Knapp v. Imperial Oil & Gas Products Co.

• Decision Date: 27 August 1942
• Docket Number: No. 4935.,4935.
• Parties: KNAPP v. IMPERIAL OIL & GAS PRODUCTS CO.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

130 F.2d 1 (1942)

KNAPP v. IMPERIAL OIL & GAS PRODUCTS CO.

No. 4935.

Circuit Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

August 27, 1942.

Thomas J. Davis and Samuel A. Powell, both of Harrisville, W. Va., for appellant.

J. Campbell Palmer, III, of Charleston, W. Va. (Koontz & Koontz and W. W. Goldsmith, all of Charleston, W. Va., Shotwell & Brown, of Monroe, La., and John P. Hickey, of Pittsburgh, Pa., on the brief), for appellee.

Before PARKER, SOPER, and DOBIE, Circuit Judges.

SOPER, Circuit Judge.

This suit was brought by W. A. Knapp, a citizen of Texas, against Imperial Oil & Gas Products Company, a West Virginia corporation, to recover the sum of $25,000 alleged to be due him under two verbal contracts between him and the company. In his complaint he charged, first, that in the early part of 1932 it was verbally agreed between him and the company, acting through Joseph Hartman, its president, that the company would pay him a royalty or bonus of ½¢ per pound on all the Kohinoor carbon black manufactured by it at its plant at Sterlington, Louisiana, the payments to continue as long as the black should be made by the company. Knapp was superintendent of the plant from March, 1929 to July 1, 1937 at a regular salary which ranged from $300 to $434 per month. He alleged in his complaint that he was promised the additional payments in lieu of an increase in his fixed monthly salary and in consideration of the benefits accruing to the company from his success in producing this particular grade of carbon black at a lower cost than the company had been previously able to do, and in consideration of a continuation of his efforts on the company's behalf; and that in accordance with this agreement payments were in fact made in the aggregate sum of $4922.91 for the period beginning September 1, 1931 and ending April 30, 1937.

Secondly, he alleged that he continued his efforts in the employ of the company and succeeded in producing other high grade carbon blacks at lower costs than the company's competitors could achieve; and that in March, 1934, he and the president of the company, acting on its behalf, entered into a second verbal agreement under which the company promised to pay him a similar royalty or bonus of ½¢ per pound on all the high grade carbon blacks manufactured at its Sterlington plant from the time he became superintendent thereof, that is, on the blacks known as Kohinoor, Intenso, Supertone, Blacktoner, Eureka and Imperial 50; and that this agreement was made in consideration of his efforts on the company's behalf and the benefits that had resulted and would result therefrom, and in lieu of an increase in his regular monthly salary. He further charged that the company thereafter continued to pay him the agreed royalty on the Kohinoor black, but failed to pay him the royalty on the other blacks for the reason that he refused to sign a written contract submitted to him by the president of the company on March 23, 1934, which did not properly set out the terms of the oral contract; and that this practice continued up to and including the month of April, 1937, and that he was discharged from the company's employ on July 1, 1937. It is conceded that in 1934 Knapp was dissatisfied with tentative arrangements that had been made for the distribution of business amongst the manufacturers of carbon black, including the defendant company, under the National Recovery Administration, and, therefore, additional conversations in respect to bonus payments took place in March of that year. These, in substance, were the allegations of the bill of complaint and of evidence offered by the plaintiff in support thereof.

The company in its answer conceded that the defendant was successful in producing certain grades of carbon black as the combined result of the services and efforts of its employees engaged in the manufacture of carbon blacks at the Sterlington plant, and that it was the plaintiff's duty as superintendent of the plant to use his best efforts to produce such grades and qualities of goods as were required in the business. But the defendant denied the making of the verbal agreements of 1932 and 1934, as alleged in the complaint. The defendant alleged that in 1931 the president of the company stated to the plaintiff that if he would manufacture a grade of Kohinoor black equal to that formerly made at the company's plant at Hannahdale, West Virginia, the company would give him something of value; and that upon being informed that the plaintiff had succeeded in making the black, the president of the company stated to him that he would give him as a bonus or gratuity for his services rendered and to be rendered as superintendent of the Sterlington plant, ½¢ per pound on all the Kohinoor black manufactured and sold from the plant as long as the plaintiff remained in its employ and cooperated with the officers of the company, until the plaintiff had been paid a respectable or substantial sum.

With respect to the verbal agreement alleged by the plaintiff to have been made in March, 1934, the defendant alleged that its president stated to the plaintiff that it desired to enter into a contract with the plaintiff for the payment of a bonus or gratuity for the services of the plaintiff to be thereafter rendered; that the details of the proposed agreement were not definitely fixed, and later, on March 23, 1934, the president wrote a letter to the plaintiff enclosing a form of written contract embodying the terms upon which the defendant was willing to pay a bonus in addition to the plaintiff's salary for further services. Under this draft the defendant company promised as long as the plaintiff remained in its employ as superintendent of the Sterlington plant to pay him ½¢ per pound on all the carbon blacks manufactured and sold after January 1, 1934, of the qualities known as Kohinoor, Intenso, Supertone and Imperial 50, provided the plaintiff would confirm an agreement entered into between the parties on June 24, 1931 in which the plaintiff agreed that he would not during his employment with the company or afterward, without the consent of the defendant, disclose to any persons any trade or other secret relating to the manufacturing processes of the company. But the plaintiff refused to execute the proposed agreement and therefore there never had been a fixed agreement between the parties with reference to any further bonus or gratuity. These, in substance, were the allegations of the answer to the complaint, and of the evidence offered by the defendant in support thereof.

The District Judge heard the evidence, sitting as a court without a jury, and entered a judgment for the defendant. The judge made no detailed findings of fact but stated...