Cobb v. Cole
Cobb v. Cole
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
(After stating the facts as above.) We have here a seller of lumber who admits that he failed to deliver to the purchaser the lumber in question according to contract, but contends that he was justified in so doing by reason of the fact that the purchaser, to whom he was indebted on open account in an amount not yet due, demanded of him a payment on account, to which demand he acceded. In other words, the appellee says he was justified in refusing to deliver the lumber to appellant according to contract, because appellant had first breached the contract by demanding payment of him, appellee, on account, to which demand he acceded, in violation of the contract.
We are considering the question as if it were true, as contended by appellee, that appellant without any right made demand on appellee for payment on account. The correspondence between the parties, however, shows that no such demand was ever made. Taking what the correspondence shows in its strongest light for appellee, it simply amounted to a request on the part of appellant of appellee for the payment of three thousand on account because of the delay of appellee in shipping out the lumber; the needs of appellant, and in view of the further fact, as specifically stated in appellant’s letter of July 7, 1919:
“After giving us a check for three thousand dollars and shipping all the lumber of ours that you have due us, there will still be a balance due us; so you are playing perfectly safe.”
On the question of the amount of damages appellant was entitled to recover for the bregch of the contract as averred in the first count, appellee contends that there was no evidence that appellant was compelled to go out into the market and buy other lumber in the place of that due him by appellee, and therefore, under the authority of Delapierre v. Chickasaw Lbr. Co., 111 Miss. 607, 71 So. 872, he showed no loss. We do not think that case has any application to the facts of this case, and that this is so patent it is not necessary to distinguish the two cases. Here we
Appellant assigns several errors as having been committed by the court in the trial of the questions arising out of the second court in the declaration, as Avell as those arising out of appellee’s offset, notice of which was given under the general issue. We have looked carefully into these assignments of error, and find no merit in any of them. As we understand the record, those issues wer-e properly tried and submitted to the jury on appropriate instructions. Only well-established principles of law were involved, not difficult of application to the facts before the court. We therefore do not lengthen this opinion in order to treat them; the bench and bar would not be benefited.
Reversed and remanded.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.