Collins v. Hardeman-King Co.

• Decision Date: 02 July 1934
• Docket Number: No. 4263.,4263.
• Citation: 74 S.W.2d 181
• Parties: COLLINS v. HARDEMAN-KING CO.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

74 S.W.2d 181

COLLINS v. HARDEMAN-KING CO.

No. 4263.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Amarillo.

July 2, 1934.

Appeal from Hartley County Court; R. A. De Fee, Judge.

Action by the Hardeman-King Company against E. S. Collins. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

Stalcup & Fike, of Dalhart, for appellant.

Cooper & Lumpkin, of Amarillo, for appellee.

JACKSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the county court of Hartley county obtained by appellee, Hardeman-King Company, a foreign corporation, against the appellant, E S. Collins, for the sum of $337.35, with interest thereon at the rate of 6 per cent. per annum from the date thereof and costs.

The appellant urges but one error, contained in the following proposition: "The judgment rendered by the Trial Court was erroneous. Both the pleading and the proof showed that the plaintiff was a foreign corporation, doing business in this state, and there was no evidence that it had a permit authorizing it to transact business in this state, which was the subject-matter of this suit and under the law the Court could not enter a judgment in favor of the plaintiff."

The appellee alleged that it was "a corporation organized and authorized to do business under and by virtue of the laws of the state of Oklahoma, with its principal office and place of business in Oklahoma City, Okla., and with a permit to transact business in the State of Texas"; that on June 6, 1931, it sold and delivered to appellant 100 sacks of salt of 100 pounds each, for the consideration of $326, upon which amount credit had been allowed for salt returned and freight from Channing to Weeks Island, La., aggregating $190, leaving an unpaid balance of $146.92; that on October 6, 1931, the appellant, by a contract in writing, purchased from appellee for shipment on November 15th thereafter, 450 100-pound sacks of Texas Special salt at 68 cents per cwt., and appellee shipped the salt so sold from Weeks Island, La., to appellant at Channing, Tex.; that he refused to receive the salt, and, in order to prevent a sale for freight and storage, appellee was compelled to sell on the market, and received therefor $247, leaving an unpaid balance of $237, resulting in damages to appellee in said sum.

No jury was demanded, and the court finds in substance that appellee on all the dates involved was a foreign corporation, and no proof was made that it had ever obtained a permit to transact business in Texas; that since 1926 it maintained a branch office in Amarillo, had an office force consisting of Joe S. Morris, general manager, and other employees, and a warehouse for the storage of its products, owned and operated a feed mill, and solicited business and sold ranch supplies from its office in Amarillo to the farmers and ranchmen in the surrounding territory; that such general manager, in March, 1931, went to Channing and sold to appellant five tons of salt; that such manager intended to make up a carload for shipment, but did not succeed; that the five tons sold to appellant were shipped from Weeks, La., to Amarillo, and trucked from Amarillo to Channing; that on October 6th such general manager obtained from appellant a written order for 450 100-pound sacks of salt to be delivered at Channing for 68 cents per cwt.; that the order was sent from the office in Amarillo to appellee's plant in Weeks, La., from which point the salt was transported by rail...