does not owe Handee Foods, Inc., $36,621.52 or any other amount.

4. That, in connection with the claim of H. Shenson, Inc., Yellowstone Park Company has paid for all of the goods delivered directly from H. Shenson, Inc., to Yellowstone Park Company and Yellowstone Park Company does not owe H. Shenson, Inc., or National Business Factors, its assignee, the sum of $4,119.12 or any other amount.

5. That, under no circumstances, and particularly under the circumstances that exist in this case, would Handee Foods be entitled to any amount of damages representing storage costs incurred by Handee Foods, Inc., at the warehouse it rented in Livingston.

Subsequently, plaintiffs moved for summary judgment and the district court issued an order granting summary judgment on the question of liability. That order states in part:

“On December 9, 1969 the Defendant wrote a letter to the Plaintiff. Plaintiff contends the letter is a writing expressing the agreement between the parties. Determination of that point before the trial is very necessary. If the writing contains the agreement of the parties, and if the Court can determine from [266]*266the writing who is the actual owner of the food items that remained in the warehouse at the end of the 1970 season, then the question of liability is settled and no parol evidence would be permitted to show any other oral agreement.
“In the opinion of the Court the letter does settle the question of liability and therefore parol evidence would not be admissible to vary any of its terms. The letter was written by the Defendant and must be interpreted as provided in Chapter 7, of. Title 13, RCM 1947, and as provided in 13-720, the words are to be interpreted most strongly against the party who put them in writing. ’1
“Mr. Fritz Krieger
“Handee Foods Incorporated
“802 Milton
“Missoula, Montana 59801
“Dear Fritz:
“So that we keep up to date with each others progress, we are still going ahead as scheduled on converting our food program to total convenience. We are in the process this month of preparing our purchase orders for convenience equipment totaling some $144,000.00.

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

Related

Snyder v. Herbert Greenbaum & Associates, Inc.
380 A.2d 618 (Court of Special Appeals of Maryland, 1977)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
502 P.2d 23, 160 Mont. 262, 11 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 740, 1972 Mont. LEXIS 378, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/state-ex-rel-yellowstone-park-co-v-district-court-of-the-fourth-judicial-mont-1972.