Tuke v. Mountain States Packing Co.

46 P.2d 895, 97 Colo. 57, 1935 Colo. LEXIS 267
Supreme Court of Colorado·Decided May 13, 1935·No. No. 13,414.·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinions

Mr. Justice Holland

delivered the opinion of the court.

The parties here involved are aligned as in the trial court and reference will be made to them as plaintiff, the packing company, and the finance company.

Plaintiff, on February 19, 1931, sued to recover $500, which, he alleges, he paid to the packing company for five shares of common and five shares of its preferred stock in February, 1925. He further alleges that the packing company failed and refused to deliver the stock to him; that in September, 1925, it agreed to give him its notes or interest bearing certificates of indebtedness in lieu of the stock; that after many requests it neglected and refused to deliver to him the notes or certificates of indebtedness or to return his money.

In the answer to the complaint, it is alleged that in a former complaint — which upon trial was dismissed by plaintiff after a motion for dismissal was made by defendant on plaintiff’s opening statement to the jury— plaintiff alleged the purchase of the stock to have been made on February 12,1925, and the cause of action herein sought to be alleged, is barred by the six year, statute of limitations. There is a denial of the material allegations of the complaint. Replication was filed and upon trial motion for nonsuit was granted at the close of plaintiff’s case, and complaint dismissed. To this judgment of dismissal, error is assigned.

[59] The question presented is, did the plaintiff make his deal with the packing company, or its agent, or did he deal with the finance company; and, further, was the finance company an agent of the packing company? The trial court found that plaintiff had failed to show a deal with the packing company or that he had made a deal with such an agent of the packing company as would bind it. In this finding we believe the trial court was right, and it therefore properly sustained the motion for nonsuit.

Plaintiff had previously purchased about $3,000 worth of packing’ company stock through the finance company and its agents, Borror and Dietrich, and on February 12, 1925, paid $500 to said agents of the finance company on the following subscription, which is Exhibit A.

“A. No. 8353
Stocks and Bonds
“United States Finance Corporation.
“Suite 1025 Foster Building, Denver, Colorado.
“Incorporated under the laws of the District of Columbia by virtue of an Act of Congress.
“I hereby subscribe and agree to pay for 5 Pref & 5 shares Common Stock shares stock of Mountain States Packing Co at $100.00 per share; fully paid and non-assessable. Payment for said stock in amount of $500.00 is herewith made.
“No verbal statement concerning the securities offered by this Corporation not contained in the printed literature concerning the offering, or authorized in writing by the Executive Officers of the United States Finance Corporation shall be considered as influencing this subscription or binding on the broker offering same.
“Witness my hand this the 12 day of February, 1925,
“Borror & Dietrich
“G-eo. F. Tuke
“Bepresentative.
“Eskdale Colo.
“The United States Finance Corporation reserves the right, for a period of five days after receipt of this application at its Home Office, to cancel this contract and refund all money paid hereon.
[60] “Make all checks and drafts payable to United States Finance Corporation.”

This exhibit shows that plaintiff was purchasing this stock direct from the finance company, and not from the packing’ company. The finance company had handled stock other than packing company stock and plaintiff had traded for some. TSTot the slightest connection between packing company and finance company is traceable in this subscription.

Plaintiff contends that Exhibit C shows that the finance company was really the agent of the packing company to sell its stock. The exhibit is too lengthy to set out in full, but it distinctly shows on its face that it is a contract between the packing company and the finance company, giving the finance company the exclusive rig’ht, for a limited time, to purchase at a fixed-price stock from the packing company, and that same would be issued only when paid for by the finance company either in cash or g’overnment bonds. It further shows that all subscriptions for purchase of stock, so bought and owned by the finance company, were to be taken in the name of the company; that the money received by the packing company from the finance company on stock purchases was to be used for the construction and operation of its new packing plant.

This contract, instead of creating an agency, carefully guards against the creation of one. Plaintiff has sued the packing company and fails, by even the slightest of evidence, to show that he had any contract or dealings with it, and unless an agency is created by Exhibit 0, which we definitely determine was not so created, then plaintiff’s first claim against the packing company for failure to deliver the stock so purchased, under Exhibit A, or for a return of the money, must fall, because plaintiff admits he made the deal with the finance company, and if the finance company is not an agent of the packing company, then it follows as a logical conclusion that not the slightest liability on the part of the packing company [61] is shown. There is not a word in the record to the effect that the packing’ company ever received one cent of the alleged $500 payment. On the other hand, the evidence shows that Gamble, the president of the finance company, kept the $500 received from plaintiff and did not turn it over to the packing’ company or to anyone for it; that he kept it to balance expenses of a trip he had made for that company. So far as the transaction surrounding the purchase of this stock was concerned, plaintiff was unknown to the packing company, and it was under no obligation to him in any way. But if it was, any cause of action based on this transaction expired February 12, 1931, and the complaint was not filed until February 19,1931.

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Tuke v. Mountain States Packing Co., 46 P.2d 895, 97 Colo. 57, 1935 Colo. LEXIS 267 (Colo. 1935).

46 P.2d 895 (Tuke v. Mountain States Packing Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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