Fischbach v. Garrison Milling Co.
Fischbach v. Garrison Milling Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court:
Action by plaintiff Fischbach, against The Garrison Milling & Elevator Company, for the conversion of wheat. Plaintiff’s rights, if any, are such only as he acquired as a mortgagee by a chattel mort
In his briefs and arguments here, however, plaintiff has departed from the case as made by the pleading, and his own testimony, and seeks to recover upon the ground that the transaction between Phillips and defendant was not a sale, but merely a bailment of the wheat.
There are two answers to this contention: One that plaintiff must recover upon the cause of action set forth in his pleading, and not upon some other. But if this determination hinges upon the character of the transaction, the uncontradicted evidence shows that it was a sale. The pertinent facts are, that the mortgagor, Phillips, caused this wheat to be threshed and delivered by his employees to defendant company at its mill and elevator. Before this time, Phillips obtained from defendant sacks in which to place the wheat, after it was threshed, and before it was transported to market, and their value was charged against Phillips on its books. Phillips gave his employees actual possession of the wheat,- as his agents, with 'ostensible power to sell it for his benefit. He has never repudiated the sale, or questioned their acts. There is not a particle of evidence in the record that these men did not have such authority from' Phillips, while the evidence tends to show that they had; nor is there any evidence that they violated his instructions. "When they brought the wheat to the elevator, defendant’s manager asked whose it was, and they replied that it belonged to Phillips.
We are unable to determine, from the evidence, upon what ground the demand was made — whether it was because defendant’s transaction with Phillips was a bailment, or defendant had knowledge of the-existence of the mortgage at the time of the purchase. Presumably it was the latter, for that is in accordance with the allegations of his complaint. The evidence is undisputed that defendant had no knowledge of the existence of the mortgage at the time it received the Phillips wheat. Certainly something was intended by Phillips when he sent his men with the wheat to- defendant’s mill and elevator. His agents say it was for the purpose of sale. Defendant’s manager supposed it was a sale, and it is so-recorded in its books of account. The circumstance that the manager did not then fix a price is not material, in view of the evidence that there is a general custom in the valley, and it is a legitimate inference that Phillips knew of it, that grain which is delivered to and received at the elevator, unless at the time it is specifically stated that it is to be stored, is sold to the mill owners at the current market price for the day. There is not a word of evidence that there was any agreement or understanding between the parties that defendant was to store this grain
Since we have reached the conclusion that, upon the uncontradicted evidence, there was a sale of the Phillips wheat to defendant, that the purchase by the latter was bona fide and for value without knowledge of the existence of plaintiff’s mortgage', and that defendant thereby acquired a good title thereto, free from any claim of plaintiff under his mortgage, none of the other questions involved in the case and discussed by counsel are of any moment. The judgment must therefore be affirmed. Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Fischbach v. Garrison Milling Company
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