Straughan v. Hallwood

4 S.E. 394, 30 W. Va. 274, 1887 W. Va. LEXIS 75
CourtWest Virginia Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 12, 1887
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 4 S.E. 394 (Straughan v. Hallwood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering West Virginia Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Straughan v. Hallwood, 4 S.E. 394, 30 W. Va. 274, 1887 W. Va. LEXIS 75 (W. Va. 1887).

Opinion

GkeeN, Judge :

From the pleadings and proofs in this case it appears, that cross-actions were pending in the Circuit Court of Kanawha county on the common-law and chancery side of said court, in which Mathew H. Straughan and Henry S. Hailwood were parties. The common-law suit involved the title to a theodolite and a part of a set of drawing instruments; and the chancery cause also involved the title to this property, and some dispute about accounts between Hailwood and Straughan’s father. About March 1,1886, the parties to this litigation compromised this, and all matters between them. This compromise was to be reduced to writing by the counsel of Straughan in these suits. Fie did not find time to do this till March 9,1886. He then prepared it in duplicate; and it was, after being approved by the counsel of Hailwood, sent by mail to the parties to be signed. The Straughans lived in Fayette county, and Hailwood in Kanawha county, some 13 miles from Charleston, where the counsel of the parties lived. After it was signed by the parties, it was returned to their counsel; and the original, returned by one party with his [280]*280signature attached, had then to be sent to the other party to obtain his signature. This consumed time, and it took some 11 days after these compromise agreements were prepared before they were executed by ail the parties; that is, they were not signed and sealed till about March 20,1886. But in drawing them they had been antedated some nine days; being dated as of the time the terms of the compromise had been verbally fixed. In this compromise agreement, as thus reduced to writing and approved by the counsel of the parties, was this provision : “The theodolite and set of drawing instruments, for which said action of Mathew Straughan vs. Henry S. Hallwood was brought, are hereby admitted to be the property of Mathew Straughan; and the said Mathew Straughan thereby agreed to sell said theodolite, and so much of said set of drawing instruments, as the justice gave judgment for, to said Hallwood, for the sum of $125.00, on the following terms and conditions : Said Hallwood was to have 90 days from the date of the signing and sealing of this agreement to pay said sum for said theodolite and part of set of drawing instruments, the title whereof was to remain in said Mathew Straughan until paid for by said Hallwood according to this agreement; and by express contract of the parties the time for paying for the same as above provided was made the essence of this agreement, and, in default thereof by said Hallwood, all his right, title, and interest thereto or therein was to be gone forever, and said theodolite and part of set of drawing instruments were to be surrendered up to said Mathew Straughan. The possession of said theodolite and part of set of drawing instruments until paid for, or default was made in the payment thereof, as above provided, was to remain with James H. Sentz and W. B. Stevens, trustees of the Peerless Coal Company, who shall keep the same safely, subject to the provisions of this agreement. In witness whereof the said parties have hereunto set their respective hands and seals this first day of March, 1886.”

William B. Stevens, one of the trustees of the Peerless Goal Company, lived in Cincinnati; the other of these trustees lived in Kanawha county, West Virginia, about 20 miles from where Hallwood lived, and he was a captain of a steam[281]*281boat, and was absent from home more than half his time. Under these circumstances, this theodolite and the drawing instruments were not delivered to them to be held by them for the 90 days spoken of in the agreement; but they remained in the possession of Hallwood, who had possession of them when this compromise agreement was made. He was not called upon by Straughan, nor by the trustees of the Peerless Goal Company, for this property, and no inquiry was made of them whether it had been delivered to them ; and it is doubtful whether either of these trustees knew that they were to have the possession of this property for these ninety days. There is no evidence that any one ever gave them notice that there was any such provision in this compromise agreement. These trustees carried on the mining of the coal lands of the Peerless Goal Company in the county of Kanawha; and Hallwood was in their employment as a mining engineer, and in doing this work a theodolite was very important. This theodolite had been injured before this compromise, and, till repaired, could not be used; but it was worth a good deal more than $125.00. Hallwood was insolvent, and had not the means to pay this $125.0Q, and under these circumstances, he was anxious to have the use of a new theodolite, which would cost some $275.00. About six weeks after this agreement was made, he proposed to Stevens, one of the trustees of the Peerless Ooa.1 Company, and the chief manager of its mining business, that, if he Avould let him have $125.00 to pay to Straughan for this theodolite and drawing instruments, he could then exchange them fora new theodolite, paying the difference in their value; and the trustees of the Peerless Coal Company would have a good theodolite, so essential to the canyingonof their business successfully, and he would have the means of doing probably, the mining engineering for them better. Stevens agreed to this, and on June 11,1886, he sent him a check on the bank of Charleston, payable to Straughan, for this $125.00, and it was promptly — probably the next day — offered to the counsel of Straughan as a payment for this theodolite and drawing instruments, under this agreement. This counsel, who thought it perfectly clear that Hailwood’s right to purchase this theodolite and drawing instruments for $125.00 ex[282]*282pired 90 days after the date of this agreement, March 1,1886¶ regarded his privilege of so doing had then expired some two weeks before, and declined to receive this check, assigning this as his reason. The check was perfectly good, and the money could be got on it in a few minutes by presenting it at the bank. He said that for this reason he would not accept this check, but he would write to Straughan, and ascertain whether he would take the $125.00 then. He did so, and he declined to take this, and let Hallwood have the theodolite and drawing instruments. On the other hand, Hallwood claimed that he had thus offered to pay this $125.00 to the counsel of Straughan nearly a week before the expiration of the 90 days spoken of in this agreement as the time which he was to have within which to pay this $125.00 for the theodolite and drawing instruments, as it was to be 90 days from the date of the signing and sealing of this agreement, and it was not signed and sealed by the parties to it till about the twentieth of March, 1886.

To settle this controversy, about two months after Straughan brought an action of detinue in the Circuit Court of Kanawha for this theodolite and drawing instruments; but, as soon as he brought the suit, the sheriff, who was ordered to take possession of the property, ascertained that it was in Cincinnati. It had been shipped there by Hallwood to Stevens very shortly after the counsel of Straughan had refused Stevens’s check in payment of this theodolite and drawing instruments, because in his judgment it was offered to him when the period had expired when Hallwood had a right to purchase this property for the $125.00.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
4 S.E. 394, 30 W. Va. 274, 1887 W. Va. LEXIS 75, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/straughan-v-hallwood-wva-1887.