Leval Company, Inc. v. Caver
Leval Company, Inc. v. Caver
Opinion of the Court
Leval & Company, Inc., appellant, sued Caver, appellee, in the Circuit Court of Prentiss County, Mississippi, upon a promissory note executed by- Caver to Leval, dated February 10, 1951, in the principal sum of $720.00, bearing interest At six percentum per annum and obligating the maker to pay a reasonable attorney’s fee should the note be placed in the hands of an attorney for collection.
Caver, as his only defense, pled lack of consideration for execution of the note. ■ A jury found for Caver. Leval requested, but was denied, a peremptory instruc
Leval & Company was a corporation domiciled at Kansas City, Missouri, and a large exporter of soybeans. Caver was a resident citizen of Prentiss County, engaged in the business of buying and reselling soybeans under the name of “Caver Brothers Seed Company,” with places of business at Booneville and Baldwyn, Mississippi.
On July 31, 1950, these parties entered into a written agreement, under which Caver sold to Leval and Leval purchased from Caver three railroad car loads of soybeans, to consist of approximately 5,000 bushels, at a price of $2.281/4. per bushel free on board cars at Boone-ville, deliveries to be made during October and November 1950, on dates suitable to Caver, the shipments to be made to Public Grain Elevator, New Orleans, for credit of Leval.
Caver shipped two ears of beans under this contract — one on October 20th consisting of 123,000 pounds, and the other on October 23rd, consisting of 95,000 pounds. These shipments aggregated 3,666% bushels of soybeans.
About October 23, 1950, or the “last” of October, as testified by Caver, he called the Standard Commission Company of Memphis over the telephone and notified that concern he would not ship any more beans to Leval ¡ that he was not able to purchase the beans. Caver now says this was a notice to Leval that he, Caver, had breached his contract and that Leval was then under duty to go into the market and purchase other beans to fulfill the Caver contract and he, Caver, would be liable only for the loss sustained by Leval after he had done that, and that there would have been no loss; therefore,
Leval, after this supposed notice to the Commission Company, of which Leval had no knowledge, insisted that Caver fulfill his contract. Caver asked for further time.
On November 30, 1950, Leval telegraphed Caver as follows: “Referring contract soybeans still unshipped. We hereby grant you extension shipment by fifteenth of December.”
On December 16, 1950, Caver wrote Leval this letter:
“Dear Sir:
“This is regard to 1 car of soybeans that we are unable to deliver.
“At this timg it is impossible, I regret to say, to get the amount of this cleared up as our money is tied up elsewhere and will get the thing taken care of as soon as possible.
“I am wondering if it would be possible to get this taken care of by paying $100.00 a month?
“With deepest regrets,
(s) William L. Caver, Jr.
William L. Caver, Jr.,
Caver Bros. Seed Company”
On February 10, 1951, Mr. John A. Morrison, attorney for Leval, came to Booneville and conferred with Mr. Caver. It appears that by this time the price of soybeans had advanced considerably in price. Mr. Morrison testified that Mr. Caver could not, or would not, fulfill the contract by shipping to Leval the remainder of the beans. They were confronted with the problem of adjusting the controversy. He said they did that by taking as a basis for settlement the quantity of beans to be shipped according to the contract, to-wit, 5,000 bushels, and deducting the amount which had been shipped, i. e. 3,666% bushels; that as to the price they deducted the price agreed to be paid in the contract from the market
Caver paid nothing on the note, and on November 29, 1951, Leval telephoned Caver about the matter. On December 4, 1951, Caver wrote Leval in response to that conversation, asking Leval not to sue on the note, saying he had tried to borrow the money with which to pay the note. He said he had lost money but that he had established a feed mill business at Baldwyn “and it is doing pretty good,” and he thought it would do better, and would enable him to make payment on the note. He also said he had applied for a loan at a bank and the loan committee would shortly meet and he felt sure the loan would go through and he could then pay on the note.
On December 18, 1951, Caver wrote Morrison, attorney for Leval, saying “In your last letter you granted us some time to get the loan through and the reason I have waited this long to write was that I thought that the loan would be through by now * * *,” but that the loan committee had not passed upon the application. He then stated he “hoped you can hold off on it these few days again till the board does meet.” He further said “I realize your position in this matter and thanks for being so nice to us on it * * *.”
Suit was not filed until January 9, 1953. Caver paid nothing whatever on the indebtedness.
As stated, Caver says he telephoned Standard Commission Company of Memphis he was not going to ship the third car of beans and was not going to fulfill his con
The other reason urged by Caver, as showing there was no consideration for execution of the note is his contention that the quantity of beans he was obligated to-deliver to Leval was “approximately” 5,000 bushels. It is obvious at once that 3,666% bushels in nowise “approximates” 5,000 bushels. In addition to that, Morrison testified that in his negotiations with Caver for settlement of this matter, both treated the quantity of beans bought under the contract as being 5,000 bushels. Caver never denied that. Further, Caver makes the unique admission that he never thought of that contention until after, or about the time, the suit was filed. "We never-had the idea in mind during the negotiations resulting-in his execution of the note. Thus, it is seen, Leval had a valid claim against Caver. Caver breached the contract. Leval had an immediate right of action for-
The request of appellant for a directed verdict should have been sustained as to the principal and interest of the note, and judgment will be rendered here for those amounts. However, since the note provides for reasonable attorneys fee if placed in the hands of an attorney, and the amount of that fee has not been determined, the case will have to be remanded for that amount to be ascertained.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Leval & Company, Inc. v. Caver
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Bills and notes — settlement of claim — sufficient consideration — directed verdict proper. In action on promissory note, where plaintiff-promisee, at time of execution thereof, has had a valid claim against defendant-promisor for breach of contract, and note had been given in settlement of such claim for less than full amount of claim, there was sufficient consideration for note, note was enforceable, and plaintiff was entitled to a directed verdict. Headnote as revised by Roberds, P.J.