Humphry v. Farmers Union & Milling Co.
Humphry v. Farmers Union & Milling Co.
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff brought this action to recover damages for' the alleged breach of contract in and by which it was claimed that defendant agreed to sell to it eighty thousand pounds of recleaned pink beans.at the price of $6.35 per hundred pounds F. O. B. Stockton, California. After trial the court found that the contract was executed, as alleged in the complaint, and that the defendant neglected and refused to deliver the beans as therein contracted to be delivered to the damage of the plaintiff in the sum of $550, and entered judgment .against the defendant for that amount. The defendant appeals from the judgment.
The contract, if one was made, resulted from certain telegrams passing between the plaintiff and defendant.
For a reversal the defendant and appellant relies upon three propositions: First, that the telegrams did not constitute an agreement; second, that the seller was entitled to be paid at Stockton, and third, that if the place of delivery was Evansville, Indiana, damages should have been based upon the price at which respondent could have bought equivalent beans in markets nearest Evansville, Indiana, and not at Stockton.
It is the claim of counsel for appellant that it never assented to the plaintiff’s request that the beans should be shipped subject to inspection, but, as the learned judge of the trial court observed, the law would have added these *214 words to the contract even if they had not been inserted in the telegram.
Section 1771 of the Civil Code reads: “One who sells or agrees to sell merchandise inaccessible to the examination of the buyer, thereby warrants that it is sound and merchantable.” Section 1785 of the Civil Code reads: “On an agreement for sale, 'with warranty, the buyer has a right to inspect the thing sold, at a seasonable time, before accepting it; and may rescind the contract if the seller refuses to permit him to do so.”
In the case of Newmark & Co. v. Smith, 26 Cal. App. 339, [149 Pac. 1064], it is said: “The purchaser under a contract of sale of a certain quantity of beans is entitled, in the absence of a waiver of the right, to inspect the property sold as a condition precedent to the making of payment, and the seller is not entitled upon the tender of delivery to refuse such inspection and demand payment, and for failure to make payment to declare the contract annulled.”
We are of opinion that the telegrams passing between the parties resulted in a contract between them.
We deem it unnecessary to examine critically whether the expression F. O. B. includes not only loading, but the right to have payment at the place of loading, because even if the expression in general does mean both loading and payment, the parties can contract differently. The telegrams in this *215 ease conclusively show that if a sale were made it was the understanding of the parties that the goods were not to be paid for in Stockton, but were to be paid for in Evansville, Indiana. The telegram of November 17, 1916, sent by the defendant, “Have your bank wire guarantee payment draft with bill of lading,” was a clear expression by the defendant that payment was not expected until the goods were received in Indiana, together with the bill of lading, and the guarantee of the Citizens National Bank in response to the demand for the guarantee, “We guarantee payment your draft, bill of lading attached,” could mean nothing else than that the bank guaranteed that when the bill of lading reached Evansville, together with the draft, that the same would be paid at that place, and not at Stockton.
Respondent introduced evidence tending to show the price at which equivalent beans could have been bought at Stockton, and no evidence of the price at which they could have been bought at any other place was introduced by either party. There is nothing in the record to show that the beans could have been bought at any less price at any place nearer Evansville. The price at which the beans could have been bought at Stockton was the only evidence the court had before it as to the amount the plaintiff would have had to pay for equivalent beans. There is no evidence in the record, either on behalf of plaintiff or defendant, and none offered by the defendant, tending to show what the market price of such beans was at any place nearer Evansville than the city of Stockton. We think, under the circumstances, *216 that the court was justified in accepting the proved price at the city of Stockton as the price at which respondent could have bought equivalent beans. If there was any place nearer Evansville at which they could have been bought then the matter was entirely open for the defendant to make such proof. It made no attempt to do so. It sufficiently appears from the record that permitting the evidence of the market price of beans at Stockton instead of confining the'proof to some unnamed place east of the Rocky Mountains was a benefit to the appellant instead of an injury. The fact that the plaintiff was buying beans at Stockton to be shipped to Indiana, and paying the transportation charges thereon, is presumptive evidence that the market price of beans was less in California than in Indiana, otherwise the plaintiff was unbusinesslike in buying them. The appellant is not entitled to complain of a ruling that resulted in a benefit to it and a smaller judgment than otherwise might have been obtained.
We think the judgment is right and should be affirmed, and it is so ordered.
Hart, J., and Burnett, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- CHARLES A. HUMPHRY, Doing Business, Etc., Respondent, v. FARMERS UNION AND MILLING COMPANY (A Corporation), Appellant
- Cited By
- 6 cases
- Status
- Published