Sunray DX Oil Co. v. Great Lakes Carbon Corp.

1970 OK 149, 476 P.2d 329, 1970 Okla. LEXIS 426
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedJuly 21, 1970
Docket42511
StatusPublished
Cited by32 cases

This text of 1970 OK 149 (Sunray DX Oil Co. v. Great Lakes Carbon Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Sunray DX Oil Co. v. Great Lakes Carbon Corp., 1970 OK 149, 476 P.2d 329, 1970 Okla. LEXIS 426 (Okla. 1970).

Opinions

LAVENDER, Justice.

The appeals herein, by both parties in the trial court, arise out of an action in which Sunray DX Oil Company, a corporation, as plaintiff, sued Great Lakes Carbon Corporation, a corporation, as defendant, for amounts allegedly due under a written contract dated March 1, 1957, for petroleum coke delivered to the defendant during the months of August, September, and October of 1962, and for damages for alleged breach of such contract by the defendant by wrongfully, and without cause, terminating such contract as of November 1, 1962.

Trial to the court, without a jury, resulted in a judgment for the plaintiff, on its action on the contract, in the principal sum of $325,555.22 plus interest accrued on the separate items making up such sum, and interest thereon from the date of the judgment, and a judgment for the defendant on the plaintiff’s action for damages for breach of contract. The appeal of each of the parties (after the overruling of their respective motions for a new trial) involves the judgment in favor of the opposing party.

Substantially all of the facts are covered by a stipulation of the parties and there is no substantial conflict in the testimony of the witnesses concerning matters not covered by the stipulation.

The written contract involved herein, denominated a “Coke Purchase Agreement,” was entered into between Ucan Products Co., a corporation (a remote predecessor-in-interest of the plaintiff), as “Seller,” and the defendant in the action, [333]*333as “Buyer.” Under the provisions of the contract, the seller agreed to sell and deliver, and the buyer agreed to buy, take delivery of, and pay for, all of the petroleum coke (therein, and hereinafter, called “coke”) produced by the seller at its plant at Sunray, Oklahoma (which is located near Duncan, Oklahoma, and is sometimes referred to as the Duncan plant), for a period of ten years from and after the first day of March, 1957.

The contract also provided a formula for determining the price per ton to be paid for the coke, based upon the prevailing price of 36-degree gravity Southern Okla-home sweet crude oil; that the buyer would take delivery of the coke as produced by the seller, with the seller to deliver the coke “f. o. b. Seller’s plant site,” by loading the same into railroad cars, and consigning the cars in such manner and by such routings as the buyer shall have designated; and that the buyer would pay the seller, on or before the 15th day of each month, without discount, for all coke delivered under the contract during the preceding calendar month.

However, the entire controversy between the parties arose out of a provision in the contract that the sulphur content of the coke shall not be more than 1.75% by weight, dry basis.

Laboratory tests made by the defendant on coke delivered to it by the plaintiff (and not disputed by the plaintiff) showed, on a monthly basis, sulphur content ranging from 1.39% to 1.60%, by weight, dry basis, for an annual average of 1.43% during 1957, sulphur content ranging from 1.45% to 1.63%, by weight, dry basis, for an annual average of 1.52% during 1958, sulphur content ranging from 1.53% to 1.-71%, by weight, dry basis, for an annual average of 1.61% during 1959, sulphur content ranging from 1.66% to 1.82%, by weight, dry basis, for an annual average of 1.71% during 1960, and sulphur content ranging from 1.66% to 1.89%, by weight, dry basis, for an annual average of 1.76% during 1961.

The results of laboratory tests of coke received by the defendant from the plaintiff during the months of January and February of 1962 are not shown in the record, but the plaintiff does not dispute the figures indicated in a letter from the defendant under date of February 23, 1962, which states, in the body thereof:

“Our contract for your production of petroleum coke at Duncan includes a maximum of 1.75% for sulphur content. This maximum has been exceeded on a regular basis during recent months. Our policy is to refrain from small and temporary arguments concerning day to day production of petroleum coke under contract to us. However, the trend to excessive sulphur content in the Duncan production is now so well established that it has become a serious matter to us, and we must call it to your attention.
“Our analyses of deliveries during August showed an average sulphur content of 1.86%. September deliveries showed an improvement to only slightly above the contract specification — 1.78%. The October figure was 1.83% — again followed by an improvement to 1.78% in November. The December figure was 1.89%. There were again some indications of improvement during January, but recent weekly analyses are as high as 1.89%. All of these figures add up to a trend which we cannot ignore. We do assure you that it is not our desire to take formal and precipitant action; however, it does seem proper and advisable that we now protect ourselves against the principle of ‘silence means consent’ by saying that this letter must be considered a formal notification by Great Lakes of a breach of contract.”

The reply to that letter, under date of February 27, 1962, was as follows:

“This will acknowledge your letter of February 23, 1962 pertaining to the quality of coke that is being shipped from our Duncan Refinery.
“We are getting into this matter immediately with our people to see what is [334]*334causing this change in the quality of coke. We want to assure you that we are doing everything possible to get this matter taken care of.”

Laboratory tests made by the defendant of weekly composite samples (a composite of samples from each car) of coke received from the plaintiff at the defendant’s coke yard at Enid, Oklahoma, during five-day weeks ending on Fridays (the results of which are not disputed by the plaintiff), showed the sulphur content by weight, dry basis, was as follows: For the weeks ending during March of 1962, 1.82%, 1.82%, 1.92%, 1.90%, and 1.68%, for an average of 1.86%; for the weeks ending during April of 1962, 1.74%, 1.78%, 1.88%, and 1.88%, for an average of 1.77%; for the weeks ending during May of 1962, 1.78%, 1.82%, 1.94%, and 2.00% for an average of 1.88%; for the weeks ending during July of 1962, 1.90%, 1.98%, 1.84%, and 1.80%, for an average of 1.88%; and for the weeks ending August 3rd, 10th, and 17th, 1.80%, 1.84%, and 1.88%.

The defendant paid the invoices for all of the coke received by it from the plaintiff from the inception of the contract through the month of July, 1962, as provided in the contract.

Under date of August 23, 1962, the defendant mailed to the plaintiff a letter stating: “Our contract for your production of petroleum coke at Duncan includes a permissible maximum of 1.75% for sulphur content. Your breach of the contract in respect to the maximum sulphur content was formally brought to your attention in our letter of February 23, 1962. A period of almost six months has since elapsed, and during this period our sulphur determinations have been as follows — based on weekly composite samples of receipts.” Then, the letter sets forth the results of the laboratory tests of weekly composite samples from cars received during the weeks ending March 2, 1962, through August 10, 1962, as hereinabove set forth but without showing the monthly averages shown above. The letter then states:

“This has developed into an intolerable situation which we can no longer ignore.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1970 OK 149, 476 P.2d 329, 1970 Okla. LEXIS 426, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/sunray-dx-oil-co-v-great-lakes-carbon-corp-okla-1970.