Blum v. Merchant
Blum v. Merchant
Opinion of the Court
Of the various errors assigned, we will notice two only; one as to the refusal of the court to give the charge asked by defendants’ counsel, the other as to the measure of damages established by the court in its charge, and found by the jury in their verdict.
The charge refused is as follows: “If the jury believe that E. J. Pietzcker held himself out before the levy as the owner of the goods, and that he was generally understood and considered to be the owner of the goods levied upon; that he bought and sold goods and collected the money derived from sales; that he managed and controlled the business; that he held himself out to be the owner, and the plaintiffs in this case permitted him so to do, and held himself out to the world; that Leon & H. Blum had the levy made, and the defendant Langham made the levy in the belief that he, «Pietzcker, was the owner of the goods levied on, arising from the facts so made to appear to them and the world,— then the law will hold him, the said Pietzcker, to be that which he was made by the owner and himself to be, and if you so believe you will find for defendants.”
The vice of this charge consists in its failure to bring out clearly the necessity that the plaintiffs, after full knowledge that Pietzcker was claiming the goods as his own, should have stood by and enabled him to deceive others, and entice them into dealing with him as the true owner of the property. The charge seeks to estop the plaintiffs from claiming the property by reason of some act or neglect on their part which has led others into a course which they would not have pursued but for the conduct of the plaintiffs. The elements of an estoppel are: A false representation, or concealment of material facts, made with a knowledge of the facts; ignorance on the part of the person to whom the representations are made, or from whom the facts are concealed; intention that such person should act upon it, and action on his part induced thereby. Ho matter what representations were made by Pietzcker himself as to his
It was proven that Pietzcker managed the business both before and after the death of J. A. Merchant, and kept and seemed to have control of the store; that the sign over the door was “ General Country Merchandise,” and that goods came to the station marked “ J. J. Merchant,” “ Diamond P ” and E. J. Pietzcker, and went to the store, and that no goods marked “ J. A. Merchant ” were known to go into the house. It was proved that Pietzcker said to Blum’s agent that the store was his, but that he was running it under an assumed name to deceive his creditors. It was also proved that the goods marked “E. J. Pietzcker” were ordered for other persons living in the country. This evidence nowhere establishes that the plaintiffs knew any of these facts. Mrs. Merchant knew nothing of the business, but such ignorance does not imply knowledge that Pietzcker was claiming it as his own. And every other transaction proven in the testimony might have occurred, and from the evidence did occur, without the knowledge of the plaintiffs. Some of these fact's are of the most innocent character, such as the sign over the door, and the marks on the goods, and where at all suspicious are explained as consistent with fair dealing. The only fact of any significance is the statement made by Pietzcker to Blum. This remark was not authorized by plaintiffs or made known to them, and they are not bound by it. Moreover, the very statement itself that Pietzcker was running the store under an assumed name (which must have been that of plaintiffs) shows anything else rather than a holding himself out to the world as the owner of the goods. There ivere no facts proven which justified the court in submitting to the jury the instruction asked, and it was properly refused.
As to the damages, the measure as laid down by the court and found by the jury was exactly in accordance with the law as established in the case of Wallace v. Finberg, 46 Tex., 35. It is said that it was incorrect because it allowed profits upon the sale of the goods, and that these are too uncertain to enter into a calculation of damages. In one sense of the words it may be said that profits are included in such damages. The law allows the value of the
The petition, the evidence, the charge and the verdict all show that the damages were rightly computed and had no element of uncertain profits entering into the calculation.
There is no error in the judgment, and it is affirmed.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Leon Blum v. Minerva Merchant
- Cited By
- 34 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- 1. Estoppel.— The elements of estoppel are: A false representation, or concealment of material facts, made with a knowledge of the facts; ignorance on the part of the person to whom the representations are made, or from whom the facts are concealed; intention that such person should act upon it, and action on his part induced thereby. Thus, if goods of another are seized under execution against a debtor, after representations made by such debtor that he was the true owner, and the real owner did not join jn such representations or fail to deny them when he had an opportunity of preventing the creditor from being deceived by them, the true owner would not be estopped from controverting their truth in an action against the creditor for their value. 2. Estoppel — Charge op court.— See ppinion for a charge on estoppel held defective. 3. Case approved.— Wallace v. Finberg, 46 Tex., 35, approved. 4. Damages.— The measure of actual damages for the wrongful seizure and conversion of goods is their value at the place where they are seized on the day of the conversion, and interest on that value. The fact that this rule would include the profit involved in that value, resulting from the goods being more valuable at the place where they are seized than at the distant market where they were purchased, does not alter the rule.