Woodward & Hardie, Inc. v. McMillan

34 S.W.2d 357
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 10, 1930
DocketNo. 7531.
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 34 S.W.2d 357 (Woodward & Hardie, Inc. v. McMillan) 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
Woodward & Hardie, Inc. v. McMillan, 34 S.W.2d 357 (Tex. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

BLAIR, J.

Appellees sued appellant for damages resulting from a breach of its contract to build a house for them, the damages prayed for being the difference between the contract price, $2,910, and $4,000, the price for which appel-lees alleged that the house could be built. Appellant filed a general denial and the special defenses that it was induced to enter into the alleged contract by the fraudulent representations of appellee Will McMillan as to his financial worth, and that the house could be built for the price stipulated in the *358 contract, and therefore appellees sustained no damages. Upon the jury’s answers to the special issues submitted, judgment was rendered for appellees against appellant for $840, being the difference between the contract price and the price which the jury found that appellees could have secured a reliable contractor to build “the five-room house according to the plans and specifications introduced in evidence” ; hence this appeal.

In answer to special issue No. 4, requested by appellant, the jury found that appellant “executed a contract to build a house for plaintiffs in Lockhart, Texas"; in answer to special issue No. 1, the jury found that appellant did not sign the contract sued upon, believing that it was signing a contract to build a four-room house; and in answer to special issue No. 3, the jury found that for $3,750, payable $34.95 per month (as provided in the contract), the appellees could “secure a reliable contractor to build the five-room house according to the plans and specifications introduced in evidence, in Lockhart, Texas.” By several propositions, appellant contends: (a) That by these findings the jury did not find that it had contracted to build a house of any particular number of rooms, or of any particular size, and that the court assumed that the contract was for a five-room house; and (b) that these findings of the jury are not supported by any evidence and that the judgment based upon such issues and findings constitutes fundamental error. Neither of the contentions is sustained. The appellant requested the submission of special issue No. 4, in answer to which the jury found that appellant “executed a contract to build a house for plaintiffs in Lockhart, Texas.” The law is well settled that where a party requests the submission of a special issue on the trial of a case, he is estopped on appeal to assert that there was no legal evidence to support the issue, or to question the legal sufficiency of the issue requested. National Life & Accident Ins. Co. v. Bunton (Tex. Civ. App.) 10 S.W.(2d) 733; Independent hope Brick Co. v. Dugger, 285 S. W. 599, in which case the Commission of Appeals held that:

“While a party, having requested the submission of a special issue to a jury, might complain that the jury’s answer was against the great weight of the testimony (a question not before us in this case and which we do not decide), it seems perfectly clear, under our decisions, that he is estopped to claim there is no evidence in the record raising that issue. This is the uniform holding of our Supreme Court and the various Courts of Civil Appeals. The reason for the rule is apparent.”

The finding of the jury on issue 4 alone is a sufficient finding under the preceding rule of law to establish that appellant executed the contract sued upon by appellee to build a five-room house for them in Lockhart, Tex. But certainly when the findings on the three pre- „ ceding issues are construed in the light of the pleadings and evidence, they are sufficient and amount to a finding that appellant executed a contract with appellees to build for them a five-room house in Lockhart, Tex., and the court did not assume either in submitting these issues to the jury ot in rendering judgment on the jury’s findings that such was the contract between the parties, although dt could have done so under the undisputed evidence.

The evidence is undisputed that appellant contracted with appellees to build for them a five-room house in Lockhart, Tex., for $2,910. The negotiations were' begun by appellees signing a written order for the house, which was also signed by Thacker, agent for appellant. The order called for a house according to plan No. 752, which was a plan for a four-room house. This was later changed by adding a glazed-in porch, thereby making a five-room house, and the specifications which called for a five-room house were signed by both parties. A mechanic’s lien contract was executed by both parties. Appellees executed a note and deed of trust to appellant in payment of the improvements. D. J. Woodward, appellant’s president, testified as follows:

“I have seen the blue print before, which you now show me. I have also seen these plans and specifications; this is my signature attached to thése plans and specifications. I signed that as president of the company; it is dated June 26, 1929. * * * They got these plans and specifications from us. They were delivered, signed by us. They call for a five-room house, but what I am telling you is that our price of $2,910.00 was made by me on the assumption that it was a duplicate of a house that they had just finished, and that they had just gone through with, and I signed a duplicate of this 'house. * * * She had stated to our representative that was selling her the house that she wanted, some changes made in it, and our representative took it up and had the changes made on the 'drafting board. Mrs. McMillan got a copy back, which is this copy here, with the changes made on it, and I signed the specifications on this. I truly signed them, there is no argument about it. I did not sign the blue-print; I signed the specifications, and felt like those specifications were of the house that they had just walked through, the four-room house. ⅜ * * That four-room house is not what I signed in these specifications. I signed the five-room house. They signed the five-room house, and that is the house for which I wanted the extra thousand dollars.”

The plans were not signed by appellant, but the specifications which were signed by both parties provided as follows:

*359 “It is understood that the accompanying blue prints are intended as a supplement to and a part of the foregoing specifications, and as such, are to be followed in every particular as shown thereon. Said blue prints are to be OK’d by owner before actual construction has begun.”

Mrs. McMillan O. K.?d the plans, and both she and her husband testified that in doing so she was acting for both of them, and that, in fact, she acted as agent for the husband in handling all the transactions with appellant, who prepared all papers in the premises and submitted them for appellees’ signatures.

In the case of Burleson v. Graves, 255 S. W. 1013, 1014, this court held as follows:

“It has been repeatedly held that the wife may act as the agent of the husband, and that such agency may arise from the conduct of the parties as well as by express authority. Crutcher v. Sligar (Tex. Civ. App.) 224 S. W. 227; Parrott v. Peacock Military College (Tex. Civ. App.) 180 S. W. 132; Lilly v. Yeary (Tex. Civ. App.) 152 S. W. 823; Lumber Co. v. Smith (Tex. Civ. App.) 151 S. W. 605.

Nor is it necessary for the wife to sign her name as agent for the husband, if, in fact, she acted as his agent. Parrott v. Peacock Military College, supra.

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