Kalispell Flour Mill Co. v. Marshall
Kalispell Flour Mill Co. v. Marshall
Opinion of the Court
On September 21, 1920, the Kalispell Flour Mill Company, a corporation, of Kalispell, Montana, entered into a written contract at Spokane, Washington, with P. Marshall for the sale to him of one thousand barrels of flour at $11 per barrel, to be delivered in Spokane “all within 90 days from Oct. 10th-20, one car Oct. 10, one car Nov. 10, one car Dec. 10, 1920”. One car load of two hundred and fifty barrels was shipped October 10, and another of tw'o hundred and fifty barrels was shipped November 10. Both car loads were received and paid for by Marshall. On December 10, 1920, one car load of five hundred barrels was shipped. Marshall was unable and unwill
An examination and consideration of the record satisfies us the judgment is wrong. The appellant was not a dealer in flour, but was engaged in the bakery business. For six years he had been buying flour from the respondent and had never received more than two hundred and fifty barrels of flour in any car load shipment, other than a short time during governmental regulations caused by the war. At the time the written contract here in question was to be signed by both parties, the provision as to time of shipment contained simply the words “all within 90 days from Oct. 10th-20”. The testimony very clearly shows that the appellant insisted that he wanted .only two hundred and fifty barrels in each shipment per month, that that was all he could use in his business, and that the respondent agreed, and thereupon the words “one car Oct. 10, one car Nov. 10, one car Dec. 10, 1920” were added.
A few' days prior to each of the shipments of October 10 and November 10, the local agent inquired of the appellant if he wanted forty-nine or ninety-eight pound sacks of flour in the shipment. No such or other kind of inquiry was made prior to the shipment of five hundred barrels December 10. In the meantime, about the latter part of November, the appellant presented to the respondent a claim on account of damaged flour recently furnished by the.respondent, and about the
Besides the circumstances immediately connected with the making of the contract, the course of dealing between the parties for years prior thereto, and the shipment of two hundred and fifty barrels of flour in each of the ears October 10 and November 10, there was independent evidence of an expert, or one used to such purchases and shipments, to the effect that a car of flour was ordinarily understood to mean about two hundred and fifty barrels; and we are satisfied that it reasonably appears by a fair preponderance of the evidence in this case that respondent’s contention that the words “one car December 10” in this contract
To give effect to all the language requires us to adopt the appellant’s contention, which, as already stated, the testimony shows was the intention of the parties by the use of the words of the contract.
Reversed, with directions to dismiss the action, with costs against the respondent.
Main, C. J., Mackintosh, Holcomb, and Bridges, J.J., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.