D.J. Meador & Son v. Standard Oil Co.

Decision Date18 May 1916
Docket Number2 Div. 624
Citation196 Ala. 365,72 So. 34
CourtAlabama Supreme Court
PartiesD.J. MEADOR & SON v. STANDARD OIL CO.

Appeal from Law and Equity Court, Marengo County; Edward J. Gilder Judge.

Assumpsit by the Standard Oil Company against D.J. Meador & Son. Judgment for plaintiff, and defendant appeals. Transferred from the Court of Appeals under Act April 18, 1911 (Laws 1911, p. 450) § 6. Affirmed.

The complaint was on the common count. Plea A set up certain payments and credits as an offset against plaintiff's demand. The other pleas set up the fact that defendants were operating a sawmill and public gin, and used gasoline as a motive power to rum their engine, and that they did buy gasoline from plaintiff for the purpose of running their engine, which fact was well known to plaintiff, and the purposes for which it would be used, and notwithstanding this fact plaintiff shipped to defendant gasoline so impure and so adulterated with some other mixture unknown to defendant that their ginnery and mill was shut down for a long period of time, because of the fact that they were unable to operate the engine with the gasoline furnished by plaintiff, and the defendants had no knowledge of that fact, and did not discover the impurity of said gasoline for some time, and until December 28, 1911. They offer to set off the interest on the value of the ginnery and outfit during that period claiming the same to be $3,000 and interest thereon of $60. Other pleas set up the same state of facts and allege additional and other damages. Objections to evidence sufficiently appear.

I.I Canterbury, of Linden, and Tyson & Arrington, of Montgomery for appellant.

J.M. Miller, of Gadsden, for appellee.

MAYFIELD J.

There is but one assignment of error on this case, and it raises the only disputed question of law involves in the trial. The assignment is as follows:

"The court erred in sustaining plaintiff's objection to the following question to witness Edwin Meador: 'I will ask you whether or not any complaints were made to the Standard Oil Company or their agents during the season of 1911 and 1912 as to the impurity of the gasoline.' "

Some of the questions propounded to the witness, Edwin Meador, and to the defendant's agent, Green, called for illegal evidence--that is, for the declarations of a sales agent, and conversations between Meador and the agent, after the sale was consummated. This, of course, was not binding on the defendant; the acts or conversations not being a part of the rest gestae of the sale, and not leading up to it. The rights and the liabilities of both parties, under the contract of sale, were fixed before these conversations were had, and the agent, Green, is not shown to have had authority to bind his principal by his subsequent declarations. Statements or declarations made by an agent are not admissible in evidence when they relate to transactions that are past. Seaboard Air Line Ry. v. Hubbard, 142 Ala. 546, 38 So. 750. Declarations...

To continue reading

Request your trial
7 cases
  • Standard Motorcar Co. v. McMahon
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • April 10, 1919
    ... ... Home Protection, etc., v ... Whidden, 103 Ala. 203, 206, 15 So. 567; Belmont Coal ... & Rd. Co. v. Smith, 74 Ala. 206, 212; Meador & Son ... v. Standard Oil Co., 196 Ala. 365, 367, 72 So. 34; ... Dothan Gro. Co. v. Pilcher, 75 So. 899, 900; ... Dadeville, etc., Co. v ... ...
  • U.S. Fidelity & Guaranty Co. v. Millonas
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • May 12, 1921
    ... ... adjustment of this claim with plaintiff's counsel, and as ... said in Meador v. Standard Oil Co., 196 Ala. 365, 72 ... "The admissions or declarations of an agent, when made ... ...
  • Perry v. Brakefield, OB-GYN
    • United States
    • Alabama Supreme Court
    • September 30, 1988
    ...that is the subject of the litigation. Alabama Power Co. v. Sellers, 283 Ala. 137, 214 So.2d 833 (1968); Meador & Son v. Standard Oil Co., 196 Ala. 365, 72 So. 34 (1916). On the other hand, "where the officer or agent is clothed with full and general authority to do everything that the corp......
  • Anger v. Grenada Bank
    • United States
    • Mississippi Supreme Court
    • December 22, 1924
    ... ... execution of the agency, forming a part of the res gestae. 1 ... R. C. L. 508; D. J. Meador & Son v. Standard Oil Co., 72 So ... 34; 3 R. C. L. 451; 12 A. R. 72 ... The ... ...
  • Request a trial to view additional results

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT