Texas Van Lines, Inc. v. Godfrey

313 S.W.2d 922, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 2018
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 28, 1958
Docket15383
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 313 S.W.2d 922 (Texas Van Lines, Inc. v. Godfrey) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Texas Van Lines, Inc. v. Godfrey, 313 S.W.2d 922, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 2018 (Tex. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinions

DIXON, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment in the amount of $1,000 awarded appellee Sam Frank Godfrey against Texas Van Lines, Inc., for breach of a contract to procure $1,000 fire insurance coverage on appellee’s .household furniture.. The furniture • was totally destroyed when fire swept the 'ware.house of appellant'Texas Van Lines, Inc., July 23,' 1955.

While watching a television program in May 1955, Mr. and Mrs. Godfrey saw an advertisement of Texas Van Lines offering a “Summer Special” — three months’ storage of goods for the price of two months’ storage. As they were about to go to Colorado for a three months’ stay, the Godfreys contacted Texas Van Lines and a representative of the warehouse, Mr. Mclntire, came out to the Godfrey’s house. The representative and the Godfreys discussed the storing of the furniture for three months and the representative made an estimate of the cost including insurance coverage. The God-freys decided to store their furniture with Texas Van Lines, Inc. On May 25, 1955 the Company’s truck picked up the furniture. That same day the Godfreys departed for Colorado.

On July 24, 1955 the Godfreys returned to Dallas. The fire had occurred the day before. The Godfrey’s furniture had not been covered by insurance.

Appellee sued the warehouse company for negligence and alleged the value of their furniture to be $2,138.50, for which amount they asked judgment. In the alternative they prayed for judgment for $1,000 for breach of contract, alleging that the company had contracted with them to obtain insurance coverage in that amount and had failed to do so.

The trial was to the court without a jury. The trial court found in favor of appellant on the negligence count, but awarded appel-lee judgment for $1,000 on the count for 'breach of contract.

Appellant’s first and second points on appeal complain because the trial court •overruled appellant’s motion to make Maryland Casualty Company a third party defendant. Appellant asserted'that if appellee obtained 'judgment' against appellant, then •appellant was entitled to ■ judgment over against Maryland Casualty Company because of the,latter’s failure to issue its “Advice of Insurance” certificate covering the Godfrey furniture. Appellant did not file [924]*924its motion until 2:00 o’clock P.M. the day of the trial. Though the Insurance Company would have been a proper party to the suit, it was not a necessary party. To have granted the motion would have meant a delay of several weeks in the trial due to the time required to complete service of citation on the third party defendant. Consequently it cannot be said that the trial court abused its discretion in denying appellant’s motion. The first two points are overruled.

Appellant’s fourth, fifth and eighth points allege a want of consideration for appellant’s agreement to provide insurance for appellees. We see no merit in this contention. Part of the service offered to appellee was the procuring of fire insurance on the furniture. There is evidence in the record that appellee and his wife informed the warehouse company’s representative that they desired insurance in the amount of $1,000. The representative could not give them the exact cost of all the services to be rendered, which included drayage, wrapping of many items for storage, labor in some of the wrapping, and procuring insurance coverage as well as storage. He could only give appellees an estimate of the cost, but he assured them, according to the testimony of the Godfreys, that the total cost for three months would not be over $50. It was on such terms that appellant, upon the .Godfrey’s order, picked up the furniture, transported it to the warehouse and kept it in storage for three months. No .one claims that appellant was to perform all these services free of charge. Mrs. Godfrey testified that her husband offered to pay the charges to the representative at the conclusion of their conference, but the representative declined to accept payment because he did not then know exactly what the charges would be. Mr. Godfrey testified that he offered to pay the truck driver who picked up the furniture, but the truck driver also refused to accept payment. Appellant’s fourth, fifth and eighth points are overruled.

Appellant’s sixth, seventh and eleventh points assert in substance that the court erred in holding (6) that the warehouse was obligated to pay insurance premiums for plaintiff and rely on its statutory rights under a warehouseman’s lien for the collection of such money advanced; (7) that the warehouse was under a duty to appellee,, respecting insurance, to do anything except provide coverage, accept and remit premiums paid thereon; and (11) that the warehouse in agreeing to insure appellee’s goods obligated itself to provide and maintain insurance without the premium being paid by appellee to appellant.

Appellant argues that appellee failed to prove a contract for insurance coverage. But the record contains ample evidence to support a finding that part of appellant’s contract was to provide insurance. The Godfreys so testified and appellant’s own records so indicate. Plaintiff’s exhibit No. 1 is a copy of a statement mailed June 13, 1955 by appellant to the Godfreys which itemizes the charges as follows:

Drayage to warehouse $22.75
3% Fed. Trans. Tax .68
Wrapping 5.20'
Warehouse Labor 5.20'
Storage 5-25 to 6-25 5.20’
Insurance 1.30
$40.33

At the bottom of the statement is a notation: “Your monthly storage rate is $6.50.” It will be observed that the $6.50 is the exact amount of the storage charge of $5.20 plus the insurance of $1.30.

The above statement was mailed to “Mrs. Godfrey, c/o’ George Saphire, 2536 Healy Drive, Dallas, Texas,” the address given to appellant by the Godfreys before their departure for Colorado. It was the address of the Godfrey’s married daughter. Unfortunately the statement was not forwarded to ■the Godfreys in Colorado. It was not received by them until their return from Colo[925]*925rado July 24, 19SS. This was the only statement mailed by appellant to appellee. No statement was mailed in July. At the time of their return from Colorado the God-freys had made no payment to appellant.

Appellant claims that the charges were payable each month in advance, that credit had not been extended to appellee, and that appellee’s failure to pay the charges when due relieved appellant of the obligation to maintain insurance.

We are unable to agree with appellant. There is sufficient evidence in the record to support the trial court’s finding that appellant did extend credit to appellee. Mrs. Godfrey, referring to the conversation with Mr. Mclntire, the Company’s representative with whom the Godfreys made the arrangements to store their furniture, testified: “Q. All right. Was there any conversation at that time with reference to manner of payment of these charges? A. Yes, sir. “Q. All right. What was the conversation? A. We were leaving that night for Colorado and Mr. Godfrey asked him, he said, ‘How much am I going to pay now ?’—he said, T want to pay this now because I am leaving tonight.’ He said ‘We’ll have to bill you for this and it doesn’t matter if you are taking this summer special, it can be paid when you pick up your furniture, or later when you pick up your furniture.’ ”

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Texas Van Lines, Inc. v. Godfrey
313 S.W.2d 922 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1958)

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Bluebook (online)
313 S.W.2d 922, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 2018, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/texas-van-lines-inc-v-godfrey-texapp-1958.