Wichita Flour Mills Co. v. Guymon Equity Exchange

1931 OK 457, 1 P.2d 657, 150 Okla. 245, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 358
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided July 14, 1931·No. 20157·Published·Cited by 11 cases

Opinion

KEENER, J.

This is an action brought in the district court of Texas county by the Wichita Flour Mills Company against the Guymon Equity Exchange, to recover damages for the breach of a written contract for the purchase of a quantity of flour.

Plaintiff alleges that, on the 14th day of April, 1920, defendant entered into a written contract with it, whereby it purchased 315 barrels of flour at an agreed price of $13.20 a barrel. That under the terms of the contract shipment was to be made within 30 days; that subsequent to the execution thereof, and at the request of defendant, the date of shipment was extended by a letter - to that effect written to defendant; that thereafter like extensions were granted at defendant’s request until January 1, 1921, when defendant notified it that it would refuse to accept the flour.

Defendant, in its answer, alleged a contemporaneous oral agreement between it and plaintiff’s salesman, whereby it was agreed that neither the time of delivery specified in the contract, nor the price of the flour as therein set forth should govern, but that it might order the flour shipped as needed, and that the same should be shipped at the then prevailing market price; that the contract is null and void for the reason that it has never been modified in accordance with this oral agreement.

Plaintiff demurred to the answer on the ground that it failed to state a defense to its cause of action. The demurrer was overruled. The cause then went to trial before a jury, and resulted in a verdict in favor of defendant.

Plaintiff first contends that the cburt erred in admitting evidence tending to prove a parol contemporaneous agreement that' the flour was to be shipp'ed as needed by defendant and at the then prevailing market price instead of the price designated by the contract, for the reason that the evidence tended to contradict and vary the terms of the written contract, and for the further reason that a written contract could not be changed or modified by a subsequent unexe-cuted oral contract.

The evidence offered on behalf of plaintiff discloses that at the time the order was received by plaintiff, it also received a letter from its salesman stating that defendant had advised him that it had considerable flour on hand, and that it might not need the flour at the time designated for shipment in the contract, and that it might desire an extension as to • the date of shipment. Upon receipt of this order and letter, plaintiff advised defendant that it had accepted the order and would be glad to grant it an extension if it so desired. Thereafter, defendant wrote plaintiff requesting a further extension, which was granted. The date of shipment was thereafter in like manner extended from time to time until the 3rd of January, 1921, when defendant advised plaintiff that it would refuse to accept the flour.

Defendant at no time objected to the change of the .original shipping date as provided by the contract, but specifically requested extension, and in its letters acknowledged the extension and acknowledged itself bound by the terms of the contract, as may be seen by reference to its letter of September 6, 1926, where it said:

“We are positively trying our very best to live up to our contract, and will do so if given a gambler’s chance, for we are proud of the flour account with you people and the only regret we have is the present status of affairs.
“We wish to reassure you that these are the unpolished facts in the case, and we are buying five and six sacks of flour at the time in order to keep going until we can do better. Should this flour advance, we would certainly have held you to the contract, and we do not feel that it would be right to turn you down now that it has declined. To be honest about it, we think we will see much higher flour than the price at which this was hot.”

This evidence conclusively shows that the change in the contract of date of shipment was .made by mutual agreement of the parties and made in writing as provided by section 5081, C. O. S. 1921, which is as follows :

“A contract in writing may be altered by a contract in writing, or by an executed oral agreement, and not otherwise.”

The defendant contends that the written instrument signed by defendant could not become a contract until confirmed by the milling company, and that the letter of confirmation refers to extringent matter which showed that the written instrument did not incorp'orate the entire contract, and that parol evidence was competent to prove such extringent matter and conditions. It is true that the instrument signed by the defendant could not become a contract until confirmed by the milling company, and that the letter *247 oí confirmation referred to an extension of payments which was not in the original contract. It is contended that at the time the order for the floor was given, there was a contemporaneous oral agreement with the agent of the plaintiff to the effect that the defendant could have an extension of time as to the date of the shipment of the flour, and that when the flour was shipped, the price to be paid therefor would be the market price at date of shipment. The agent did communicate to the principal the portion of the oral agreement as to the extension of time for shipment of the flour. There is nothing in the record to show that the other portion of the alleged parol agreement contended for by the defendant was communicated to the plaintiff. Let us assume, however. that all of the parol agreement as contended for by the defendant was actually entered into by the agent who sold the flour to the defendant, and that it was communicated to the principal at Wichita. In its letter of acceptance the plaintiff did agree to the extension as to the date of shipment, but there was nothing said about the rest of the parol agreement to the effect that, when the flour was shipped, it should be paid for at the market price as of the date of shipment and not the contract price. Under these conditions, the defendant was not lvnmd to accept the contract to purchase because the letter of acceptance did not agree to all of the alleged oral contract. Since it did not do so, the defendant could then have refused to be bound by the contract because the parol agreement had not been complied with. The defendant, however, did not refuse to be bound by the contract as accepted by the plaintiff, but, on the contrary, acquiesced therein, for ■ in its letter of September 6th, supra, it stated that if the flour had advanced in price, it certainly would have held the plaintiff to the contract price, and that it would not be right on its part to refuse performance because the contract price had declined.

Since the contract of purchase made by the agent of plaintiff with the defendant had to be confirmed by plaintiff, it was no more than an offer on its part to buy the flour on certain terms and conditions. When defendant received the letter of confirmation from plaintiff, it could have, as stated above, refused to be bound by the offer to purchase on the theory that the contract did not provide that when the flour was shipped it was to be paid for at the market price at the time of shipment. It, however, did not do this, but, on the contrary, accepted the terms of the written contract as is clearly shown by its letter cf September 6, 1926, supra.

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Wichita Flour Mills Co. v. Guymon Equity Exchange, 1931 OK 457, 1 P.2d 657, 150 Okla. 245, 1931 Okla. LEXIS 358 (Okla. 1931).

1931 OK 457 (Wichita Flour Mills Co. v. Guymon Equity Exchange) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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