Bartlesville Zinc Co. v. Compania Minera Ygnacio Rodriguez Ramos, S. A.

• Decision Date: 11 April 1918
• Docket Number: (No. 811.)
• Citation: 202 S.W. 1048
• Parties: BARTLESVILLE ZINC CO. et al. v. COMPANIA MINERA YGNACIO RODRIGUEZ RAMOS, S. A.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

202 S.W. 1048

BARTLESVILLE ZINC CO. et al. v. COMPANIA MINERA YGNACIO RODRIGUEZ RAMOS, S. A.

(No. 811.)

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. El Paso.

April 11, 1918.

Rehearing Denied May 9, 1918.

Appeal from District Court, El Paso County; Ballard Coldwell, Judge.

Suit by the Compania Minera Ygnacio Rodriguez Ramos, S. A., against the Bartlesville Zinc Company and others. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendants appeal. Reversed and remanded.

R. C. Walshe and U. S. Goen, both of El Paso, Ed. F. Harris, of Galveston, and Julian B. Beaty, of New York City, for appellants. Davis, Goggin & Harrington, of El Paso, for appellee.

HARPER, C. J.

The Compania Minera Ygnacio Rodriguez Ramos, S. A., brought this suit against the Bartlesville Zinc Company, American Metals Company, Limited, the Compania Minera de Penoles, S. A., and Compania de Minerales de Metales, et al., for damages for the conversion of 48 cars of ore, alleging that same was taken from plaintiff in the Republic of Mexico by unknown parties, and shipped to El Paso, where it was unlawfully appropriated by defendants. The defense is that it was seized and confiscated by Francisco Villa as a military necessity— sold to parties in Mexico, from whom it was by defendant American Metals Company purchased in good faith.

The plaintiff in reply denied that the ore was taken or confiscated by any act of a sovereign state, so as to constitute it booty of a conquering army, or was taken to be used in the course of military operations, or under circumstances where danger was immediate and impending, or necessity urgent for the maintaining of the army, or the necessities of war. The cause was submitted to a jury on special issues, and upon the verdict judgment was rendered for plaintiff for $75,902.14, from which this appeal.

The jury found that a civil war existed in Mexico during the time the ore sued for was taken, and that armies of soldiers led by Francisco Villa were opposed by the armies of Venistiano Carranza; that the cars of ore sued for were not taken by any force or government in possession and control of the territory where plaintiff's mine was, or by any agent of such force or government, acting by authority of such government or force. Nor was it taken by Francisco Villa, or any of his agents or officers acting by his authority or directions; nor were the proceeds thereof intended for the benefit of the faction dominated by Villa.

The appellant contends that the uncontradicted evidence shows that...