Atl. Coast Line R. Co v. Harris

• Decision Date: 25 April 1907
• Docket Number: (No. 269.)
• Citation: 1 Ga.App. 667,57 S.E. 1030
• Parties: ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO. v. HARRIS.
• Court: Georgia Court of Appeals

57 S.E. 1030

1 Ga.App. 667

ATLANTIC COAST LINE R. CO.

v.HARRIS.

(No. 269.)

Court of Appeals of Georgia.

April 25, 1907.

Evidence—Market Value.

The value or market price of an article may be shown by direct or circumstantial evidence, or both.

[Ed. Note.—For cases in point, see Cent. Dig. vol. 20, Evidence, §§ 259-296.]

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from Superior Court, Ware County; Parker, Judge.

Action by one Harris against the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Company. Judgment for plaintiff before a justice. On refusal of writ of certiorari, defendant brings error. Affirmed.

Bennet & Conyers and Simon W. Hitch, for plaintiff in error.

RUSSELL, J. The plaintiff in error excepts to the refusal of the judge of the superior court to sanction a petition for certiorari. In the petition presented to the judge the verdict of a jury in a justice's court and the judgment thereon are excepted to upon the ground that the verdict is not sustained by the evidence as to the market price or value of certain cotton seed alleged to have been lost by the carrier. The plaintiff in the justice's court brought a suit for three bushels of Egyptian cotton seed, delivered by him to the defendant company at Waycross, to be shipped to Campville, Fla. The sole assignment of error relates to the value of the cotton seed in question; that is to say, did the plaintiff sufficiently prove the value of the seed to be $5 a bushel, so as to entitle him to the verdict he received?

The plaintiff testified that on March 1, 1906, he delivered a sack of Egyptian cotton seed, containing three bushels, to the defend ant. He was to get $5 a bushel for these seed. When the consignee did not receive the seed, he sent him three other bushels by express, for which he received $15. He further testified that he did not know what Egyptian cotton seed were worth in the market. These seed were selected, the best bolls from the best stalks. A witness for the plaintiff testified that the plaintiff brought a few Egyptian cotton seed from Texas four years ago, which he planted, and therefrom raised a number of seed, and that he (witness) bought some seed from him at the rate of $1,000 a bushel. The next year witness and plaintiff raised this Egyptian cotton again, and they agreed to fix the price at $10 a bushel, and last year at $5 per bushel. This year the witness was sick and lost his crop, and the plaintiff raised none. This witness testified, further, that this cotton was raised by several persons in the vicinity, and the seed are on the market at Waycross. Witness did not know what the seed were worth on the market. Witness and plaintiff fixed the price of theirs at $5 per bushel. He did not know what kind of seed Mr. Hardy or others had for sale at $1.50 per bushel. The Egyptian cotton is a prolific cotton, producing two bales per acre. The defendant introduced a witness who testified that he sold Egyptian cotton seed, grown from seed bought from plaintiff, from the first of the year and during the planting season. He kept a good quality of the seed on hand, and never sold it for more than $1.50 per bushel. The market price of Harris' Egyptian cotton seed on March 1, 1906, was $1.50 per bushel. He further testified that the seed he sold were raised last year, and were ginned on the same gin as plaintiff's seed. The defendant objected to the testimony of the plaintiff in regard to selecting the seed, and moved to rule it out upon the ground that it was not shown in the bill of lading or in plaintiff's suit that these seed were selected, but it simply appeared that they were Egyptian cotton seed, and in the petition for certiorari excepts to the decision of the trial...