Jewell v. Jackson & Whitsitt Cotton Co.

• Decision Date: 08 May 1975
• Citation: 294 Ala. 112,313 So.2d 157
• Parties: Jake JEWELL v. JACKSON & WHITSITT COTTON CO., a copartnership. SC 1014.
• Court: Alabama Supreme Court

Page 157

313 So.2d 157

294 Ala. 112

Jake JEWELL v. JACKSON & WHITSITT COTTON CO., a copartnership.

SC 1014.

Supreme Court of Alabama.

May 8, 1975.

Rehearing Denied June 5, 1975.

J. Garrison Thompson, Selma, for appellant.

W. W. Dinning, Demopolis, for appellee.

MERRILL, Justice.

Plaintiff, Jake Jewell, brought a declaratory judgment action seeking the interpretation of a contract wherein Jewell agreed to sell all the cotton produced on 142.6 acres to defendant, Jackson & Whitsitt Cotton Co. This is an appeal by Jewell from a decree rendered in favor of the defendant.

Plaintiff is a cotton farmer. He primarily uses a planting method known as 2 and 1 skip row. Under this method, two rows are planted in cotton and every third row is left vacant, or skipped. The vacant row gives each plant more room to grow and obtain moisture. As a result, skip row cotton produces a higher yield Per plant than does solid row cotton. Skip row planting, however, yields about the same amount of cotton Per acre as solid row planting since there are fewer plants per acre, e.g., 100 acres planted in skip row produces approximately the same amount of cotton as 100 acres of solid row cotton.

About six weeks before the execution of the subject contract, Jewell applied for and received a cotton allotment from the Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (A.S.C.S.). Jewell filled out A.S.C.S. form 516, 'Intention to Participate and Payment Application,' in which he stated that he expected to produce a yield of 690 pounds of cotton per acre.

The projected yield figure is calculated by the A.S.C.S. from an average of the actual yield of the cotton farmer for the three preceding years. The projected yield may vary considerably from the actual yield due to weather and environmental factors.

The projected yield per acre deviates from the actual yield per acre in another respect. The A.S.C.S. computes cotton allotment acreage in terms of 'solid' acres. A skipped row, ditch, or other uncultivated area is not considered in computing 'solid' acres planted for cotton allotment purposes. The A.S.C.S. calculates the number of 'solid' acres of land planted by multiplying the number of acres of land planted in 2 and 1 skip row by .67. Thus, where the 2 and 1 skip row method is used, the projected yield per 'solid' acre for A.S.C.S. cotton allotment purposes is appoximately 1/3 greater than the actual yield per acre.

On April 17, 1973, Jewell entered into the contract with Jackson & Whitsitt through Allen Small, officer manager of the Selma Compress Company, to sell part of his cotton to them for 35cents per pound. Actually, the contract reads '35.00 per pound gin run' but the parties agree that the trade was 35cents per pound. The contract provided in pertinent parts as follows:

'* * * the SELLER agrees to sell and the BUYER agrees to buy at prices and terms as stated below. All and only the cotton produced by Jake Jewell Dallas County, Ala. during the crop year 1973 on approximately 150 acres located in _______

* * * * * *

'The SELLER agrees to practice normal good farming methods in the production and harvesting of the crop, * * *.'

At the bottom of the contract, below the parties' signatures, appeared the following:

'Farm Number: I 8

'Projected Yield: 690'

(About two or three weeks later, Jewell asked Small to change the acreage from 150 acres to 142.6 acres, which corresponded to Jewell's cotton allotment, and this was done).

Jewell denied that the amount of the projected yield, 690 pounds, was on the contract when he signed it. Small testified that he secured the information as to the projected yield, 690 pounds, from Jewell, and that it was on the contract at the time that Jewell signed the contract.

Pursuant to the contract, Jewell planted, grew and harvested a skip row cotton crop on 142.6 acres of land and delivered 143 bales of cotton with an average net weight of 475 pounds to Selma Compress Company, a bonded warehouse, for the account of Jackson & Whitsitt. Jewell also planted skip row cotton on 140 additional acres from which he harvested 127 bales. This cotton was delivered by Jewell in his own name to Selma Compress.

When Jewell attempted to sell the additional 127 bales, the Compress Co. 'refused to allow the samples to be placed on the table for sale' because Jackson & Whitsitt claimed a portion of the additional bales. That day, cotton was selling between 68cents and 72cents per pound in Selma.

Plaintiff then filed this declaratory judgment action claiming that he was entitled to the additional 127 bales of cotton.

Jackson & Whitsitt based its claim upon an alleged custom and usage of the cotton trade that the number of acres expressed in the contract contemplated 'solid' acres of cotton, according to the calculations of the A.S.C.S.

After hearing the evidence ore tenus, the trial court decreed as follows:

'Wherefore, in consideration of the facts set out above, and of the laws applicable thereto, it is the Opinion of the Court, and it is hereby Ordered, Adjudged and Decreed by the Court that the Plaintiff is estopped from denying that he intended to contract with Defendant to produce an average of 690 pounds per acre; that Plaintiff is therefore bound in Equity, and plaintiff is hereby ordered, to deliver to Defendant a total amount of cotton, amounting to 690 pounds multiplied by 142.6 acres, being 98,494 pounds; that Plaintiff has already delivered to Defendant 67,922 pounds of cotton, leaving a balance of 30,472 pounds of cotton which Plaintiff is hereby ordered to deliver to Defendant; since said cotton is stored at Selma Compress Company, it is further ordered that Selma Compress Company shall deliver said 30,472 pounds of cotton presently held in the name of the Plaintiff, Jake Jewell, to the Defendant, upon payment by Defendant to Selma Compress Company, for the benefit of the Plaintiff, the sum of 35 cents per pound for said 30,472 pounds. If it is necessary to deliver a number of pounds more than 30,472 in order not to split the bales of cotton, in that event the Defendant shall pay the current market price to Selma Compress Company, for the benefit of the Plaintiff, for all cotton included in said final bale which amounts to an excess, in the aggregate, above said 30,472 pounds. The balance of the cotton held by Selma Compress Company and produced by the Plaintiff shall be free of any claim by the Defendant and the Selma Compress Company shall dispose of same as directed by the Plaintiff.'

Regardless of Jewell's denial, we treat the contract as having shown the figures 'I 8' and '690' on the lines under the signatures to have been there when Jewell executed the contact.

We first consider what is plain and undisputed about the contract. The buyer, Jackson & Whitsitt Cotton Co., agreed to pay 35cents per pound for 'all and only the cotton' produced by Jewell on the 142.6 acres which was the amount of his cotton allotment on his homeplace. Jewell did 'practice normal good farming methods' in producing and harvesting the crop, and he produced 143 bales of cotton on the 142.6 acres which were delivered to the Compress Co. to the account of the buyer. It was also undisputed that the 2 and 1 skip row method is a good farming practice, and the production in bales or pounds of cotton therefrom is equal or better than that produced on comparable land in solid rows. It is also undisputed that had Jewell used the solid row...