Stephens v. Kansas City Life Ins. Co.
Stephens v. Kansas City Life Ins. Co.
Opinion of the Court
The appellant, W. H. Stephens, instituted this suit in the district court of Shackelford county to recover of appellee, the Kansas City Life Insurance Company, the sum of $2,875.73, with interest at the legal rate from July 2, 1918, upon an alleged breach of contract on the part of the insurance company to purchase from the plaintiff certain real estate loans specifically described in his petition. The case was submitted upon 28 special issues. Upon the findings thereon judgment was rendered for defendant, and plaintiff has appealed.
The pleadings of the parties presented the issues submitted, and those issues, with the answers of the jury, may be thus briefly stated in narrative form, viz.:
That Fred W. Fleming, chairman of the board of the Kansas City Life Insurance Company, made a contract with appellant, as alleged in his petition, but that he was without authority, or apparent authority, to do so, and that the contract had not been ratified by the company, but that the insurance company had held out to the plaintiff that the said Fleming had authority. The jury further found that the insurance company had breached its contract and also answered “No” to the following special issue:
“Did the plaintiff, W. H. Stephens, diligently perform his obligations and agreements under the contract entered into between himself and the Kansas City Life Insurance Company, through Fred W. Fleming, chairman of its board, as alleged in' plaintiff’s petition?”
In the view that we have taken of the case, we think it unnecessary to indicate the remaining issues and findings.
Appellee, by pleadings and evidence, denied that any specific agreement of the kind alleged had been made; the chairman, Fred Fleming, testifying in effect that he had merely indicated or stated a willingness to accept loans of the kind to the extent stated.
However, we think that evidence, both in behalf of the appellant and in behalf of the appellee, is without dispute, to the effect that the insurance company was to have full privilege to exercise its judgment freely as to the title, regularity of the proceedings, and value of the securities of all loans offered by appellant, and that the loans specified in the plaintiff’s petition, and which were rejected by the insurance company, were refused on the ground either that there was some question made as to title, or as to the value of the land, or the security offered. Appellant’s evidence tended to show that the titles to all the loans presented by him and rejected by the company had been approved by his attorneys, and also that the values of the lands upon which the liens to secure the loans had been taken were equal to or in excess of the 50 per cent, agreed upon or contemplated between the parties, but there was no allegation and no proof that the reports of appellee’s attorneys or inspectors, which tended to a contrary conclusion, were made in bad faith, and, unless so made, the conclusion on those subjects by the officers of the insurance company to which these matters were submitted was conclusive. We had occasion to consider the question in the recent case of R. M. Grant v. City of Mineral Wells (No. 9528) 230 S. W. 854, not yet [officially] published, where may be found numerous authorities on the subject. We there approved the following quotation of the rule as given by the Supreme Court of Ne *354 braska in the case of Thurman v. City, 64 Neb. 490, 90 N. W. 253:
“Where a party stipulates that his contract of purchase shall be subject to the opinion of his attorney as to the title to or legal status of the thing, to be purchased, the plain purpose being to make his act dependent upon the’ personal opinion of his legal adviser, the sole requirement is that such legal adviser in fact pass upon the subject and give his honest opinion, and the merits of an honest opinion actually given are not subject to review;” “and his decision is conclusive, provided he really passes upon the question and reaches a conclusion honestly, whether his conclusion is right or wrong.”
See, also, the case of San Antonio v. E. H. Rollins & Sons, 127 S. W. 1166; Amarillo v. Slayton, 208 .S, W. 967; U. S. Trust Co. v. Guthrie, 181 Iowa, 992,165 N. W. 188; and the numerous other cases cited in Grant v. City of Mineral Wells.
“The measure of damage is the difference between the contract price and the market price of the goods at the time when and at the place where the contract should have been performed.”
. 'The text is supported by numerous authorities cited in a footnote and accords with our own cases. See Welden v. Tex. Con. Meat Co., 65 Tex. 487; Wolert v. Arledge, 4 Tex. Civ. App. 692, 23 S. W. 1052.
If the foregoing observations are correct, appellant’s case must fail for want of proof. No evidence whatever was offered as to the state of the market in Kansas City, where, by the terms of the contract, the securities were to have been delivered. For aught that the evidence shows, appellant could have sold the securities on the open market in Kansas City at the time of their rejection for more than appellee agreed to give ’ for them, assuming, of course, that they were as unobjectionable as appellant contends they were.
We therefore for the reasons indicated, overrule all assignments of error, regardless of the proper determination of the questions therein presented, and affirm the judgment.
dSWFor other cases see same topic and KBY-NTJMBBR in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
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