Ellis-Mylroie Lumber Co. v. Wilson
Ellis-Mylroie Lumber Co. v. Wilson
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting) — I dissent. Appellant in his answer alleges that the lumber in question was defective, inferior and unmarketable. The trial court erred in refusing to admit the evidence offered by appellant in support of his answer and cross-complaint. The judgment should be reversed and remanded for a new trial.
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff lumber company seeks .recovery of a claimed balance upon the agreed sale price of lumber furnished by it to the defendant, Wilson, under a consignment arrangement with reference thereto, and also a small amount claimed to be due it from Wilson for towage. A trial upon the merits in the superior court for King county, sitting with a jury, resulted in verdict and judgment awarding to the lumber company recovery, from which Wilson has appealed to this court.
“This contract made appellant the agent of respondent until he made a sale to his customer. Im*101 mediately upon making such sale the relations of respondent and appellant changed, it then becoming a sale by respondent to appellant on his credit, he to make payment at the end of the month, when he was to report all sales made by him during the month so respondent could enter upon his books a charge against appellant at the current mill price during the month preceding.”
The first consignment of lumber was made by the lumber company to Wilson about September 1, 1920, which was followed by other consignments from time to time up to and including May 6,1921, when the lumber company declined to make any further consignments, evidently because of the default of Wilson in paying or accounting for the lumber he had sold or disposed of. The total wholesale value of the consigned lumber current at all times in question, as claimed by the lumber company, was $10,152. Wilson had reported actual sales of the lumber, of the current wholesale value of $8,222, up to the time of the commencement of this action; having then on hand lumber of the current wholesale value of $1,930, as claimed by the lumber company. At the time of the trial of this action, however, Wilson had actually sold, or otherwise appropriated, practically all of this lumber. Between October 1, 1920, and May 2, 1921, inclusive, Wilson made payments from time to time to the lumber company aggregating $5,129. Wilson’s defense is, in substance, as we understand his counsel, a claim for damages against the lumber company alleged to have been suffered by him by the lumber company’s failure to furnish lumber of the quality agreed to be furnished by it and as- ordered by him; this having reference exclusively to the alleged inferior quality of lumber which actually had been furnished by the lumber company and received by him. The jury awarded the lum
Current wholesale value of consigned lumber as claimed by the lumber company, sold by Wilson prior to the commencement of this action.. $8,222
Current wholesale value of lumber as claimed by the lumber company consigned to and in hands of Wilson at time of commencement of this action and thereafter appropriated by him before the trial............................. 1,930
Lumber company’s towage bill, which is not questioned ................................ 287
$10,439
Payments made by Wilson to the lumber company upon account...................... $5,129
Credit allowed Wilson by the lumber company upon an adjustment made by him with one of his customers........................ 305
Allowance made by the jury to Wilson as a deduction in the current wholesale market value of the lumber in his hands and appropriated by him between the time of the commencement of this action and the trial thereof, because of inferior quality ............................ 505
Verdict .................................. 4,500
$10,439
The principal contention here made in behalf of Wilson seems to be that the trial court erroneously excluded evidence offered in his behalf of loss suffered by him because of the lumber being inferior in quality to that contemplated by the original arrangement between the parties, and inferior to that which was ordered by him. We are at a loss to see how Wilson
Contention is also made in behalf of Wilson, as we understand counsel, that he should in no event be charged with the value of the $1,930 worth of lumber invoiced and claimed by the lumber company to be of that wholesale value, which was in his hands at the time of the commencement of this action and which he thereafter practically wholly appropriated or disposed of without accounting in any manner therefor to the lumber company. We cannot see from the record before us but that the trial court did allow him to prove the reasonable wholesale value of that lumber as being less than that claimed by the lumber company; and that the jury evidently found in Wilson’s favor upon that question to the extent of deducting from the claimed wholesale value of that lumber approximately the sum of $505. We think Wilson is in no position to claim that he is not at least liable for the reasonable wholesale value of that lumber, in view of his manner of appropriating it and failing to account for it. As to what portion thereof he actually sold, and as to what portion thereof he may have otherwise appropriated, we need not here inquire.
We are told in the brief filed here in behalf of the lumber company that it has “cross-appealed” in this action; but we find no record here of any such an appeal. The argument in the brief of counsel for the lumber company is addressed wholly to the claim that
The record and briefs bring the case to us in a somewhat involved condition, making it difficult for us to follow counsel and dispose of the questions presented with any great degree of nicety. However, upon the whole record, we think the verdict and judgment render to both parties substantial justice.
The judgment is affirmed. Neither party will recover costs in this court.
Main, C. J., and Fullerton, J., concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.