Matthews v. Foster
Matthews v. Foster
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit for $954.05, brought by appellee against appellant, and, on a trial by jury, resulting ip a verdict and judgment for appellee in the sum of $550.
This is a very peculiar case, founded, as it is, on a verbal contract made in Oklahoma, between two inhabitants of that state, in regard to the rent of a tract of land lying in Cameron county, Tex., and yet upon an account based on the breach of a contract entered into in Oklahoma, but breached in Cameron county; the Oklahoma man is sued in Hidalgo county, where it seems that the appellee now resides. In his wanderings in Texas, he seems to have carried the suit with him, and appellant quite complacently made no objection to his conveying it around with his other chattels. Not only is the case unique in the respects named; but it is singular that appellee does not claim in his petition that any crops ever came up on the land, or that by his cultivation they were given any start towards maturity, or that they had any value, or probably ever would have had any, no matter how much money may have been furnished. These were trivial matters, however, for judge and jury without a single thought gave a good round sum against the absent Oklahoman.
' The court evidently could find no measure of damages to guide the jury, for he instructed them:
“As to the measure of damages in this cause, you are instructed that, in case of a breach of the contract by the defendant, the plaintiff would be entitled to recover such damage as is shown to be the direct and proximate result of such breach, if any.”
The charge was safe from any attack for errors of commission, and its failure to commit itself to any measure of damage was its best defense; but it left the jury, as did the petition, without rudder or compass to guide them in rendering a just and righteous verdict. The jury must have concluded that the crop would have been immense, if it was to conform to an expenditure on it by the 1st of April of the crop ■ year of $954.05. We are not informed, however, upon what expenditures, whether for railroad fare, mules, cultivators, iron wheel wagon, harrow, planter, plows, or labor for setting out cabbage, the verdict is based.
There is not only no allegation as to the value of the crops that would have been produced, but also an utter failure to show what appellee earned after he left the land of appellant. The measure of damages in such cases is two-thirds of the value of the crops which would have been produced less further necessary expenditures not including the labor of appellee to mature and gather the crops, and less such sums as appellee •may have earned in other employment. Rogers v. McGuffey, 96 Tex. 565, 74 S. W. 753; Crews v. Cortez, 102 Tex. 111, 113 S. W. 523, 38 L. R. A. (N. S.) 713; Bost v. McCrea (Tex. Civ. App.) 172 S. W. 561, writ of error refused; Lott v. Ballew (Tex. Civ. App.) 198 S. W. 645; Stewart v. Patterson (Tex. Civ. App.) 204 S. W. 768; Lamar v. Hildreth (Tex. Civ. App.) 209 S. W. 167; Smith v. Roberts (Tex. Civ. App.) 218 S. W. 30; Bankers’ Trust Co. v. Schulze (Tex. Civ. App.) 220 S. W. 570. In other words, as said in Crews v. Cortez, herein cited:
“The rights of the parties are founded on the contract, and the wrong done is compensated for when, the injured party is allowed the full value which he would have produced, less the expense of which he has been relieved.”
The judgment will be reversed,' and the cause remanded.
cgsoFor other eases see same topic and KEY-NUMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Matthews v. Foster.
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published