Winkler Construction Co. v. Hornor & Co.

580 S.W.2d 401, 1979 Tex. App. LEXIS 3144
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 31, 1979
Docket16043
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 580 S.W.2d 401 (Winkler Construction Co. v. Hornor & Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Winkler Construction Co. v. Hornor & Co., 580 S.W.2d 401, 1979 Tex. App. LEXIS 3144 (Tex. Ct. App. 1979).

Opinion

OPINION

CADENA, Chief Justice.

Winkler Construction Company, which will be identified in this opinion as “defendant,” appeals from a judgment awarding plaintiff, Hornor & Company, a recovery of $1,292.75 against defendant on the theory that Climate Control Company, which had a claim against defendant in that amount, had assigned its claim to plaintiff. The judgment was based on jury findings to the effect that Climate Control had assigned its claim against defendant to plaintiff and that defendant had notice of such assignment before it paid its debt to Climate Control.

Defendant undertook, as general contractor, to construct drive-in teller windows for a San Antonio bank. Climate Control, as subcontractor, contracted to install the required air conditioning equipment. It is undisputed that at the completion of the air conditioning work defendant still owed Climate Control $1,292.75.

Plaintiff is engaged in the business of supplying equipment and materials to contractors and had supplied such equipment to Climate Control over a period of time. In October, 1975, Climate Control attempted to secure additional equipment from plaintiff. Since plaintiff had experienced difficulty in collecting from Climate Control in the past, and since plaintiff had reason to believe that Climate Control was experiencing financial difficulties, it expressed its reluctance to extend further credit to Climate Control. It was finally agreed that plaintiff would deliver the equipment desired by Climate Control if the latter would assign to plaintiff the amount defendant owed to Climate Control.

Sharon Lempar, plaintiff’s bookkeeper and office manager, testified that on Octo *402 ber 13, 1975, she called Rudolph Winkler, defendant’s president, to ascertain the amount still due to Climate Control, and that Winkler verified that the amount was $1,292.75. During the course of this conversation Winkler agreed to “consign” the amount owed to Climate Control “on a joint payment between [plaintiff] and Climate Control Company.” She then told Winkler that she would send him “a letter accordingly.” Winkler testified that he had no recollection of this conversation and that, to the best of his recollection, it had not taken place.

On October 14, 1975, the president of Climate Control took a letter to defendant’s office. In this letter,’ Climate Control, after stating that it had one “draw” remaining on the bank job in the amount of $1,292.75, requested that the “check for that draw be made payable jointly to Climate Control Co. and [plaintiff], so that [plaintiff] will be assured of payment for materials released.” This letter, which was addressed to Rudolph Winkler, also contained Climate Control’s request that Mr. Winkler sign the letter to indicate his acceptance. At the bottom of the letter there is a signature line, with the words, “Accepted” and “Rudolph Winkler, President Winkler Construction Co.” Mr. Winkler did not sign the letter. Instead, following the word “Accepted,” there appears the signature of Steven R. Oberg, and under this signature there appear the words, “Office Manager.”

When plaintiff received this letter, signed by Oberg, it delivered the equipment and materials to Climate Control. The uncon-tradieted evidence establishes that such delivery would not have been made in the absence of receipt by plaintiff of such letter. Winkler testified that he did not see the letter prior to November 13, 1975, the date on which defendant issued its check in the amount of $1,292.75 payable to Climate Control alone, rather than jointly to Climate Control and plaintiff. Plaintiff has received no money from either Climate Control or defendant.

Defendant’s answer contains no sworn denial that Oberg had no authority to sign the instrument on behalf of defendant and on which plaintiff’s claim is based. See Tex.R.Civ.P. 93(h). In any event, Winkler testified that he had delegated authority to Oberg and that Oberg’s acts were regarded as the corporation’s acts.

We do not consider defendant’s complaint that the trial court erred in overruling its objections to the charge. Defendant does not specify the portion of the record in which such objections appear, and the transcript does not reflect that defendant filed objections to the charge. Tex.R.Civ.P. 272.

Defendant urges that the judgment is erroneous because there is no evidence of an effective assignment by Climate Control to plaintiff of Climate Control’s claim against defendant. Defendant insists that Climate Control’s request that defendant pay the amount due to Climate Control by making the check payable to Climate Control and plaintiff jointly cannot constitute an assignment of Climate Control’s rights to plaintiff. This argument is based on the often-repeated proposition that there can be no valid assignment unless there is

an appropriation of the fund pro tanto either by an order on the specific fund or by transferring the amount otherwise in such a manner that the holder of the fund is authorized to pay the amount directly to the creditor, without the further intervention of the debtor, [so that there is a] . surrender [of] control over the funds or property assigned.

See Cooper v. Cocke, 145 S.W.2d 275, 279 (Tex.Civ.App.—Amarillo 1940, no writ). Defendant’s theory is that since Climate Control requested defendant to pay by means of a check payable to it and plaintiff jointly, Climate Control had not surrendered control of the fund, since the negotiation of the check would require the endorsement of Climate Control.

Our attention has been called to no Texas case, and we have found none, in which the court directed its attention to the problem now before us. There are decisions upholding assignments where the debtor’s payment of the debt owed the assignor was to be made by check payable to both assignor *403 and assignee. See Manes Construction Co. v. Wallboard Coatings Co., 497 S.W.2d 334, 336 (Tex.Civ.App.—Houston [14th Dist.] 1973, no writ); Olshan Lumber Co. v. Bullard, 395 S.W.2d 670 (Tex.Civ.App.—Houston [1st Dist.] 1965, no writ). But, as plaintiff admits, the question of the effect of payment by a joint check was not discussed in such cases.

We have found only one case in which the problem was discussed. In McClary v. Midland Land & Development Co., 109 F.Supp. 847, 852-53 (E.D.Tenn.1952), the court said that there had been no assignment, “valid as to parties not connected with the transaction,” because of the assignor’s failure to relinquish complete control of the account. Although the court did not specifically refer to the fact that the debtor was to make payment by check payable jointly to the assignor and assignee as the basis for concluding that complete control had not been relinquished, a reading of the opinion justifies the conclusion that this was the decisive factor.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Elsa State Bank & Trust Co. v. Alberto Trevino
Court of Appeals of Texas, 2009
Robert Parker's Truck & Trailer Repair, Inc. v. Speer
722 S.W.2d 45 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1986)
Hall v. Rogers
620 S.W.2d 217 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1981)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
580 S.W.2d 401, 1979 Tex. App. LEXIS 3144, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/winkler-construction-co-v-hornor-co-texapp-1979.