Balaguer v. MacEy
Balaguer v. MacEy
Opinion of the Court
This case was tried by the court without a jury, and judgment was rendered for defendants. Prom this judgment plaintiff appealed, and on his motion the trial court filed the following conclusions of fact and law:
“The court finds as a matter of fact that the notes herein sued on were executed by the defendants, Sam Macey and Jake Macey, for 50 kegs of apple and grape cider at an agreed pricé of $18 per keg, and that these beverages contained more than one-half of 1 per cent, of alcohol, and that, while the same were being delivered to the defendants, officers of the United States government seized the same and charged the plaintiff Jim Balaguer, and his partner, Jose Garraro, with' unlawfully selling the same to Sam and Jake Macey, and information was duly filed by the officers of the government against both Jim Balaguer and Jose Garraro in the district court of the United States in the Beaumont division, and they were both arrested upon this charge, and thereafter when the case's of the government of the United States against them were called for trial, both the plaintiff, Jim Balaguer, and his partner, Jose Garraro, entered pleas of guilty to the charges so made against them, and judgments were entered against them accordingly, and they were both fined by the court, and they both paid their fines according to the judgments of the court; and the court further finds in this connection that the judge of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of Texas also entered judgment, directing the disposition or destruction of the said ciders so sold by the plaintiff, Jim Balaguer, to the defendants in this suit, and that thereafter the United States marshal for the Eastern District of Texas did destroy all of the said beverages in accordance with the court’s order.
“The court further finds as a fact that on account of the excessive alcoholic content in the said beverages sold by the plaintiff to the defendants the same had no value and were absolutely worthless, and that by pleading guilty to the charge of unlawfully selling such beverages the plaintiff, Jim Balaguer, admitted the worthlessness of the said beverages, and thereby in effect consented to the disposition and destruction of the same by the officers of the United States government, and thereby made it impossible for the defendants in this suit to question the facts charged with reference to the alcoholic content of the beverages which the plaintiff in this suit had attempted to sell to them.
“The court further finds as a fact that no charges were made by the officers of the government of the United States against the defendants in this suit, Sam Macey and Jake Macey, and that they did not know that the beverages in question contained excessive *323 amount of alcohol, and that they relied upon the representations of the plaintiff, Jim Bal-aguer, to the effect that said beverages were wholesome and did not contain alcohol in excessive quantities.
“The court further finds as a fact that there was no lawful or valid consideration for the execution of the notes herein sued upon, and that the consideration, or purported consideration, for the execution and delivery of said notes has wholly failed, and that the defendants are not liable for the payment for the same.
“Conclusions of Law.
“It is the opinion of the court that it follows as a matter of law from the foregoing findings of fact that the notes sued on by the plaintiff were executed without consideration, or that the purported consideration for the execution and delivery of same has wholly failed, and that the plaintiff is not entitled to recover against the defendants on the notes sued upon, and that therefore the notes should be canceled and annulled. And judgment has been entered accordingly.”
Opinion.
The following conclusions by us dispose of the questions raised by this appeal:
1. All the trial court’s findings of fact are fully sustained by the record, except it be the conclusion as to the time when the cider was seized. We do not review the correctness of that conclusion, because under the view we take of the ease it becomes immaterial.
“The eighth, ninth and eleventh paragraphs, taken together, in effect, declare the Yolstead Act” of October 28, 1919 (41 Stat. at L. 305, c. 83) “to be the supreme law of the land, paramount to' any state law with which it may conflict in any respect.”
4. The judgment of the trial court must also be sustained on the conclusions on the issue of fraud.
We believe the judgment of the trial court is fully sustained by this record, and it is therefore in all things affirmed.
<§s=>ITor other oases see same topic and KEY-NÜMBER in all Key-Numbered Digests and Indexes
Reference
- Full Case Name
- BALAGUER v. MACEY Et Al.
- Cited By
- 10 cases
- Status
- Published