Florence M. & R. Supply Co. v. International Agri. Cor.
Florence M. & R. Supply Co. v. International Agri. Cor.
Opinion of the Court
This ivas an action on an account. By plea 2 the defendant set up:
“That prior to the bringing of this suit the subject-matter thereof was submitted by the plaintiff: and defendant, by mutual agreement between them, to arbitrators, and the defendant alleges that the arbitrators rendered their award in'words and figures as follows, to wit.”
Here ivas set out the alleged award, in which the parties to the arbitration were mentioned as “the International Agricultural Corporation and Major A. J. McGarry.” The averments of this plea are plainly to the effect that the plaintiff corporation participated in a submission to arbitration of the subject-matter of this suit, and that the alleged award resulted from that submission and arbitration. Obviously this plea is not subject to the grounds of the demurrer to it Avhich suggest its failure to-show that the plaintiff was in any way connected Avith or bound by the alleged arbitration, and that it shoAvs on its face that the plaintiff had no connection whatever Avith the alleged arbitration and award. The plaintiff’s participation in the submission to the arbitration of which the alleged award Avas the result could not well have been more pointedly averred.
“That said plea is contradictory, in that it alleges an arbitration, and the award set out therein shows an •award had between defendant and A. J. McGarry.”
We are not of opinion that the averments of the plea are contradictory in the particular mentioned. While the award on its face does not suggest that it embraces any matter of controversy between the plaintiff and the defendant, nothing in its terms is necessarily inconsistent with the averments of the plea to the effect that the subject-matter of this suit was submitted to arbitration by the plaintiff and the defendant, and that the award embraced the claim sued on. If the plaintiff participated in the submission and arbitration, as the averments of the plea plainly allege that it did, it was bound by the finding that the defendant is “not to pay for crusher or any repairs for same.” The complaint in the case did not inform the court of the items embraced in the account sued on. It might be that that account was for the repairs mentioned in the above-quoted finding, for which, by the terms of the award, the defendant was not to pay. The conclusion is that the plea mentioned was not subject to demurrer on the grounds assigned.
The plaintiff sought to prove the account sued on by the testimony of A. J. McGarry. He stated that his business was running a foundry and machine shop, the name of which was that of the plaintiff, Florence Machine & Railroad Supply Company, a corporation of which he was president and general manager when the items constituting the account sued on were furnished. On the cross-examination of the witness there was exhibited to him a contract made by him with the defendant for the erection of a phosphate rock crusher, which
An arbitrator was named in a letter signed “A. J. McGarry, President.” The defendant’s communications AArere addressed to “A. J. McGarry, Pres. Florence Machine & Railroad Supply Co.” It might well be that the plaintiff coporation undertook to carry out the contract Avhich was made by its president in his individual capacity, and the correspondence offered in evidence indicated that this Avas done, and that the plaintiff corporation, not its president in his individual capacity, was the party dealt Avith in the controversy as to the performance of the contract, and in the submission to arbitration of matters in dispute. In the first award that was made the plaintiff and the defendant were named as the parties to the arbitration. The defendant, in a letter addressed to “Maj. A. J. McGarry, Pres. Florence Mach. & R. R. Co.,” agreed that the two arbitra
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.