Fairchild v. Van De Nor Lumber Co.
Fairchild v. Van De Nor Lumber Co.
Opinion of the Court
It appears herein that plaintiff-appellant’s assignor, Fairchild and Black, rented a tractor to Ronfeldt and Frazier for a rental of $300 per week; that Fairchild and Black owed money to Howard-Cooper Corporation; that Ronfeldt and Frazier were delivering logs to Van De Nor Lumber Company. Under these circumstances, and under date of October 28, 1954, Ronfeldt. and Frazier ad
“Van De Nor Lumber Company
Areata, California
Gentlemen :
“We, the undersigned, have made an agreement with Fair-child and Black, Areata, California, to pay to Howard-Cooper Corporation of California, Eureka, California the sum of $300.00 each week for three months.
“This payment is to be made from logs delivered by us to your company and should be deducted from our account and paid to Howard-Cooper Corporation of California before any payment is made to us. This should be made each week and mailed to Howard-Cooper Corporation of California, Box 161, Eureka, California.
“You may use this as your authorization to proceed as outlined above.
Signed,
Van De Nor Lumber Company
D. S. Norris_
Ernie Ronfeldt
Ernie Ronfeldt
Harold Frazier
Harold Frazier”
Van De Nor Lumber Company accepted the order on October 30th. Thereafter and as logs were delivered Van De Nor Lumber Company made a number of payments to Howard-Cooper Corporation. Then Howard-Cooper Corporation instructed Van De Nor Lumber Company to make all further payments to Fairchild and Black and within the unexpired period of the order Van De Nor Lumber Company did make payments to Fairchild and Black. Fairchild and Black, claiming that they had not received all the money accruing to them, assigned their claim to plaintiff-appellant herein who brought this action against Van De Nor Lumber Company.
The trial court found that on October 22, 1954, Fairchild and Black, as lessors, had leased to Ronfeldt and Frazier a tractor at a weekly rental of $300 per week; that thereafter Fairchild and Black assigned to Howard-Cooper Corporation their right for three months to receive the sum of $300 a week and that the assignment was accepted by Ronfeldt and
The accounting exhibit incorporated in the findings reads as follows:
' ‘ Statement of Logs Delivered by Ronfeldt & Frazier
Week Ending Net Footage Amount
11-6 1954 26,654' $1386.01
11-13 ZZ 2,433' 126.52
11-20 ZZ None None
11-27 ZZ 5,584' 290.37
12-4 ZZ 16,849' 876.15
12-11 ZZ 26,703' 1388.56
12-18 ZZ None None
12-25 ZZ None None
1-1 1955 15,985' 831.22
1-8 ZZ 23,177' 1205.20
1-15 ZZ 37,912' 1971.42
1-22 ZZ 14,969' 778.39
1-29 ZZ 15,286' 794.87
2-5 ZZ 20,432' 1062.46
2-12 ZZ 33,341' 1733.73
12,016' 2-18 // 624.83
251,341' $13,069.73
A reading of the basic document discloses that it is uncertain and ambiguous in its meaning as to how much money becoming due to Ronfeldt and Frazier for logs delivered to Van De Nor Lumber Company should be paid under the assignment. Appellant contends that the document required payments for the entire period of the assignment, totaling $3,900, providing only that over the whole period enough logs were delivered to earn that sum. On the other hand, the Van De Nor Lumber Company contended that the document called for weekly settlements of such nature that for each week’s deliveries, however great, only $300 could be paid out; that if in any week deliveries earning less than $300 were made only the amount earned would be payable under the assignment ; and that if in any week no deliveries were made, as in fact occurred from time to time, no moneys would be due under the assignment. The situation was one where the trial court was called upon to construe an uncertain written contract. It was, therefore, entitled to call, insofar as necessary, permissible aids to construction, such as the circumstances attending the execution of the contract, testimony of acts and declarations of the parties under and concerning the
The judgment appealed from is affirmed.
Schottky, J., and Warne, J. pro tem.,
Assigned by Chairman of Judicial Council.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.