Veatch v. Standard Oil Co.

49 F. Supp. 45, 1940 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2051
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. New York
DecidedApril 15, 1940
DocketNo. L-69-319
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 49 F. Supp. 45 (Veatch v. Standard Oil Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Veatch v. Standard Oil Co., 49 F. Supp. 45, 1940 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2051 (S.D.N.Y. 1940).

Opinion

LEIBELL, District Judge.

This is a motion, with supporting affidavits, for a summary judgment under Rule 56(b), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, 28 U.S.C.A. following section 723c, in favor of the defendant as to the claim asserted by plaintiffs. The claim is set forth in paragraph “2” of the complaint as follows: “2. Between about January 18, 1934 and about June 1, 1934, the plaintiffs rendered services to and for the benefit of the defendant in procuring a purchaser for petroleum and petroleum products. Said services were rendered at the request of and were accepted by the defendant, and the defendant agreed to pay the plaintiffs the reasonable value thereof. Upon information and belief, the reasonable value of said services was the sum of eight hundred forty-three thousand eight hundred nineteen and 60/100 dollars ($843,819.60). No part of said sum has been paid, although payment has been duly demanded.”

From the affidavits and exhibits submitted on this motion, the following appears to be a fair summary of the facts: In January 1934, plaintiff Hanover received a letter from Martin Sain, managing director of a Roumanian corporation, known by its abbreviated title as “Redeventza”. The letter, written in Roumanian, dated December 22, 1933, contained a general survey of Redeventza’s oil business and a statement that during the year 1934, Redeventza expected to market some 200,000 tons of refined petroleum products over and above the capacity of its own refineries, which excess would be acquired “either at our own domestic market, or direct from America or Russia”. In outlining certain plans for the future, it was stated that a refinery for the middle of Europe was being planned and that “It is therefore more than probable that we would require crude oil for our refinery and we will import such from America”.

Hanover brought this letter to Veatch, who died since this action was started. Veatch was a geologist and at the time was engaged in the oil business, principally as an operator of producing properties. On January 18, 1934, Veatch sent the Roumanian letter to James B. Moffett at New York City and Veatch’s letter of transmittal characterized the Redeventza letter as “indicating that that company would like to make a connection with an American company to supply it with oil products and crude”. It continued as follows: “It has occurred to me that this might be of interest to the Standard of California in view of its accentuated interest in European marketing arising from its successful development in the Persian Gulf, and I am accordingly sending it to you for your consideration, with Mr. Hanover’.s translation. Should it prove of interest and business between yourselves and Redeventza result therefrom, I would expect from the business developed a reasonable return for myself to be shared with Mr. Hanover.”

The development in the Persian Gulf, referred to by Mr. Veatch, was that of a new field being exploited on Bahrein Island in the Persian Gulf by Bahrein Petroleum Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of defendant, Standard Oil Company of California. Commercial production on this field, however, did not commence until June 1934 and samples were not available until about a month later.

When the Redeventza letter was forwarded to his office in New York, Mr. Moffett was not, nor had he been in the past, an officer of defendant, Standard Oil Company of California. He had informally accepted a position as Vice-President of the company and was on his way from Florida to San Francisco to complete formal arrangements with respect thereto. On Jan[47]*47uary 21, 1934, in San Francisco, his designation as Vice-President was made effective retroactively as of January 15, 1934. It was contemplated that his duties would include the formulation of a plan for the development of a refinery on Bahrein Island, in addition to the supervision of marketing facilities for the distribution of Bahrein petroleum east of Suez.

Mr. Moffett was absent from New York on January 18, 1934, when Veatch forwarded the Redeventza letter to him. Miss R. M. Holland, Mr. Moffett’s private secretary, received the letter and on January 22, 1934, she wrote Veatch from Moffett’s apartment in New York City, acknowledging receipt of the letter and advising him that Mr. Moffett would not be in New York for ten days or two weeks. Miss Holland forwarded the letter to Mr. Moffett in California. Veatch did not hear from Moffett and on February 20, 1934, wrote him and requested a return of the Redeventza letter in the event that Moffett had had an opportunity to consider the matter and found it of no interest. Miss Holland replied to this on February 26 stating that the Veatch letter of January 18 and enclosures had been forwarded to Moffett in California; that he had returned to New York with the letter in his papers to be taken to Europe; that she was sorry he had the papers with him if Veatch wished them returned immediately; that if there was anything Veatch wished her to do about it he should telephone her, otherwise she would wait until Moffett returned from Europe about April 1 and have him get in touch with Veatch at that time. Veatch acknowledged Miss Holland’s letter on March 2 and stated that the fact that Moffett had taken the papers to Europe would indicate that the matter was of interest to him at that time and that in due course Veatch would hear from Moffett. About March 20 Hanover advised Redeventza of the above correspondence and described the business and standing of the Standard Oil Company of California.

On April 25, 1934, not having heard from Moffett, Veatch wrote him, and after having reminded him of the earlier Redeventza letter (December 22, 1933) stated that Hanover had reported to Redeventza that Veatch had submitted the matter to Moffett and that Hanover had received another letter from Martin Sain of Redeventza, dated April 6 to the effect that “he (Sain) would welcome a mutually satisfactory arrangement with your company to supply Redeventza’s needs as indicated above”. In concluding Veatch again requested Moffett to advise him whether or not such a possible arrangement with Redeventza was of interest to Moffett’s company (the defendant) .

Miss Holland also received this April 25 letter and on April 26 she telephoned Veatch advising him that Moffett was then en route from California to New York and would arrive in New York on Monday, April 30, and she asked Veatch if that would be soon enough for Moffett to attend to the matter. On May 2, in response to a call from Veatch, Miss Holland informed him that Mr. Moffett had reached New York on Monday, had gone to Washington and had returned from Washington that morning and was sailing for Europe at midnight; that she expected to see him about noon and would bring the letter to his attention. On May 3 Veatch again talked with Miss Holland on the phone and Veatch quotes Miss Holland as saying that, although she had not seen Mr. Moffett personally the day before, she spoke to him about noon regarding Veatch’s letter of April 25; that Moffett directed her to send the letter to him at his home, saying that it was a matter that he would attend to on the other side and that he would communicate with Veatch from the boat. Veatch suggested to her that he would cable the Redeventza people that Moffett would take care of the matter when he arrived in Europe and “she said that she thought that would be a very good idea.”

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49 F. Supp. 45, 1940 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2051, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/veatch-v-standard-oil-co-nysd-1940.