Garcia & Maggini Co. v. Sanfilippo
Garcia & Maggini Co. v. Sanfilippo
Opinion of the Court
This is an appeal by the defendant from a judgment against him in an action in which the plaintiff company sought to recover upon the following alleged facts: That on June 19, 1919, defendant entered into a written contract with the plaintiff by the terms of which the defendant was to sell to plaintiff all the prunes to be grmvn upon his ranch known as the McKagney Place, near Campbell, California, during the year 1919. The prunes were of two varieties, Imown as French and sugar prunes. The price to be paid for the fruit was fifteen cents a pound. At the time when the prunes were to be delivered, the market price at the place of delivery had dropped to eleven cents a pound for the French prunes. Thereupon the defendant secretly and fraudulently procured a large number of French prunes which were not grown upon the McKagney Place and delivered the same to plaintiff as fruit grown upon said ranch and plaintiff, without knowledge of the deception, paid for said fruit at the price provided by the contract. It is further alleged that at the time of delivery of the fruit the price of large sugar prunes had risen considerably and defendant thereupon sold and delivered to buyers other than the plaintiff a large quantity of large sugar prunes grown on his ranch which should have been delivered to plaintiff under the contract between the parties. It is further alleged that at the time of the execution of the contract the plaintiff paid to defendant three thousand dol *350 lars under the terms of the contract and accepted defendr ant’s note for said sum. Thereafter, defendant offered to deliver to plaintiff, under its contract, an additional amount of French prunes which were not grown upon said ranch, and upon discovery of the fraud plaintiff rescinded the contract. The contract provided that if the seller delivered or offered to deliver fruit not a part of said crop, the buyer should have the option to cancel the contract.
Plaintiff sought to recover the three thousand dollars advanced to defendant and also damages caused by its payment for French prunes not grown upon the ranch, at a price above the market price, and also damages for the loss suffered by it by reason of defendant’s failure to deliver all the large sugar prunes grown on the ranch. The court made no finding on this latter matter and it is not involved on this appeal; otherwise, the trial court found, substantially, in accordance with the allegations of the complaint. It was specifically found that between the first day of September, 1919, and the third day of October, 1919, the defendant delivered to plaintiff, and offered to deliver to plaintiff under said contract, dried prunes which were not grown upon the MeKagney ranch, and which were not a part of the crop mentioned in the contract, and that thereupon the plaintiff canceled the contract. It was found that prior to the cancellation of said contract, the plaintiff had at all times fully performed its part of said contract. The court found that by reason of the breach of said contract by the defendant the plaintiff had been damaged in the nominal sum of one dollar, and judgment was given for plaintiff for that sum, together with the three thousand dollars advanced to defendant under the contract, interest and costs.
To meet this very persuasive testimony defendant and his brother testified that the prunes in question were actually grown on defendant’s ranch, but explained that they had been hauled to the Berryessa ranch, a distance of twelve miles, to be dried there; that this hauling was done by an employee on the ranch of defendant; that after the prunes were dried they were hauled by the draymen who testified for plaintiff, back to the McKagney Place for delivery to the plaintiff. This testimony failed to carry conviction to the mind of the trial judge, which is not surprising, in •view of the additional fact that defendant’s brother was under contract to deliver to O. A. Harlan Company all the prunes grown on the Berryessa ranch, estimated at forty-five tons, at a price of twelve cents a pound. Upon this contract he delivered only about fifteen tons and secured a release from said company. The trial court was at liberty to disbelieve the testimony of the defendant under the facts recited herein and also in view of other matters in the record which are strongly persuasive aiid which tend to support the view which the trial judge took of the evidence.
It is unnecessary for us to discuss the evidence further, except to say that the record discloses, as in most cases, conflicting testimony, and there is much circumstantial evidence and evidence from which ultimate facts must be dc
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duced or inferred.
We find no error in the record which would warrant a reversal of this judgment and the same is affirmed.
Nourse, J., and Sturtevant, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- GARCIA & MAGGINI CO. (A Corporation), Respondent, v. S. SANFILIPPO, Appellant
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published