Lewis v. Kepple

• Decision Date: 28 July 1960
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 15303.
• Citation: 185 F. Supp. 884
• Parties: John L. LEWIS, Henry O. Schmidt and Josephine Roche, as Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, Plaintiffs, v. Glen C. KEPPLE and Henry P. Jarvis, individually and trading as J and K Coal Company, a partnership, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania

185 F. Supp. 884

John L. LEWIS, Henry O. Schmidt and Josephine Roche, as Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund, Plaintiffs, v. Glen C. KEPPLE and Henry P. Jarvis, individually and trading as J and K Coal Company, a partnership, Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 15303.

United States District Court W. D. Pennsylvania.

July 28, 1960.

Alexander Unkovic, Kountz, Fry & Meyer, Pittsburgh, Pa., Charles L. Widman, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs.

J. Lee Miller, Miller & Miller, Pittsburgh, Pa., for defendants.

McILVAINE, District Judge.

Plaintiffs, as Trustees of the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund of 1950 (hereinafter referred to as the "Fund"), filed a complaint against Glen C. Kepple and Henry P. Jarvis, individually and trading as J and K Coal Company, a partnership. The complaint alleged that the defendants were engaged in the operation of certain coal mines, that the defendants and the United Mine Workers of America executed the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1950, the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1950 as amended January 18, 1951, the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1950 as amended September 29, 1952, and the National Bituminous Coal Wage Agreement of 1950 as amended September 1, 1955, that under the terms of those agreements the defendants were required to pay to the Fund the sum of 30 cents for each ton of coal produced for use or sale by the defendants prior to September 30, 1952, and 40 cents per ton for each ton of coal produced for use or sale by the defendant after September 30, 1952, through December 31, 1955. Defendants filed an answer and an amended answer averring that the first three agreements referred to above were not signed by the partners nor by one authorized to sign. Defendants admitted the signing of the 1955 amendment. Defendants further denied in the answer the quantity of coal mined. Defendants also filed a counterclaim and an amendment to counterclaim and demanded judgment for monies paid on account of royalties in the amount of $17,874.78.

The case proceeded to jury trial. The plaintiffs in their case in chief made claim for coal royalties due the United Mine Workers of America Welfare and Retirement Fund from the defendants for the period August 31, 1951, through December 31, 1955. The plaintiffs relied upon four certain contracts referred to above. The contracts provide for the period prior to September 30, 1952, that the defendants pay 30 cents a ton for each ton of coal produced for use or sale and after said date 40 cents a ton for each ton of coal produced for use or sale by the defendants. The defendants in their testimony maintain that they did not sign the 1950 agreement, the 1951 or 1952 amendments, but that these were signed by one Palmer, an employee not in a supervisory capacity and with no authority to execute the contracts. The defendants stated that they had no knowledge of the said contracts until shortly before the bringing of this suit. The defendants through their accountant, Marsh, offered evidence to show payments to the Fund of $20,664.36. The plaintiffs maintained at the trial that the payments by defendants ratified the action of Palmer in signing the contracts and that the defendants did not pay the balance of the money due and owing in the amount of $19,361.25 and, therefore, breached the contract.

The defendants testified that these payments were made under a mistaken belief that a contract that they executed in 1948 with the United Mine Workers was still in effect. The defendants testified that they were never given a copy of this contract, and that they could not get the original from the United Mine Workers as the original was no longer in existence. The defendants did produce what they said was a copy of the type of contract they executed, and which was furnished by an official of the United Mine Workers. This was admitted into evidence over plaintiffs' objection. However, it showed that it terminated on June 30, 1949. The plaintiffs took the position that there never was a 1948 contract.

The jury found that payments were made to the plaintiff, but they were paid by the defendants under a mistaken belief of fact, but that the plaintiffs had so changed their position that defendants were not entitled to restitution.

The plaintiffs now ask this Court to reopen the judgment and direct a verdict in their favor, or in the alternative to grant them a new trial.

Turning first to plaintiffs' contention that a verdict should be directed in their favor, to have done this at the trial or to do this now would mean that we would be taking the case away from the jury. This could be done

"Where plaintiff is clearly entitled to recover and no matter affecting his claim is left in doubt, a verdict for him is properly directed, where no evidence is introduced to disprove his prima facie case." Vol. 9, Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure, § 31.71, p. 340.

"To justify withdrawing a case from the jury, the conclusion must follow as a matter of law that no recovery can be had on any view which can properly be taken of the facts which the evidence tends to prove, and there must be no evidence before the jury, either strong or weak, tending to prove the issue on the part of the one against whom the direction is requested." Vol. 9, Cyclopedia of Federal Procedure, § 31.66, p. 328.

The contracts on which the plaintiffs rely were not executed by either partner or by an agent who was authorized to sign the contracts. They were signd by a handyman employed by defendants. The crucial issue was whether the defendants ever ratified these contracts. The jury was properly instructed on the principles of ratification. The defendants admitted that they made payments, but they contended these were made under a mistaken belief of fact. The jury believed the defendants. We might not have accepted this defense had the Court been the fact-finder, however,

"The focal point of judicial review is the reasonableness of the particular inference or conclusion drawn by the jury. It is the jury, not the court, which is the fact-finding body. It weighs the contradictory evidence and inferences, judges the credibility of witnesses, receives expert instructions, and draws the ultimate conclusion as to the facts. The very essence of its function is to select from among conflicting inferences and conclusions that which it considers most reasonable. Washington & Georgetown R. Co. v. McDade, 135 U.S. 554, 571, 572 10 S.Ct. 1044, 1049, 34 L.Ed. 235; Tiller v. Atlantic Coast Line R. Co., supra, 318 U.S. 54 68 63 S.Ct. 444, 87 L.Ed. 610; Bailey v. Central Vermont Ry., 319 U.S. 350, 353, 354 63 S.Ct. 1062, 1064, 87 L.Ed. 1444. That conclusion, whether it relates to negligence, causation or any other factual matter, cannot be ignored. Courts are not free to reweigh the evidence and set aside the jury verdict merely because the jury could have drawn different inferences or conclusions or because judges feel that other results are more

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