Williams v. John L. Roper Lumber Co.

167 F. 84, 92 C.C.A. 536, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4325
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 13, 1909
DocketNo. 830
StatusPublished

This text of 167 F. 84 (Williams v. John L. Roper Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Williams v. John L. Roper Lumber Co., 167 F. 84, 92 C.C.A. 536, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4325 (4th Cir. 1909).

Opinion

PRITCHARD, Circuit Judge.

This was a civil action. Two causes of action were set up in the complaint: (1) Failure to furnish logs as provided in the contract; and (2) damages on account of false representations and failure of warranty on sale of a boiler. At the trial the defendant moved to dismiss each of the causes of action set out in the complaint, upon the ground that the complaint did not state facts mfficient to constitute a cause of action in either instance. Both moíions were granted, and the plaintiff, having duly excepted, assigns the same as errors.

Defendant below contends, as to the first cause of action, that its only obligation under the contract was to furnish sufficient logs to manufacture 250,000 feet of lumber per month, regardless of the quality of the logs and without regard to the usual run of timber. That they had the right under the contract to send plaintiff only cull logs, if they so desired, the only obligation being that they send him enough to manufacture 250,000 feet. That there is no allegation in the complaint that a sufficient quantity for that purpose was not furnished, and therefore a cause of action was not stated. As to the second cause of action, defendant contends that the boiler was sold under a written contract, the same being attached to the complaint and made a part of plaintiff’s first cause of action, and that no warranty appears therein.

It appears from the record that, after a jury had been empaneled, the court, on motion of counsel for defendant in error, dismissed the complaint of the plaintiff in error upon the ground that the complaint did not state a cause of action. The first cause of action stated in the complaint reads as follows:

"(2) That plaintiff and defendant entered into a contract on the 27th day of September, 1002, ill writing, a copy of which is hereto attached and made a part of this complaint, which has been modified from time to time as to the «mount to be paid for the manufacture of the lumber from $2 to $3.50 per M.
“(3) That the plaintiff entered upon the fulfillment of the terms of said con-n-act according to the terms thereof, and was and has been at all times ready, v filing, and able to perform his part, and has in every respect performed bis part of said contract.
‘•(4) That the defendant has failed and refused to perform its part of said contract and deliver the logs to the mill of plaintiff as provided for in said contract.
“(5) That defendant has been ever since the execution of said contract and up to the present cutting the timber described in said contract and sending it to Us mill or mills in the state of Virginia to be manufactured, and sent to lue plaintiff all of the cull logs.
■■U5) That under the contract it was the duly of the defendant to deliver •'» toe plaintiff its timber as it came, the good logs as well as the culls, and not io separate the good logs and send the same to its mill in Virginia and culls to the plaintiff.
“(7) That the defendant only delivered to the mill of the plaintiff a small quantity of good logs, but delivered all of its culls against which the plaintiff repeatedly protested, and insisted that it should comply with the contract and deliver the logs as they came and in the usual length.
“C8) That the cull logs were not in regular length, but longer, different, and unusual lengths, crooked, and full of long knots and limbs, which required the [86]*86plaintiff at great expense to have the same trimmed off before same could he sawed in lumber, and many of said cull logs were so crooked that it was difficult to get any lumber out of same, and at great and unusual expense.
“(9) That, by reason of defendant refusing and failing to comply with its contract and deliver logs according to the terms and true meaning of said contract, the plaintiff was unable to cut and deliver the lumber at a reasonable cost, hut at a heavy expense and in much less quantities per day. and to his great damage during the period since he commenced performing his part of said contract.
“(10) That, by reason of the defendant failing and refusing to comply with its part of the contract, the plaintiff has been prevented from cutting the logs according to the agreement, to his great damage and loss.”

It is insisted by counsel for the plaintiff in error that the foregoing allegations constitute a good cause of action, and that the court below erred in dismissing the same.

A motion to dismiss, under the practice of the state courts of North Carolina, will be treated as a demurrer, and, for the purpose of determining the questions sought to be reviewed, such motion will be treated as an admission on the part of the defendant in error that the facts stated in the complaint are true.

To determine the question as to whether the court erred in dismissing this cause of action, it becomes necessary to construe the contract relied upon by the plaintiff in error. The complaint alleges the existence of a contract; that the plaintiff in error has endeavored to comply with such contract, and his readiness to perform his part of the same; and alleges that the defendant has failed to perform its part of said contract. Does the contract upon which this suit was instituted require the defendant in error to furnish the usual run of logs in the woods, or can the defendant in error, at its discretion, furnish only cull logs? Here we have a contract by which the plaintiff in error agrees to saw the logs belonging to the defendant in error on certain tracts of land located in North Carolina, and the defendant in error agrees to furnish logs to the plaintiff in error until- all the logs on such tracts are manufactured into lumber. It is true that there is a proviso in the contract that the defendant may sell timber on any of its tracts or manufacture any or all of its timber, and sell any of its timber tracts; but this proviso clearly recognizes the obligation of the defendant in error under the contract to furnish logs sufficient each month to manufacture not less than 250,000 feet of lumber. In the first instance, the agreement is to furnish all the timber on said tract, which must necessarily mean the usual run of logs on said tract; and, while it is provided that the defendant in error may sell all of its timber, .this provision is modified by the closing words of the paragraph, which are as follows:

“ * * * The only obligation under this contract of the said .Tohn L. Roper Lumber Company as to furnishing iogs or timber to said R. L. Williams being to furnish him as provided in this contract sufficient logs to manufacture each month not less than two hundred and fifty thousand feet of lumber.”

The foregoing leaves no doubt as to the extent of the limitation contained in the proviso to the effect that the defendant in error may sell or dispose of any or all of its timber on the tracts in question, which we construe to mean that the defendant in error may sell any or all of its timber or any of its timber tracts in that vicinity, provided that [87]*87;n doing so it retains a sufficient amount of timber to enable it to comply with its contract with the plaintiff in error, to wit, to furnish logs sufficient to saw 250,000 feet per month.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
167 F. 84, 92 C.C.A. 536, 1909 U.S. App. LEXIS 4325, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/williams-v-john-l-roper-lumber-co-ca4-1909.