Union Seed Company of Burley v. Savage

283 P.2d 918, 76 Idaho 432, 1955 Ida. LEXIS 299
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedMay 13, 1955
Docket8196
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 283 P.2d 918 (Union Seed Company of Burley v. Savage) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Union Seed Company of Burley v. Savage, 283 P.2d 918, 76 Idaho 432, 1955 Ida. LEXIS 299 (Idaho 1955).

Opinion

ANDERSON, Justice.

In March 1951, appellant, a farmer, and respondent, a seed buyer and processor, entered into written agreements whereby respondent would purchase, at the prevailing market price, appellant’s 1951 seed crop of Alta Fescue grass seed, to be grown on eighty acres of land, and White Dutch clover seed, to be grown on forty acres of land, by appellant.

At the time the contracts were executed, respondent advanced $2,500 cash to appellant. In July 1951, appellant delivered Alta Fescue grass seed weighing in at 2,413 lbs. and which, after being cleaned, weighed 1,950 lbs., the tare being approximately 18%. For this seed appellant received a credit, against the cash advance, of $916.50. There is no dispute between the parties as to this lot of seed.

During the latter part of the summer, the seed harvest was completed and the seed was placed in 54 bags, estimated by appellant to weigh around 135 lbs. each. They were stored in appellant’s garage and in the latter part of September 1951, respondent *435 had the seed picked up and delivered to its warehouse in Burley.

There is a dispute as to when part of the seed was cleaned. Part of it was destroyed as of no value. The 54 hags contained not only the Alta Fescue grass seed and White Dutch clover seed respondent agreed to buy, but also alfalfa seed, red clover seed, trefoil, hull timothy, inert matter, foxtail, Chinese lettuce, lambs quarter, weed seeds, and in some instances too many components to analyze accurately.

A dispute arose between the parties as to the quantity and quality of the seed and respondent offered to return the seed or buy it for $5 per hundred weight. Appellant refused these offers and finally told respondent to go ahead and see what could be done with the seed. When the parties were unable to reach a settlement in the matter, suit was filed against appellant seeking judgment for $1,583.50 with interest from March 14, 1951, for return of the money advanced and for which no marketable seed was furnished. Appellant filed an answer, counterclaim and cross-complaint seeking $793.20 in addition to the $2,500 advanced by respondent. The jury returned a verdict for $705.60, plus interest of $75.60, for respondent. Appellant moved for a new trial, which was denied. He then appealed from the judgment and also from the order denying a new trial.

Appellant’s first assignment of error is that the court erroneously permitted Exhibit A-l (a recap, of certain exhibits) to go to* the jury, appellant claiming it never was admitted in evidence.

The transcript of evidence discloses that three different times this Exhibit was admitted. On one of these occasions the court stated:

“I am admitting it solely for the purpose of aiding the Jury in considering the exhibits that are put into evidence.
“It’s admitted, subject to counsel examining it; now I don’t know if they wish to examine it.
“Mr. Hargraves : We have examined it and made our objection and the court has ruled.”

After considerable argument and discussion, the court rejected the exhibit “at this time” and asked appellant’s counsel to examine it by the next morning and state whether or not it was accurate, as compared with the exhibits to which it referred. The court specifically stated he was not asking counsel to state as to its probative value.

Counsel for appellant requested and was granted permission to submit a recapitulation of his own. He failed to do this and also failed to question the accuracy of Exhibit A-l, the next morning. He cannot fail to act as requested by the court and then take advantage of his own failure. It seems clear to us that Exhibit A-l was *436 •admitted, subject to appellant’s right to show it was not accurate—which he did not •do. Furthermore, the court properly instructed the jury at the time of the admission of the exhibit and again in the formal instructions, explaining its purpose and use.

Appellant further contends Exhibit A-l was prejudicial to him for the reason it had the effect of reducing to writing part ■of the testimony of respondent’s witness and emphasizing other previously admitted ■exhibits, and that it was not a part of respondent’s business records. Recapitulations are admissible in the discretion of the trial court and no abuse of that discretion has been shown in this case. The exhibit, therefore, properly went to the jury for their consideration.

The second assignment of error .raised by appellant is that the court erroneously admitted Exhibits H, N, R, S, and T, being packets or envelopes, of seed. He contends these exhibits were misleading and ■confusing to the jury and prejudicial to appellant, as the seeds in these packets had never been analyzed for purity and there was no expert testimony as to the contents ■of the packets, and they could serve no purpose in the determination of the issues •of the case.

The evidence discloses that partial analysis was made of some of the seed in the packets and that it was impossible to complete a purity test with any accuracy, as to some of the seed.

Appellant relies upon the case of Trego v. Arave, 20 Idaho 38, 116 P. 119, 35 L.R.A.,N.S., 1021, in which the court held there was error in admitting, as an exhibit, a bundle of hay for inspection by the jury, as the jurors had not qualified themselves as experts in the market where the hay was sold and the court held the admission of the exhibit was erroneous, especially in that case, as the sample introduced was not proved to be a fair sample of the hay alleged to have been sold.

In the case now before us, the court by Instruction No. 12, specifically prohibited the jury from considering the contents of any of the envelopes. The evidence discloses that efforts were made to analyze the seed contained in these envelopes, and an explanation was given as to why an entirely accurate analysis could not be made, it being due to the large quantities of foreign matter in the seed. Respondent claims these exhibits were admissible to show what each bag of seed contained. We, therefore, deem the Trego case not to be in point here. We doubt the probative value of these exhibits and their admissibility, and are of the opinion the testimony of witnesses in this respect was sufficient and the exhibits should not have been admitted. However, we do not believe that prejudice resulted to appellant, or that reversible error was committed by the admission of these exhibits, in view of the explanations and instructions- given by the court.

*437 The third assignment of error is that the court erred in the admission of Exhibits I, J, K, and L offered by respondent. These exhibits had written on them, “Over 1% weeds—cannot be sold in State •of Idaho” or words and writing of similar import. Appellant contends this is a conclusion and erroneously purports to be a statement of the Idaho Pure Seed law and should Tiave been excluded from the jury.

The court instructed the jury that it ■should not consider any writing on the envelopes other than those that pertained to quantity, quality, and kind of seed. His Instruction No. 12, which covers this matter, reads as follows:

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Bluebook (online)
283 P.2d 918, 76 Idaho 432, 1955 Ida. LEXIS 299, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/union-seed-company-of-burley-v-savage-idaho-1955.