Derden v. Morris, 46175
| Decision Date | 17 May 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 46175,46175 |
| Parties | 9 UCC Rep.Serv. 249 Myles DERDEN v. John L. MORRIS. |
| Court | Mississippi Supreme Court |
Carter & Carter, Columbus, for appellant.
Tubb & Stevens, West Point, for appellee.
This is a case involving the interpretation and application of Section 41A:2-201 Uniform Commercial Code, Mississippi Code of 1942 Annotated (Supp.1967), the pertinent portion of the section involved in this appeal being as follows:
(1) Except as otherwise provided in this section a contract for the sale of goods for the price of Five Hundred Dollars ($500.00) or more is not enforceable by way of action or defense unless there is some writing sufficient to indicate that a contract for sale has been made between the parties and signed by the party against whom enforcement is sought or by his authorized agent or broker.
While the chancellor made no separate finding of fact, the final decree entered therein adjudged the parties to have entered into a contract for the sale of coins in the amount of $6,248.55 as of October 15, 1968, and found that appellant had repudiated the agreement in April 1969, at a time when the fair market value of the coins was $4,500.00. The court entered a decree in the amount of $1,814.05 in favor of appellee, which sum represented the difference in the market value of the coins at the time of the alleged breach in April 1969, and the value of the coins at the time the alleged contract of sale was entered into on October 15, 1968, plus the sum of $18.00 representing rental payment on safety deposit boxes and an additional sum of $147.50 for coins which had been forwarded by appellee to appellant and accepted by him. Appellant, Myles Derden, and appellee, John L. Morris, apparently had known each other for some period of time and had, on numerous occasions, traded and sold coins. Appellee alleged that he and appellant had entered into an oral contract for the sale of coins in the sum above specified and in an effort to satisfy the statute of frauds provision of the Uniform Commercial Code, supra, offered into evidence a letter dated November 7, 1968, signed by appellant, addressed to appellee, which letter, in part, is as follows:
The arrangement is fine about the coins in West Point Bank. You can deposit the $500.00 check the 15th. of this Month then I will Mail you $300.00 checks each Month until May and increase them then. (R. 38-39).
The only proof as to the coins proposed to be purchased consisted of an itemized listing apparently compiled by the appellee at a time subsequent to the period appellee testified that he had forwarded such a list to appellant. The total cost of the listed items purportedly sold does not exceed $5,200.00. Other than letters between the parties introduced into evidence, all other proof consisted of the testimony of appellant and appellee, which testimony was in direct conflict as to the existence of a contract.
Appellant offered into evidence a letter dated January 24, 1969, from appellee to appellant, which letter is, in part, as follows:
In our Conversation, I refered (sic) to our coin sale agreement and discussed with him how we had misunderstood each other in our letters and Telephone calls.
You have offered to pay the safety Box Rent and I am satisfied regardless if it takes up to 2 or 3 years to complete the payments the Coins are safe. And all I want to know is are they sold so I wont (sic) have to think about doing that over.
Now if there is any coins you don't want at the quoted price, and some are a little cheaper now due to tax paying time I will release these from the agreement.
I have no intention of causing you any trouble nor did I ask the attorney to do a thing except to come to a clear understanding.
A careful reading of the two letters, together with the other letters introduced into evidence, reflects that the parties to this litigation dealt back and forth on various and sundry transactions and discloses that the parties were...
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...that look toward some sale in the future do not suffice. Cf. Arcuri v. Weiss, 198 Pa.Super. 506, 184 A.2d 24 (1962). In Derden v. Morris, 247 So.2d 838 (Sup.Ct.Miss.1971), the court held that documents which had been introduced into evidence which, when taken as a whole, indicated that the ......
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...UCC § 2-201(1) § 75-2-201(1) deals with the basic method of satisfying the statute of frauds — by the use of a writing. In Derden v. Morris, 247 So.2d 838 (Miss. 1971), the Mississippi Supreme Court dealt for the first time with section 75-2-201(1) and discussed the requirements of a writin......
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