Beaumont Irrigating Co. v. Gregory
Beaumont Irrigating Co. v. Gregory
Opinion of the Court
Thomas Gregory brings this action against the Beaumont Irrigating Company to recover damages for breach of contract to furnish sufficient water properly to irrigate his rice crop on 320 acres of land.
It was alleged that plaintiff and defendant had entered into a written contract, a copy of which is attached as an exhibit to the petition, whereby defendant had agreed for the consideration recited to furnish a sufficient supply of water for his crop of rice on the 320 acres of land for the year 1907, that defendant had not complied with such contract, and that as a proximate consequence thereof plaintiff’s crop had suffered and been damaged for want of water in a *546 large amount, being the difference in the amount and value of the crop he did make, and that which he would have made if water had been supplied in compliance with the contract. The damages claimed are laid at $5,452.37. No reference is made in the petition to any other contract than the one attached as an exhibit to the petition. Defendant in its answer alleged that the written contract sued on was only a part of the contract between the parties, that defendant had rented the 320 acres of land to plaintiff for the year 1907, and had entered into a written contract of rental, a copy of which was attached as an exhibit to the petition, which contained the following recital: “Party of the first part shall furnish and deliver to party of the second part at its warehouse at Pine Island station in Jefferson county,Tex., a sufficient quantity of seed to sow the above-described land in rice one time, and shall furnish the necessary water to properly irrigate the said lands for rice culture, after the rice is up and growing, in accordance with the water contract hereunto attached, made a part of and marked ‘Exhibit A,’ and it is mutually understood and agreed that said Exhibit A shall be construed with and a part of this lease, and both parties are bound by its provisions.” It was alleged that the written contract set up in plaintiff’s petition was the water contract referred to in the rental contract.
Defendant also made several special exceptions in addition to the general demurrer, none of which appear to have been acted on, denied generally, and pleaded that, if there was any failure to furnish water as agreed upon, the same was due to unavoidable accident caused by its pumping plant having been submerged and put out of business by an unprecedented rainfall, and the failure to exercise ordinary care by plaintiff to preserve all the water within his levees. To this answer plaintiff replied by a supplemental petition, wherein it is alleged that the water contract sued upon and the rental contract were not the same or contemporaneous contracts, but it is alleged that plaintiff had been farming the land, under lease from defendant, during the years 1905 and 1906, and at the beginning of the year 1907 they entered into the rental contract whereby it was stipulated that plaintiff was to remain in possession of the land under the terms of said lease contract, and was to farm the land, and defendant was to furnish land, seed, and water, and the crop was to be equally divided; that after plaintiff had plowed the land, and while he was planting the rice, the defendant presented to him the water contract which was signed by him under duress, as otherwise he would have been unable to procure water, and his expenditures in preparing to make the crop would have been lost. As a consequence of this, it was averred that all of the conditions, terms, and agreements in the water contract which tend to limit the liability of defendant, and every clause, condition, and stipulation thereof, except that defendant was to furnish sufficient supply of water, were void. To this supplemental petition defendant filed a supplemental answer, excepting to the same on the ground that plaintiff thereby seeks to annul the contract on which alone his petition is founded, and further alleging that the water contract referred to, while not in fact attached to the rental contract as recited therein, is the contract referred to in the rental contract “as the water contract hereto attached,” and embodies the agreement of the parties as to water, entered into at the time of the making of the rental contract.
The only further pleading to which it is necessary to refer is a paper filed by plaintiff called a trial amendment, setting up, in substance, that defendant arbitrarily and intentionally and for the purpose of discriminating against plaintiff refused to furnish water, and that such refusal was not because defendant thought, in the exercise of its judgment, or the judgment of its agents, that the crop did not need water. This trial amendment was excepted to, but neither by the final judgment nor by any order made in the case by the court is it made to appear that this or any of the exceptions to pleadings by either party were acted upon.
A trial with a jury resulted in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff for $309, with interest from January 1, 1908. Defendant made a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and it brings the case to this court by appeal.
From the evidence in the record we find the following conclusions of fact:
Appellee rented from appellant for the years 1905-, 1906, and 1907 the 320 acres of land referred to in the pleadings. About the first of 1907, the parties entered into a written contract, by the terms of which appellant rented to appellee for' that year the said 320 acres of land. The contract contained the stipulation with regard to water and seed to plant the land hereinbefore quoted. Appellee was to build, maintain, and keep in repair all levees in and around the land at the places where they shall be located by appellant’s engineer, and was properly to plow and prepare the land, and cultivate and harvest the crop, and deliver to appellant one-half of the crop, properly sacked, appellant to pay for one-half of the sacks and one-half of the threshing charges. The parties were each to be the owner in fee simple of one-half of the crop. This was the contract attached to appellant’s answer. Some two or three months after the execution of this contract the parties executed the water contract attached to appellee’s petition, which contained many stipulations with regard to the furnishing of water for the rice crop by appellant, and for certain *547 things to he done by appellee, which are not material to the determination of this appeal. By the terms of this contract appellant was to furnish a sufficient quantity of water in its canal for the irrigation of the rice crop during the year. Appellant was to use due diligence to furnish the water, but in case of any injury to its canal, or accident to its machinery, it should not be responsible for failure to furnish water resulting therefrom, and it was provided that appellee’s damages for failure to furnish water should not ex-, ceed $S per acre. The contract contained the following stipulation: “The manner of distributing water to, on, and upon the land and premises of said second party is to rest entirely with the company, or its manager, who is to determine the most efficient and economical distribution thereof. And it is well' understood and agreed by the said company and the said second party that the company or its manager has absolute and entire control of the canal, flumes, and water supply, and is to be the sole judge as to when the same shall be furnished.” There were various stipulations as to the manner of cultivating the crop by appellee not material to be here set out.
When this contract was presented to ap-pellee for his signature, he had done some work in the way of plowing and preparing the land for the crop. If he had refused to sign this contract, he would not have been able to get water. This contract is identical with the contract under which appellee had rented the land during the years 1905 and 1906, and was in all respects such a contract as he understood would be made for the water as referred to in the rental contract as Exhibit A to be attached thereto. When it was presented to appellee to sign, he understood it to be the contract referred to in the rental contract, and accepted and signed it as such without objection or protest. These last facts were shown by the testimony of appellee himself. About the 1st of June there was an unprecedented rainfall, whereby the pumping plant was inundated, and could not be operated, and it so continued for a week, but this accident had nothing to do with the failure to furnish water of which appellee complains, which occurred after the plant had fully recovered from the effects of this accident.
The evidence is sufficient to support the finding of the jury that appellant had failed to comply with its contract to furnish water, and had not in good faith furnished water at such times and in such quantities as it was apparent was required under the provisions of the contract with regard to the supplying of the water according to the judgment of appellant, as herein quoted. We further find that by reason of such failure the rice crop was damaged to the extent of the amount found by the verdict.
It is contended by the second assignment of error that the undisputed evidence showed that appellee made an average crop of rice, and was therefore not damaged by any failure to furnish water by appellant
This disposes of all of the assignments of error, and of the several propositions thereunder, none of which presents any error authorizing a reversal of the judgment. The case was presented to the jury in a charge exceptionally clear and comprehensive, and the evidence supports the verdict.
Appellee presents certain cross-assignments of error, which are his only reply to the assignments of error presented by appellant. Under the four cross-assignments appellee presents several propositions, in substance, that the contract was one of rental under which appellant was required “to furnish the necessary water to properly irrigate said land in rice culture,” without limitation of appellee’s statutory and contractual obligations, and that the limitations upon such obligation in the water contract were without binding force because (a) the water contract was no part of the agreement; (b) it was executed under “the most repulsive form of duress”; (c) it was the duty of the court to instruct the jury on the question of duress, whereas it instructed them that the rent contract and water contract constituted one instrument. The testimony of appellee himself, heretofore referred to, is a complete answer to these propositions. He testified that he had been renting land from appellant several years, that he was always required to sign a water contract like this one, and that, when the water contract was presented to him, he “accepted that water contract as a compliance with the lease contract,” and that he made no protest. The evidence conclusively shows that this water contract, although not attached as'an exhibit to the rent contract, and executed afterwards, was in form and substance the contract that was intended by both parties should be made a part of the agreement. There is no merit in the cross-assignments, and they are overruled.
We find no error, and the judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
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- Beaumont Irrigating Co. v. Gregory.
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