Jones-Scott Co. v. Ellensburg Milling Co.
Jones-Scott Co. v. Ellensburg Milling Co.
Opinion of the Court
The contract which is the basis of this law suit was before this court for consideration in the case of Jones-Scott Co. v. Ellensburg Milling Co., 108 Wash. 73, 183 Pac. 113, where the correspondence in regard to the sale of the 10,000 bushels of wheat is set forth in full, and therefore need not be repeated here. Although it is probably true that the contract was an oral one, and the writing merely took it without the statute of frauds, still, there is some language
Under the contract, the respondent was to pay for the 10,000 bushels of blue stem wheat at $2.44 per bushel, f. o. b., cars Eureka Flat points, the first shipment to consist of one car, about November 1, the balance of the wheat to be taken “as fast as I can”. None of the wheat was ever delivered, and this action is for damages for failure to receive and pay for it.
It is the respondent’s claim that the contract is invalid because in violation of the United States food control act, dated August 10, 1917, and commonly known as the Lever act. Eespondent argues that by the terms of that Federal legislation, it was unlawful for the parties here to have fixed a price for wheat in excess of the fair price fixed by the government. The act, upon being read, however, does not lend itself to any such interpretation. ' It merely provides, as far as wheat is concerned, for the fixing of a minimum price. The purpose of the act is very apparent; to encourage the production of wheat by the farmers of the country to meet the stress of war demands. Eespondent, however, recognizing that the act fixes only a minimum price 'resorts to § 4 of the act, which provides against discrimination and unfair practices and unjust and un
It is next urged by the respondent that the appellant has never performed its contract and cannot therefore recover, for the reason that the appellant failed to perform its contract to deliver one car about November 1, and that the claimed repudiation of the contract by the respondent was not a breach of the contract. A resort to the evidence in the case, however, convinces us that on or about November 1, the appellant was directed by the respondent not to make the shipment on that date, and this fact is testified to positively by the appellant’s manager, and the respondent’s denial consists of his statement that “I don’t think so; I don’t remember.” A careful reading of the testimony of the two witnesses, the managers of each of the companies, which, in effect, is all the testimony in the case, is conclusive that the failure to deliver on November 1 was due to the respondent’s act and not to that of the appellant.
The other argument in regard to the failure to perform the contract is that the appellant is not entitled to demand performance by the respondent until it had
There then only remains the question as to the measure of damages. That measure is the difference between the contract price and the market price, at the date of the demand and refusal, there being no definite time fixed for the delivery, Menz Lumber Co. v. McNeely, 58 Wash. 223, 108 Pac. 621, 28 L. R A. (N. S.) 1007; Oriental Trading Co. v. Houser, 87 Wash. 184, 151 Pac. 242; Hughes v. Eastern R. & Lumber Co., 93 Wash. 558, 161 Pac. 343. The contract price was fixed at $2.44 per bushel. The appellant’s demand for performance was on January 7, 1918; and the price of wheat at, Eureka Elat points at that date was testified to as being $2.00% per bushel. A computation based
Parker, C. J., and Bridges, J., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Jones-Scott Company v. Ellensburg Milling Company
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- 2 cases
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- Syllabus
- Contracts (40)—Validity—Statutes—Lever Act. The Lever Pood Control Act fixing a minimum price for wheat is not a prohibition against sales at a price in excess thereof. . Sales (68)—Delivery—Tender or Offer—Necessity. Where a purchaser of wheat directed the seller not to make the first shipment at the time provided in the contract of sale, a delivery or tender of delivery, of the wheat was not a condition precedent- to a right of action for damages for repudiation of the contract by the purchaser. Samé (143)—Remedy of Seller—Actions—Measure of Damages. The measure of damages for breach of contract to deliver a quantity of wheat, .where no definite time was fixed for-delivery, is the difference between the contract price and the market price at the date of the demand and refusal of performance.