Tuggle v. Green & Sons

104 S.E. 85, 150 Ga. 361, 1920 Ga. LEXIS 182
CourtSupreme Court of Georgia
DecidedAugust 14, 1920
DocketNo. 1753
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 104 S.E. 85 (Tuggle v. Green & Sons) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Tuggle v. Green & Sons, 104 S.E. 85, 150 Ga. 361, 1920 Ga. LEXIS 182 (Ga. 1920).

Opinion

Fish, C. J.

Of course, the decision of the Court of Appeals, when it was first before that court (Tuggle v. Green, 21 Ga. App. 723, 94 S. E. 908), included in the foregoing statement, is the law of the case, and, as between the parties, is conclusive upon all points there presented and decided. Western & Atlantic R. Co. v. Bank, 125 Ga. 489 (54 S. E. 621); Southern Bell Tel. Co. v. Glawson, 140 Ga. 507 (79 S. E. 136); Morrison v. Slaton, 148 Ga. 294, 297 (96 S. E. 452). The answers to the questions certified depend, therefore, upon what was then decided by the Court of Appeals. The headnote, prepared by the court, to the opinion rendered is as follows: Before suit against the purchaser for the entire purchase-price of goods shipped by common carrier, as in this case, can be maintained by the seller, title must be relinquished by the seller and must pass to the purchaser. The seller can not retain the goods and also recover the full price.” In the opinion it is said: “ Where the contract is that the defendant is to make a partial cash payment and give notes for the balance, the seller retaining the title until the full purchase-price paid, a tender on terms of the buyer’s compliance with the contract will not have the effect of transferring the title to the buyer. If the buyer refuses to make the partial cash payment, and give notes as called for by the terms of the sale, or to accept any possession or control of the property,, no title passes to him, and the seller’s remedy is not for the purchase-price of the chattel, but for the breach of the contract.” This language is taken from Bridges v. McFarland, 143 Ga. 581, 583 (85 S. E. 856), which is cited, as well as Dilman v. Patterson Produce Co., 2 Ga. App. 213 (58 S. E. 365), and Tufts v. Grewer, 83 Me. 407 (22 Atl. 382).

[367]*367The Civil Code, § 4131, provides :• “ If a person refuses to take and pay for goods bought, the seller may retain them and recover the difference between the contract price and the market price at the time and place for delivery; or, he may sell the property, acting for this purpose as agent for the vendee, and recover the difference between the contract price and the price on resale; or, he may store or retain the property for the vendee and sue him for the entire price.” In Bridges v. McFarland, and in Dilman v. Patterson Produce Co., supra, as well as in Maddox v. Wagner, 111 Ga. 148 (36 S. E. 609), Oklahoma Vinegar Co. v. Carter, 116 Ga. 140 (42 S. E. 378, 59 L. R. A. 122, 94 Am. St. R. 112), and Rounsaville v. Leonard Mfg. Co., 127 Ga. 735 (56 S. E. 1030), the seller did not “ store or retain the property for the vendee and sue him for the entire price,” but sued for the price in the absence of such condition precedent. In such circumstances an action for the purchase-price will not lie. It was said, however, in the cases of Oklahoma Vinegar Co. and Rounsaville, that the sellers might' have stored and retained the property for the buyers after notice by the buyers that they would not receive the goods, and had this been done the sellers might have brought an action against the buyers for the purchase-price of the goods. We construe the decision of the Court of Appeals in the instant case as adjudicating that, under the facts in the record then before it, no title was shown to have passed to the purchaser, and therefore that the seller could not recover the purchase-price. The language in the headnote, viz., “The seller can not retain the goods and also recover the full price,” evidently means that the seller can not retain the goods for himself, that is, as his own property, and also recover the price thereof.

The opinion of the Court of Appeals, after stating that the purchaser declined to receive the goods upon their arrival at destination, quotes from the petition in the ease as follows: “4. That your petitioners according to the terms of said contract thereupon stored said soda fountain for the use of H. C. Tuggle [the purchaser], notified him thereof, and elected to sue for the entire price, $650.00, less the payment of $32.50 made with the order. 5. That your petitioners paid out for freight on said soda fountain and accessories from Philadelphia to Stone Mountain, and storage at Stone Mountain $43,89, and for freight from Stone [368]*368Mountain to Atlanta and drayage at Atlanta $8.11. Also they paid out $2.00 for storage of said fountain for the first month, beginning January 5, 1916, and will have to pay out $2.00 for each additional month of storage.” The court also quotes from the contract between the parties, as follows: “ Should I/we by our neglect or refusal to pay and/or settle as agreed above, thereby wrongfully refuse to perform the condition upon which time is granted, it is agreed that [if] the consideration for the grant of time' fails, that the full amount of the purchase-price shall at once be due and payable, and that, in addition to any other remedies you may have at law, you may store and retain the property for me/us, at my/our risk, retaking possession, if already delivered, and proceed, at your option, to recover the entire price, any law, usage, or custom to the contrary notwithstanding.” The opinion further states: “Under these allegations [paragraphs 4 and 5] which are denied by the plea, it is a condition precedent to any recovery that the proof show that the goods were stored for the vendee.” The final sentence in the opinion, as will be seen, is as follows: “The agreed statement of facts not showing that title to the property had passed to the purchaser, or that the goods had been stored for his use, the sellers could not recover the full purchase-price, and, there being no evidence as to the amount of freight, storage, and drayage paid, the plaintiffs failed to prove their case as laid, the court erred in directing a verdict, and the judgment must be reversed.” It clearly appears, therefore, that the Court of Appeals did not expressly or impliedly hold that the plaintiffs could not recover the price of the goods if it had been shown that the sellers, after the purchaser had declined to accept them, had stored or retained the possession of the goods for the use of the purchaser. On the contrary, the strong intimation is, that, had the proof shown that the possession of the goods had been so stored or retained, the sellers co.uld then have recovered the purchase-price. The foregoing statement shows that on the second trial of the case in the superior court the evidence was substantially the same, except that proof was made that the property was stored, as set forth in the statement, in the name of the attorneys for the sellers. A receipt therefor was issued to such attorneys, and notice of the facts given to the purchaser as set out in the letter quoted. The warehouseman testified that he would [369]*369not have delivered the goods to the purchaser without the direction of the attorneys for the sellers. The record pertaining to the second trial does not disclose any tender of the goods by the sellers to the purchaser, except the original one made on terms of the buyer’s compliance with the contract. The opinion states that “the sellers brought suit under section 4131 of the Civil Code (1910) for the entire purchase-price thereof.” The petition, however, shows that the plaintiffs sued for the purchase-price under the terms of the contract.

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Bluebook (online)
104 S.E. 85, 150 Ga. 361, 1920 Ga. LEXIS 182, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/tuggle-v-green-sons-ga-1920.