Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Ry. v. Wood
Nashville, Chattanooga & St. Louis Ry. v. Wood
Opinion of the Court
Both counts of the amended complaint claim damages for the refusal of the defendant to accept a lot of cross-ties, for which, as alleged, defendant had agreed to pay plaintiff 38 cents for the first-class and 19 cents for second-class ties. „ Under this averment as to the agreed price, it was permissible for plaintiff to establish such price by either express or implied agreement; but he could not prove a quantum valebant, in order to fix the price of the ties. It is conceded that there was no express agreement by which the purchase price of the ties was fixed, and the material question presented by the assignments of error, especially those predicated upon the refusal by the trial court to give the general affirmative charge in favor of the defendant, is whether there was any evidence before the court tending to show by implication that the minds of plaintiff and defendant met and agreed upon the price averred in the complaint , viz., 38 cents for first-class and 19 cents for second-class ties. If there is no such evidence, it is ob
The testimony for plaintiff tends to show that one ■John Lane, an agent of defendant, but- without authority to purchase ties, requested him to buy a lot of ties from •one Houser, and to inform one G. D. Hicks, defendant’s tie-purchasing agent, who lived at Tullahoma, Tenn., promising that he (Lane) would then take up the ties; that plaintiff did purchase 7,000 ties from Houser, and wired Hicks of the purchase; that a correspondence ensued between them relative to the Houser ties, resulting finally in the announcement by Hicks that he could not take the ties, as he could not get to Caperton’s Ferry (this correspondence will be set out in full by the reporter) ; that defendant’s agents took up 253 of the Houser ties at Cooley’s Landing and Cycamore Landing, for which plaintiff received pay at 38 cents for first-class ■and 19 cents for second-class ties; that several months previously said Hicks had sent to him a contract for his ■signature and return, providing for the purchase from lim by defendant of ties not higher up in the river than Buck Island at 35 cents for first-class and 17 cents for ¡second-class; that he did not sign that contract, because he would not undertake to deliver 5,000 ties within the river limits specified; that he thereafter furnished ties to defendant at 35 cents and 17 cents, but not under that contract; that he asked Hicks for a contract for ties -above Buck Island, which was refused; that,before the ■conversation with John Lane he had sold, and was then ■selling ties to defendant at 38 cents and 19 cents, but never any above Columbus City; and that defendant “was paying 38 cents and 19 cents for ties.” The evidence ¡shows without conflict that Columbus City is about 10 miles above Guntersville, Buck Island “a few miles above Huntersville” and below Columbus City, Cycamore
Do the foregoing facts either show, or permit any rational inference, that defendant agreed to pay for the Houser ties, all of which were located above Columbus City at distances ranging from a few miles to 40 or 50 miles, the price of 38 cents for ties of the first class and 19 cents for ties of the second class, as alleged in the complaint? If a sale be made without a specification of the price, or of any method by which it is to be subsequently determined, the law will imply a reasonable price; and this principle applies, it seems, to executory as well as executed sales. —Shealy v. Edwards, 73 Ala. 175, 49 Am. Rep. 43; 24 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law, 1036. In such a case, for the vendee’s refusal to accept the goods the vendor would have his action for damages; but, in the absence of proof that the seller has suffered some special damage, the recovery would be only for nominal damages. —24 Am. & Eng. Ency. Law, pp. 1115-1117, and cases cited. But, as we have seen, such is not the nature of the present case, and under the averments
In this view of the case, it is not necessary to consider other assignments of error. For the error above pointed out, the judgment of the trial court must be reversed, and the cause remanded.
Reversed and remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.