McCormick v. Badham
McCormick v. Badham
Opinion of the Court
This is the third appeal in this case. The several trials were had before different judges.
On the first appeal the ruling of the trial court was sustained on demurrer to certain counts of the complaint; the written contract, on which the suit was sought to be maintained, was construed, and reversal was had for the giving of the general affirmative charge for defendant. McCormick v. Badham, 191 Ala. 339, 347, 67 South. 609.
The verdict for plaintiff, on the second trial, was set aside on motion for a new trial; and that judgment was affirmed. The Chief Justice declared that, although the seller agreed to sell the stock of the plaintiff buyer to a third person and to account for the stipulated price obtained, and later made a contract with such third person rescinding the contract, in the absence of a showing as to what the seller would have realized by forcing the third person to perform, or that the amount stipulated was realized by the sale made, plaintiff could only recover the market value of the stock. McCormick v. Badham, 201 Ala. 210, 77 South. 736.
The present appeal is from a judgment for defendant. In plaintiff’s motion for a new trial it is averred, among other grounds, that the jury improperly carried with them to the jury room three papers which had not been introduced in evidence, which said papers had a bearing on the issues in the case and were considered by the jury in arriving at a verdict. The. motion was overruled and due exception reserved.
“It is one thing to say that the surrender of such rights (secured by the written contract) would afford consideration for a new undertaidng (McCormick v. Badham, 201 Ala. 210, 77 South. 738), * * * and say, on the other hand, that they had an actual monetary value capable of measurement” at the time in question.
This, by way of plaintiff’s effort to introduce evidence tending to show the reasonable market value of the stock at other times than that when H. L. Badham had completed the sale of said stock to V. C. Badham. However, the record shows that plaintiff was permitted to testify that its fair market val-‘ ue was easily $200 a share. If the court had been in error in excluding the evidence in question, plaintiff could not ask more than that he testify generally as to what was the fair market value of the stock. This he was permitted to do.
The letter of H. L. Badham, dated Birmingham, Ala., 3/5/07, to plaintiff was not material. It contained no offer to purchase or confirmation thereof, no disclosure or admission of liability on plaintiff’s part unconditionally to pay plaintiff for the 45 shares of stock in the Dorchester Lumber Company. The letters of December 24 and 28, 1907, were properly excluded. They do not tend to show liability of defendant on the parol agreement declared upon. It may be the letters would be competent in a suit between McCormick and Dorchester Lumber Company for 5 per cent, of the earnings of that company as a part of plaintiff’s compensation for services rendered. The other objections and exceptions made and reserved on introduction of evidence have been considered and are without merit.
“The jury improperly took with them to the jury room, when they retired to make up their verdict, and had before them in the jury room with other documentary evidence, three papers ■which had not been introduced in evidence, namely: (a) A letter from plaintiff to defendant dated at Badham, S. O., March 9, 1906. (h) A statement of the Dorchester Lumber Company, dated May 31, 1904. (c) A balance sheet of the Dorchester Lumber Company, dated Feb. 28, 1907.”
Counsel for plaintiff says of the letter, statement, and balance sheet in question that—
“The evidence as to the value of the company’s timber lands and other assets did not merely go to the measure of damages, but it was material in determining whether or nbt the plaintiff was entitled to recover at all; for if the 45 shares of stock in question were worth no more than par, then the plaintiff could not recover, for there was due the defendant for purchase money for the stock, $4,500.”
Mr. Hayden, in his affidavit, declared that, as a juror who tried this cause he examined the statement of May 31, 1904, and balance sheet, dated February 28, 1907, while the case was under consideration, and that he saw another member of the jury examine the letter of March 9, 1906.
A juror may not testify as to what transpired in the deliberations of the jury. This is forbidden by public policy, which demands that deliberations of the jury room be kept secret. Clay v. City Council of Montgomery, 102 Ala. 297, 302, 14 South. 646; B. R. L. & P. Co. v. Moore, 148 Ala. 115, 130, 42 South. 1024; Continental Casualty Co. v. Ogburn, 186 Ala. 398, 403, 64 South. 619; Ala. F. & I. Co. v. Rice, 187 Ala. 458, 463, 65 South. 402; Brister v. State, 26 Ala. 107, 133 ; Proffatt on Jury Trial,' § 408; Thompson & Merriam on Juries, § 363; 12 Am. & Eng. Encyc. of Law (1st Ed.) 318. The affidavit of a juror may, however, be' allowed to show extraneous facts which may have influenced their verdict. Clay v. City Council of Montgomery, supra; Ala. F. & I. Co. v. Rice, supra.
The bill of exceptions shows that the letter of March 9, 1906, was referred to by Mr. McCormick, as a witness, in these words:
“I wrote that letter dated March 9, 1906, (referring to the letter shown the witness). That is in my handwriting. If it is so stated in that letter, I guess I said, ‘replying to yours, I went over the timber acreage with Jacques, and cut out all we considered worthless and left 17.494 acres Dec. 31st; we valued this at $7.50 per acre.’ I did not have anything to do with putting the figures on except as given to *10 me I put them on the books. I was not mistaken then when I valued this land. Jacques was the man in charge of the timber. I did not make the valuation. I did not intend to convey the idea. When I said ‘we,’ I referred to the Dorchester Lumber Company. That timber was bought at different prices. In some instances we valued it on the books at $7.50 that was bought at $5.”
The witness Reed, in his testimony referred to the letter as follows:
“I get that 17,000 acres of tiinber from an inventory on a letter Mr. Badham showed me; one of Mr. McCormick’s letters, saying he had 17,000 acres of timber in 1907. And the books show they had 21,000 in 1904; and they bought a little, bought 3,717 acres of timber, making a total of 24,717 acres of timber all told, and they had according to a letter as an inventory in 1907, 17,000 acres. This letter says 17,494 left on December 31st. So that a quantity of timber less by 4,000 acres was valued in 1907 at $150,000, and had a value in 1904 of $28,000 in round figures.”
Thus was a pertinent part of the letter before the jury by plaintiff’s reference, as well as by reference made thereto by defendant’s witness Reed.
The statement of February 28, 1907, was referred to by McCormick in his evidence as follows:
“I suppose I sent H. L. Badham that statement (referring to a statement shown the witness). It is not in my handwriting. That at the bottom is in my handwriting. That was the balance sheet, February 28, 1907. I could not say it was sent then; it was sent some time after. As to the valuation of the property shown by that statement, you have to add the earnings of the business; those figures change every month. They varied some between February and September. I don’t know that they did vary $100,000. I would be afraid to say they did without referring to the papers. They show total assets of a value in September of $475,000. And this (the one of February 28, 1907) shows $406,000. * * * When I went there I made up a statement, and that statement showed assets approximately amounting to $207,000. I kept the books in the meantime. And I claimed to have a contract to pay me 5 per cent, of its earnings. And while my statement when I went there showed assets of $207,000, when I left it showed assets of oves $400,000, and I wrote the company was about to go into bankruptcy. * * * (A written statement was here shown the witness.) That is in my handwriting. That shows the valuation of the timber at the time I went there of $28,894.86. (Another statement was then shown the witness.) That is the statement I checked in February, 1907, and that shows a valuation of timber of $159,360.80.”
The plaintiff, as a witness, on cross-examination by defendant further referred to the statement as follows:
“I don’t quite understand without going to the books about what that item of $15,000 in statement of February 28, 1907, refers to. I can’t , explain this memorandum on that statement. This points to the accounts receivable, including charges. I won’t make a statement about it without going to the books. I do not know that $15,000 is the $15,000 paid Henry Badham. I don’t recall any other item H. L. Badham was concerned in. I don’t know perfectly well there was not any other. I can explain those items if you let me go to the books, but I cannot explain it from that sheet. That was for Mr. Badham’s information that was put on there, for his information only.”
In his testimony, McCormick makes reference to the statement of the Dorchester Lumber Company, dated May 31, 1904, as follows:
“I made a trial balance showing the assets and liabilities each month. I have one for 1904 when I went there, and one for September 30, 1907, when I left. These papers (exhibiting certain papers) include the trial balance, and an itemized statement of the) assets anil the liabilities of the company. * * * I furnished copies of these statements to H. L. and Y. C. Badham from time to time, and I don’t know but believe I furnished a copy at this time.”
On page 50 of the record witness says:
“That is the statement I checked in February, 1907, and that shows a valuation of’timber of $159,360.80.”
The statement of May 31, 1904, was produced by McCormick, and he testified of it as follows:
“I made a trial balance showing the assets and liabilities each month. I have one for 1904 when I went there, and one for September 30, 1907, when I left. These papers (exhibiting certain papers) include the trial balance and an itemized statement of the assets and liabilities of the company. * * * I kept' the books. I know these are correct. I furnished copies of these statements to H. L. and V. C. Badham from time to time.”
The record recites:
“Plaintiff then introduced in evidence the balance sheet or trial balance showing the assets and liabilities of the Dorchester Lumber Company, September 30,1907.”
And on page 55 of the record plaintiff was interrogated somewhat as to the statement of September 30, 1907, and the balance sheet in question of February 28,1907 — which it is insisted, should not have been taken by the jury to the jury room for consideration.
It was not reversible error for these documents to go to the jury room under the circumstances and under the references made thereto in examination of witnesses by the respective counsel.
In Mooney v. Hough, 84 Ala. 80, 87, 4 South. 19, 21, the court said:
“There was no error in allowing the jury to have with them in their retirement, the copy-accounts, used by witnesses In giving their testimony. Hirschfield v. Levy, 69 Ala. 351. The *11 same object could have been accomplished by having the jury make memoranda of the accounts, or of the items composing them, as deposed to by the witnesses. In the absence of one or the other of these methods, it would be very difficult for the jury to reach anything approximating correct conclusions.”
So in Heard v. Burton-Boyd Merc. Co., 202 Ala. 218, 219, 80 South. 40, 41, Mr. Justice Sayre said:
“Appellee’s itemized ...statement of its accounts against appellant’s tenants, for which appellant was responsible to appellee, was allowed to go to the jury without reversible error. There was evidence tending to establish the correctness of this account, and while it seems not to have been formally offered in evidence, as properly it might have been, there was no error in submitting it to the jury as a mere memorandum of the facts to which the witnesses had testified.”
If the documents in question had been formally offered- as evidence on the trial of the cause, they would have been admitted. No objection of counsel on either side appears to the references made to these- several documents, in direct and cross examinations of witnesses. The jury could not likely have carried in mind the figures detailed by the witnesses from such documents. On this ground we may justify the action of the trial court in not granting a new trial. For this reason it is not necessary to rest our ruling alone on affidavits of counsel. The Reporter will set out said affidavits in the statement of facts. Many letters and statements had been employed by counsel during the progress of the cause. It is undisputed that the statement was made by defendant’s counsel that the documents be assorted so as to take to the jury room only those that were in evidence.
Mr. Thompson, in his work on Trials (volume 2, § 2591), on the authority of Maynard v. Fellows, 43 N. H. 255, 259, said that it is the duty of counsel “to ascertain what papers are sent to the jury before they leave the court; and no motion for a new trial should be allowed merely because this duty has been neglected. It should appear that the counsel used due care, that none but proper papers were passed to the jury; and that the paper in question was nevertheless sent to the jury by some mistake, or through some trick or artifice of the opposite counsel. At the same time it has been reasoned that it is not the duty of one counsel in a case to watch the opposite counsel to see that he does not séhd any improper papers to the jury.” Flanders v. Davis, 19 N. H. 139. No desire or effort is shown on the part of either of respective counsel to put before the jury any testimony not formally admitted in evidence; only an inadvertence in allowing to go to the jury the three papers so used on the trial and to which reference was made is shown to have occurred. It is true that both counsel should have inspected the documents to be handed the jury.
The judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
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Addendum
On Rehearing.
“The general rule is that where there is an express contract, the plaintiff cannot resort to an implied one, hut must recover, if at all, on the express agreement. ‘An exception to the. rule, however, is that he may recover on the common counts, although the evidence discloses a special agreement, when such agreement has been executed and fully performed, and no duty remains but the payment of the price in money by the defendant. But so long as the contract continues executory, the plaintiff must declare specially,’ and prove performance.”
This rule has been recognized in Moundville Lumber Co. v. Warren, 83 South. 479 ; 2 Hartsell v. Turner, 196 Ala. 299, 300, 71 South. 658; Russell v. Bush, 196 Ala. 309, 315, 71 South. 397; Lowy v. Rosengrant, 196 Ala. 337, 71 South. 439; Joseph & Bros. Co. v. Hoffman & McNeill, 173 Ala. 568, 56 South. 216; Maxwell v. Moore, 163 Ala. 490, 50 South. 882; Carbon Hill Coal Co. v. Cunningham, 153 Ala. 573, 44 South. 1016; Worthington v. McGarry, 149 Ala. 251, 253, 42 South. 988; Anderson v. Rice, 20 Ala. 239; Snedicor, Adm’r, v. Leachman, Adm’r, 10 Ala. 330; Reeves v. Wallace, 1 Port. 116; Graydon v. Buford, 1 Ala. App. 668, 56 South. 77.
Plaintiff further testified that in February, 1007, defendant requested plaintiff to meet him on the train going to Branchville; that he did so and was informed by Badham that “he had decided to sell his interest in the business to his brother” for $100,000 for the half interest; that was $200 a share; that said Badham wanted to know whether witness desired to “continue with the business, * .* * or come back to Birmingham,” and whether witness would agree to let Y- O. Badham have the stock in which witness was interested or “wanted to ■ remain with the business and keep the stock,” to which McCormick testified, he replied that, if H. L. Badham was going to sell his interest, witness would prefer not to stay with said lumber company. Their agreement, alleged to have'been made on that occasion, is thus stated by McCormick:
' “I would agree to let the stock I was interested in go with what he was selling to his brother. 'He and I made an agreement about it on that occasion, and he told me that he would settle with me; make it entirely satisfactory with me if I would consent to let all the stock go to his brother; and I agreed to that. He told me that he would settle with me.”
Plaintiff offered in evidence a letter of date February 22, 1907, from H. L. Badham to McCormick, containing this statement:
“I also note what you say in reference to the sale of my interest. I judge from telegram received last night from V. C. that he will arrange the payment of the $15,000 in time to protect his interest. If he does not do so, as you know I am under contract to sell to Lindsay, however, I feel sure from what you and he both say that there will be nothing in the way of your closing this trade; then it will be a question of ninety days and I will be in position to give you an opportunity to sell the entire plant provided Y. C. is not able to carry out his contract. In other words, I am not definitely tied up except for the ten days.”
This evidence is competent only as it may tend to shed light upon the question of whether or not there was a subsequent contract between the parties as to the sale of the stock to V. C. Badham and what that contract relation was.
For a like reason may have been admitted in evidence the letter of March 5 of the same year, in the following words:
“Dear Mack: Your letter and check received. I am very very sorry V. C. made the trade for I don’t see how he can pull through. Do the best you can for him and save him if it’s possible. I feel blue and discouraged. The other trade would have saved both of us.
“Your friend, H. L. B.”
The real question presented, under plaintiff’s own statement of what was said between him and H. L. Badham, was: Did the latter purchase or agree to purchase said stock of McCormick? In his testimony H. L. Badham denied he made offer or agreed to purchase any interest in said stock from McCormick; that—
“On or about February 15, 1907, I telephoned him [McCormick] to meet me on the train, and I told him I made this tentative agreement for the option, and Mr. McCormick said, ‘He will never carry it out, but it is nice for you to give him the show; let me get away from here as soon as you can.’ And I told him I would look out for him [McCormick] in Birmingham, but to stay there until the demonstration was made whether or not he could carry out the trade.' Not one word was said that he claimed an interest in the stock. I did not volunteer to pay him anything on account of his stock. Mr. McCormick did not say a word indicating he understood I was legally or morally bound to pay him anything on account of this stock. I did not use the expression that I would make a satisfactory settlement with him. He consented to continue on there at the sawmill pending this experiment as to whether or not my brother could make $6,000 a month out of the mill to pay me. He did continue. My brother did not pay me the $6,000 a month he agreed. He did not pay me anything except the $15,000. As long as Mr. McCormick remained, he wrote me frequently. Up to the time, he left, he never did write me a line in any way indicating he thought I was due him a copper cent on any account whatever.”
The evidence in question was admissible, as it may tend to corroborate the plaintiff’s testimony under the issues made by the common counts and special counts 13 and 14; and the court erred in sustaining objections thereto.
The rehearing is granted; judgment of affirm'ance set aside, and reversed and remanded.
203 Ala, 488.
Reference
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- McCormick v. Badham.
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