Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Hazlehurst Oil Mill & Fertilizer Co.
Western Union Telegraph Co. v. Hazlehurst Oil Mill & Fertilizer Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
The appellee, Hazlehurst Oil Mill & Fertilizer Company, filed suit in the circuit court of Copiah county against the appellant, Western Union Telegraph Company, for the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars, for damages alleged to have been sustained by the appellee oil mill because of negligent delay in the transmission and delivery of a telegram sent b.y appellee to one W. F. Hoy, at Prentiss, Miss., upon October 13, 1915.
The' necessary facts relating to this suit are as follows: On October 12, 1915, the Board of Trustees of the Mississippi Penitentiary sold ten cars of cotton seed to W. F. Hoy. Mr. Covington, the manager of the appellee oil mill at Hazlehurst, ascertained this fact, and on the following morning (October 13th) telephoned Mr. Hoy to know what he would take for the seed. Covington and Hoy agreed upon a price of thirty-six dollars a ton, and that the oil mill and Hoy should confirm by telegram the terms of this sale, each to the other. About 10:30 o’clock that morning the oil mill filed with the appellant company a telegram in these words:
“W. F. Hoy, Prentiss, Miss. We confirm purchase from you ten to fifteen cars state cotton seed at thirty-six dollars f. o. b. cars. [Signed] Hazlehurst Oil Mill & Fertilizer Co.”
Mr. Hoy, about the same time, filed his telegram of confirmation in the following words:
“Hazlehurst Oil Mill & Fertilizer Co., Hazlehurst, Miss. Confirming sale seed thirty-six dollars ton to you f. o. b. state farm. [Signed] W. F. Hoy.”
The telegram .of the appellee company to Mr. Hoy reached Prentiss about 9 o’clock that morning, was sent out to the fair grounds for delivery, and was telephoned to Mr. Hoy by the agent of the telegraph company at 9:20 o ’clock. Mr. Hoy is not certain as to the exact time this message was telephoned to him, but the testimony of the agent of appellant company is positive and undisputed that he delivered it over the phone to Mr. Hoy, himself, at 9:20 o’clock the morning of the 14th. Some time on either the 14th or 15th, the record is not clear as to the exact‘day, Mr. Hoy sent a telegram to the appellee oil mill, stating that “confirmation too late to accept; have sold elsewhere.” The testimony further shows that,
The jury rendered a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for five hundred and twenty-three dollars and seventy cents, which amounted to the two dollars a ton additional price paid by appellee for the seed. Judgment was entered in the circuit court for this amount, from which judgment this appeal is prosecuted here. There are numerous reasons assigned why the case should be reversed, but it is only necessary for us to consider one proposition.
The uncontradicted testimony in the case shows that the telegram by which Mr. Hoy attempted to cancel .or annul the contract was not received by the appellee until after Hoy had received its confirmatory telegram. This attempted cancellation was. of no binding force or effect until it had been received by the sendee oil mill at Hazlehurst. 1 Elliott on Contracts, section 34. In fact, this telegram does not seem to have been sent, according to its date as shown in the record, until October 15th. Under either aspect, it is quite certain that Hoy had received the message from the appellee company confirming the sale before this company had received his message canceling or revoking it.
The judgment of the lower court is reversed, and judgment will be entered here in favor of the appellant.
Reversed, and judgment here.
Reference
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Sales. Cancellation. Validity. Where the seller received the purchaser’s telegram of confirmation of sale within the time stipulated, before the purchaser received the seller’s telegram of cancellation, such attempted cancellation was void. 2. Telegbaph and Telephones. Receipt of message. Notice by telegraph company. The fact that a telegram confirming a sale to the sender of certain cotton was received by the seller within the time agreed upon, and the purchaser believed that cancellation by the seller was received by him before confirmation of sale was received by the seller, did not render the telegraph company liable for not having notified him of the delivery of the telegram; such notice not being necessary, except in case of a repeated message.