Shapleigh Hardware Co. v. Lewis
Shapleigh Hardware Co. v. Lewis
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This is an action of asswmpsit instituted by appellant, a corporation, as plaintiff in the court below, to recover the price of certain goods, wares, and merchandise bought by the Jackson Jitney Car Company. The suit, however, was instituted against M. A. Lewis and others, officers and agents of the Jackson Jitney Car Company; the declaration charging that the defendants were partners in trade doing business under the partnership name of “Jackson Jitney Car Company.” The defendants pleaded the general issue, and also filed a special plea averring that the defendants were not liable either as individuals or partners; that they did not purchase the goods; but, on the contrary, that the Jackson Car Company, a domestic corporation, duly chartered under the laws of the state of Mississippi and doing business as a corporation, in fact purchased the goods sued for. With the special plea the defendants filed a copy of the charter of the said corporation. The plaintiff filed a replication challenging the corporate power of the Jackson Jitney Car Company to buy the goods sued for, alleging that these goods were bought for purposes of resale in a mercantile business conducted by the defendants in connection with the jitney business, and that the said corporation had no power to do a mercantile business. A demurrer was interposed to the replication and by the court sustained. The plaintiff declined to plead further, and thereupon a judgment was entered in favor of defendants, from which the plaintiff prosecutes this appeal.
As we construe the record and the position taken by counsel for appellant, the claim of appellant and its entire argument is based upon the assumption that the corporation, the Jackson Jitney Car Company, did not possess the charter power to purchase the goods sued for. If the corporation had the power and the defendants in purchasing the goods acted for the. corporation, then the argument for appellant has no application to the real issue. In our opinion the question may be limited to the one question of power or no power. The charter expressly provides that the company may “conduct a general automobile and taxicab business for the carriage of passengers.” This language is most general in its terms. In the prosecution of its business the company had power to do whatever is necessary for the successful administration of a general automobile and taxicab business. A primary need would be motor vehicles and parts or supplies for such vehi
“The decision in any particular case turns largely on the questions of who is complaining; against whom the complaint is made; and what relief is sought.”
This is a suit by the seller of automobile supplies sold and delivered to the officers and agents of a corporation lawfully chartered to do a general automobile business. It is not a question involving the sale by the Jackson Jitney Car Company of the same goods to third parties. This is not a controversy between the state and the company chartered. If the appellant as the seller contracted with the defendants as officers and agents of the Jackson Jitney Car Company and delivered to them goods for the use and benefit of the corporation, how can appellant be heard to question the secret motive of the corporation to appropriate the goods purchased to stock a mercantile business which the corporation has no power to conduct? When the Jackson corporation bargained for and appellant sold the goods sued for, the sale transaction was complete and the goods became the property of the purchasing corporation. Tf the statement of Mr. Cook (vol. 3, supra, on page 2260) that “officers incur no personal liability when avowedly contracting on behalf of the company” be correct, then this case should be affirmed. But wé need not enter into any discussion of circumstances under which officers and agents of a corporation become personally liable. This action is not one sounding in tort or based upon the fraud or misrepresentation of the officers. This is an action based upon the contract. The plea of the defendants charges that the corporation bought the goods. To meet this charge, appellant submits a -question of law, not an issue of
Affirmed.
Reference
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Corporations. Ultra vires. Purchase of automobile supplies. Where a charter of a company expressly provides that the company may “conduct a general automobile and taxicab business for the carriage of passengers,” such a company has the power through its officers to buy automobile supplies and its power so to do cannot be questioned by a seller of supplies in a suit against such officers, as partners on the ground that the purchase was ultra vires.