Loíza Sugar Co. v. Baquero & Co.
Loíza Sugar Co. v. Baquero & Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
That the complainant alleged that on the 24th day of May, 1920, one of the managing- partners of Baqnero & Co. bought of the complainant through its president, Eduardo J. Gon-zález, 320 sacks of sugar at the price of $23 a sack; that the said González was asked and agreed to give orders immediately to the factory at Cano vanas to send by railroad on June 9, 1920, the sugar bought; that defendants refused to accept the sugar; that 160 sacks of sugar were actually placed on a car, but defendant refused to receive them; that the defendant denied the facts of the complaint and denied that there was any bill of sale or document to show such sale or any record made on the books of the defendants.
Then the court went on to say as follows:
“After a trial and examination of the evidence it appears that the evidence presented by the plaintiff tended to show that Casellas, through his agent, sold to Baquero & Co. the sugar referred to in the complaint which is in conflict with the averments of the said complaint and although the plaintiff had opportunity to request leave from the court to amend its pleadings and have them reconciled, it did not do so and has*hot done so up to the present time; but even if we disregard this and consider the matter on its merits, the court thinks that no contract of purchase and sale of sugar was shown by the plaintiff. Witness Casellas testified for the plaintiff that he made the sale of the sugar agreed upon by him with Baquero and Alberto Casini, managing partners of the defendant firm, and stated that the said contract was made orally, no other evidence than oral testimony having been introduced although tire sum in question amounted to $18,400 which is more than the .$300 alluded to in the Code of Commerce, section 51, the said statement having been controverted by the witnesses Baquero and Calcina.
“The court, in view of the nature and amount involved in the contract as well as of the evidence introduced by the parties, is of the opinion that the existence of the contract was not shown by the plaintiff, and therefore that it should dismiss, as it does hereby dismiss, the complaint, with costs and attorney fees.”
The appellant also says, however, that the court, in its opinion, did not rely on the conflict of evidence, but placed its reliance exclusively on section 51 of the Code of Commerce which is as follows:
“See. 51. — Commercial contracts shall be valid and serve as the basis of an obligation and cause of action in suits, whatever may be the form or in whatever foreign language they may be executed, the class to which they correspond, and the amount involved, provided their existence is proven by some of the means established by the civil law. However, the testimony of witnesses shall not in itself*806 be sufficient to prove tbe existence of a contract wherein tbe amount involved exceeds 1,500 pesetas if no other evidence is adduced in support thereof.
"Telegraphic correspondence shall only be the basis of an obligation between contracting parties who have previously admitted this medium in a written contract, and provided the telegrams fulfill the conventional conditions or tokens which may have been previously fixed and agreed to by the contracting parties.”
We think that the court’s opinion is susceptible of being understood as also finding that there was' a conflict in the evidence and in any event, even without the court’s opinion, we should, feel bound to decide the case, for-the reasons we have indicated, in favor of the defendants because the record shows an oath against an oath. The appellant says that section 51 of the Code of Commerce is not applicable because this was not a mercantile contract, or rather, it was one of the kinds of commercial contracts that was expressly excluded by section 326 of the said code inasmuch as it was for goods produced by the Loíza Sugar Company. Section 326 is as follows:
"Sec. 326. — -The following can not be considered commercial:
"1. The purchase of goods destined for the consumption of the purchaser or of the person for whom they are bought.
"2. Sales made by owners and by farmers or cattlemen of the fruits or products of their crops or cattle, or of the goods in which their rents are paid them.
"3. Sales made by artisans in their workshops of the articles constructed or manufactured by them.
"4. The resale made by any person who is not a merchant, of the remainder of the stock laid in for his own consumption.”
Tbe appellees say that these sacks of sugar were sold for speculation and that such a sale is an exception to the latter cited section of the Code of Commerce. The character of the contract must be determined, not by the purposes for which the purchasers intended to use the sugar but on the origin of the sugar. If the complainant produced the sugar,
The judgment appealed from must be
Affirmed.''
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.