Eustice v. Meytrott

• Decision Date: 30 October 1911
• Citation: 140 S.W. 590,100 Ark. 510
• Parties: EUSTICE v. MEYTROTT
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

140 S.W. 590

100 Ark. 510

EUSTICE v. MEYTROTT

Supreme Court of Arkansas

October 30, 1911

Appeal from Pope Circuit Court; Hugh Basham, Judge; affirmed.

Judgment affirmed.

Brooks Hays & Martin, for appellant.

The complaint is sufficient. By his representations and promises appellee induced appellant to change his condition and to take upon himself and his property a heavy burden, and this is a sufficient consideration for the contract. After the trade is made and appellant has changed his condition and assumed the burden, it is then too late for the appellee to repudiate his offer or attempt to evade responsibility under his agreement. 107 Mass. 37; 1 Beach, Mod. Law of Contracts pp. 9, 10; Id. § 178; Id. § 583; 6 Am. & Eng. Enc. of L. 678; Id. 722; 10 Ark. 585 54 S.W. 969; 64 Ark. 627; 71 Ark. 302.

J. T. Bullock and R. B. Wilson, for appellee.

The demurrer was properly sustained. While the complaint alleges an offer, it was a verbal one, and there is no consideration alleged. 4 Am. & Eng. Enc. of L. 928, 929. It nowhere alleges an acceptance, nor even an assent by the plaintiff, nor that there was any agreement or understanding between him and the defendant that he, plaintiff, should purchase the stock of White, nor any agreement on his part that he would sell to defendant $ 15,000 of stock or any other amount. There is an entire want of mutuality in the alleged contract. 7 Am. & Eng. Enc. of L. 114; 69 S.W. 34; 6 Am. St. Rep. (Md.) 417; 5 Am. St. Rep. (Mich.) 414; Id. (Wis.) 103 and cases cited; 30 Ark. 186; 64 Ark. 627; Id. 398; 19 L. R. A. (Minn.) 205.

OPINION

KIRBY, J.

The plaintiff, W. R. Eustice, on August 11, 1909, filed suit against the defendant upon the following complaint:

"The plaintiff, W. R. Eustice, sues the defendant, Joseph Meytrott, and for cause of action alleges:

"That the Southern Anthracite Coal Company was and is a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Arkansas, and was on the dates hereinafter mentioned, engaged in mining and selling coal. That on the 1st day of January, 1909, the said Southern Anthracite Coal Company was and is capitalized at two hundred thousand ($ 200,000) dollars, all of which was subscribed and paid up, and was owned by the following named parties and amounts, to-wit: W. R. Eustice 3,920 shares of the par value of ninety-eight thousand ($ 98,000) dollars; W. J. White, 20 shares of the par value of five hundred ($ 500) dollars; and W. M. Eustice, 80 shares of the par value of two thousand ($ 2,000) dollars, all of which was subscribed and paid up. That on said date the plaintiff was the owner and controlled one-half of the capital stock of said corporation, to-wit: one hundred thousand ($ 100,000) dollars, and that on said date the said John W. White, owner of 3,980 shares of the capital stock of said corporation, became and was willing to sell his stock in said corporation to the plaintiff for the sum of one hundred thousand ($ 100,000) dollars, to be paid for in time payments, but the plaintiff was without means with which to run and operate said mine, and he was therefore unable to purchase the stock of the said John W. White without some definite arrangements for money with which to pay running expenses thereof. That the defendant, Joseph Meytrott, was and is an architect and civil engineer, highly educated, and that he was on said date engaged at said mine and working for said corporation, and that he was familiar with all the property, lands and coal thereunder, and every other detail of the business of said corporation. That on or about the said date the defendant represented to the plaintiff that he had made figures and estimates of all the coal underlying all of said lands, and that it was worth the sum of two million, five hundred thousand ($ 2,500,000) dollars, and that he, the defendant was possessed of money and property, and was able to assist the plaintiff in financing the operation of the mine; that the defendant became aware of the willingness of the said John W. White to sell his said stock to the plaintiff, and that thereupon the defendant came to the plaintiff and proposed and offered to him that if he (the plaintiff) would purchase the stock of the said John W. White upon time payments he (the defendant) would, immediately upon said purchase, take six hundred (600) shares of the capital stock so purchased at the price of fifteen thousand ($ 15,000) dollars, and that he would at once pay to the plaintiff for said stock the sum of seven thousand five hundred ($ 7,500) in cash, which sum could and should be used to pay the running expenses for said mine, and that the remaining seven thousand five hundred ($ 7,500) dollars should be paid at a later date. The plaintiff, relying upon the honesty and integrity of the defendant and upon his ability to pay said sum of seven thousand five hundred ($ 7,500) dollars in cash upon the date of the purchase of said mining stock from the said John W. White, and knowing and realizing that he could use the said seven thousand five hundred ($ 7,500) dollars to pay the running expenses of said mine for a sufficient length of time to enable him, with...