Welty v. Taylor

115 N.E. 257, 63 Ind. App. 674, 1917 Ind. App. LEXIS 27
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedFebruary 23, 1917
DocketNo. 9,234
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 115 N.E. 257 (Welty v. Taylor) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welty v. Taylor, 115 N.E. 257, 63 Ind. App. 674, 1917 Ind. App. LEXIS 27 (Ind. Ct. App. 1917).

Opinion

Felt, C. J.

This is a suit to recover money alleged to be due on a parol contract entered into by appellant and appellee. The ease was tried on the amended second paragraph of complaint and an answer of general denial. The jury [677]*677returned a verdict for $3,500 in appellee’s favor and with it answers to certain interrogatories. Appellant’s motion for judgment on the answers of the jury to the interrogatories and for a new trial were overruled and judgment was rendered on the general verdict, from which this appeal was taken.

Appellant has assigned as error: (1) That the court erred in overruling his demurrer to the second paragraph of amended complaint; (2) the overruling of his motion for judgment on the answers of the jury to the interrogatories; and (3) the motion for a new trial.

The amended second paragraph of complaint, in substance, charges that in November, 1907, appellee entered into a written contract with appellant and his wife whereby they became partners in the cultivation and management of a farm of 735'acres in LaPorte county, Indiana, owned by appellant and his wife; that by the terms of the contract appellee was to move upon and cultivate the farm and the owners were to furnish certain live stock and other things necessary to the operation of the farm, and appellee and said owners were each to receive one-half of the proceeds therefrom ; that by the terms of said contract it was to run until March 1, 1913; that in compliance therewith appellee moved upon and operated said farm for the period of two years and thereby discovered that the soil was cold, sour and deficient in certain elements requisite to the production of crops; that the land was nonproductive and would not grow grains or other crops of any kind or description; that he was a farmer of experience and tilled and managed the farm in a husbandmanlike manner but the crops were entire failures; that on account of the nonproductiveness of the land he lost time and money in trying to raise crops thereon and at the expiration of the second year of his lease he informed appellant that it was impossible to raise crops on the farm because of the nonproductiveness of the soil and that it was impossible for him to continue longer under [678]*678their contract, and that, if he continued to work and farm the land, %hey would have to make some different arrangement; that thereupon appellant said he himself had been deceived in the quality of the land and was convinced that crops could not be raised on the land in its present condition and informed appellee that he desired him to continue on the farm, and if he would do so he, appellant, would furnish such materials as were necessary to cause the soil to produce crops, and would purchase lime, fertilizers and all things necessary to be placed on the land to make it productive, if appellee would superintend the work and perform or cause to be performed the labor of placing the same on the land; that if he would agree to the foregoing proposition as compensation for the extra labor required to carry out such plan, if they were successful and the farm was made productive and of the value of $70,000, appellee “should receive an amount over $70,000 that the land would bring in the market”; that the plaintiff then and there accepted the said proposition and thereafter the said plaintiff and defendant proceeded to carry out said contract. It is also averred that appellant furnished the necessary materials to improve the fences and buildings, and bought lime and manure from the stockyards of Chicago to be used on the farm; that appellee caused the same to be hauled to the farm and spread upon the land and continued to carry out said contract for two years, at the end of which time the farm was in “a good, productive condition and was worth in the market upwards of $70,000, to wit, tho sum of $84,525.00. That plaintiff has performed all and singular every part of said contract entered into” by the parties aforesaid; that he demanded from appellant the sum of $14,525, the value of the farm above $70,000, and appellant refused to pay the same to him; that by reason of the aforesaid premises appellant is indebted to appellee in the sum of $14,525 with six' per cent, interest from September 9, 191.3, for which he demands judgment.

[679]*679The demurrer was for insufficiency of the facts alleged to state a cause of action. The substance of the memorandum accompanying the same is as follows: (1) The pleading is a statement of evidence and not of issuable facts; (2) the allegations do not show a breach of the alleged contract; (3) the alleged contract is void under §7463 Burns 1914.

1. Under the rules that now control the construction of pleadings, the allegations are sufficient to state the issuable facts constituting the cause of action and to show a breach of the alleged contract. Domestic Block Coal Co. v. DeArmey (1913), 179 Ind. 592, 601, 100 N. E. 675, 102 N. E. 99; Waters v. Delagrange (1915), 183 Ind. 497, 499, 109 N. E. 758; Toledo, etc., R. Co. v. Levy (1891), 127 Ind. 168, 26 N. E. 773; Robinson v Horner (1911), 176 Ind. 226, 233, 95 N. E. 561.

2. The complaint does not seek to recover a commission or reward for procuring a purchaser of real estate, and the cause of action stated does not, therefore, come within the prohibition of §7463 Burns 1914, Acts 1913 p. 638, because the contract relied upon is not in writing.

The answers to the interrogatories show that in the winter of 1908 and 1909 appellant began to ship manure and lime to the farm and continued until he.had shipped about fifty-two carloads of manure and twenty or more carloads of lime; that appellee hauled and spread upon the land of appellant all of the material so furnished; that after the same was applied to the land it became more productive; that said fertilizers were furnished and applied as aforesaid under an agreement between appellant and appellee that the same should be so furnished and applied; that in September, 1913, the said farm of 735 acres belonged to appellant and his wife and was of the market value of $73,500, and had not been sold.

Appellant contends that the averments of the complaint which show that appellee had performed all the conditions of the contract by him to be performed required of him [680]*680proof that the farm had been sold; that the finding by the jury that the farm had not been sold is in irreconcilable conflict with the general verdict, because under the complaint the sale of the land for more than $70,000 is a condition precedent to appellee’s right of recovery.

3. The averments show that the parties agreed that, if their efforts to make the farm productive were successful, “and the farm was made productive and of the value of $70,000” appellee “should receive an amount over $70,000' that the land would bring in. the market.” In construing the contract and determining whether appellee, as a condition precedent to his right to recover, was required to furnish a purchaser who would pay more than $70,000 for the farm, we must ascertain the intention of the parties at the time they entered into the alleged contract, and where it rests in parol, and the question arises upon the complaint, then from a consideration of all the averments which set forth the alleged agreement of the parties. Phillbrook v. Emswiler (1884), 92 Ind. 590, 593.

4.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
115 N.E. 257, 63 Ind. App. 674, 1917 Ind. App. LEXIS 27, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welty-v-taylor-indctapp-1917.