Southern Bauxite Co. v. Brown-Pearson Cash Feed Store

• Decision Date: 15 November 1926
• Docket Number: 256
• Citation: 288 S.W. 377,172 Ark. 117
• Parties: SOUTHERN BAUXITE COMPANY v. BROWN-PEARSON CASH FEED STORE
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

288 S.W. 377

172 Ark. 117

SOUTHERN BAUXITE COMPANY v. BROWN-PEARSON CASH FEED STORE

No. 256

Supreme Court of Arkansas

November 15, 1926

Appeal from Saline Circuit Court; Thomas E. Toler, Judge; affirmed.

STATEMENT BY THE COURT.

Brown-Pearson Cash Feed Store, a corporation, sued the Southern Bauxite Company, a corporation, to recover the sum of $ 655.62 for merchandise alleged to have been sold to the defendant. The defendant denied that it was indebted to the plaintiff, and denied that it purchased any of the merchandise in question from the plaintiff.

Chester Carter, the manager of the Brown-Pearson Cash Feed Store at Benton, Arkansas, was the principal witness for the plaintiff. In June, 1924, Clem Gaunt, who was working for the Southern Bauxite Company, came into the store of the plaintiff and wanted to buy some feed, and proposed to start an account. Carter agreed to sell him some feed for the plaintiff, and also agreed upon the price of the feed. The first order was delivered by the plaintiff to the defendant on June 25, 1924. Payments were made every three or four days at first, and then it was agreed between the parties that payments should be made every two weeks.

About two weeks after the first order was delivered by the plaintiff to the defendant, Carter went back to the store of the defendant for the purpose of selling it some oats and also a mixed feed called Omalene. Gaunt told him that J. J Ferrell was coming down there to take charge of their mules and was also going to bring some more mules. Gaunt said that Ferrell would need some feed for his mules, and that "we [referring to the defendant] will feed them and will get what he wants." Again, Carter was asked what Gaunt said about feeding Ferrell's mules, and said: "He said, send this feed on the bill as the rest, but write under it 'By J. J. Ferrell,' what he gets, and that is the way I have done it all. If I sent them bills, I would send them to the Southern Bauxite Company, by J. J. Ferrell." Carter further stated that he did this under the instruction of Clem Gaunt, who was working for the defendant.

Payments were made from time to time until November 10, 1924. At this time the sum of $ 655.62 was the balance due plaintiff for the feed furnished. Gaunt, at that time, notified the plaintiff not to furnish any more feed, and no items were furnished after that except upon a special order, which was paid by the defendant.

On cross-examination, Carter was asked if Clem Gaunt did not tell him that the defendant was going to sell its teams to Ferrell, and that the plaintiff could get his business just as it had been selling to the defendant, and he answered "Well, Clem told me they were going to sell to them. I said, 'You will stand good for the feed?' and he said, 'Yes, run it through just like it had been.'" Later on he stated, on cross-examination that he understood that he was selling the feed in question to the Southern Bauxite Company, and did not understand that he was selling the feed to Ferrell. When payments were made on the account, he supposed that they were made by the defendant.

Another salesman, who represented the manufacturer of the Omalene feed, was present when Carter and Gaunt had the conversation about the plaintiff furnishing feed to Ferrell and charging the same to the defendant, and corroborated the testimony of Carter. He said that the sale was made to the Southern Bauxite Company, and that the negotiation took place with Clem Gaunt, the bookkeeper.

J. J Ferrell was also a witness for the plaintiff. According to his testimony, he carried seventeen or eighteen mules with him and took over eighteen mules from the Southern Bauxite Company when he went to work for it. He executed a mortgage to the Southern Bauxite Company for the mules purchased from it. When his feed would run out, the Southern Bauxite Company would order feed for him with its own feed. Ferrell never had any transactions with the plaintiff.

Clem Gaunt was the principal witness for the defendant. According to his testimony, he was the defendant's bookkeeper, and purchased some feed from the plaintiff for the defendant in June, 1924. About the first of June, 1924, the defendant sold its mules to J. J. Ferrell, and did not buy any more feed from the plaintiff. Gaunt told Carter that Ferrell had purchased the mules from the defendant, and was going to get out ore for it. He further told Carter that he would deduct the price of any feed that Ferrell might buy from the plaintiff from his pay. He denied that he agreed with Carter that the feed which should be furnished by the plaintiff to Ferrell should be charged to the defendant. He said that he had no authority to make such an agreement and no authority to buy feed, except such authority as was given him by the manager of the company. He admitted that the feed which he had bought in June from the plaintiff for the defendant was purchased by the authority of the defendant.

Other evidence was introduced by both parties, but the above is sufficient to show the issues raised by the appeal. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, and from the judgment rendered the defendant has duly prosecuted an appeal to this court.

Judgment affirmed.

Brouse & McDaniel, for appellant.

W. A. Utley, for appellee.

OPINION

HART, J., (after stating the facts).

It is earnestly insisted by counsel for the defendant that the evidence is not legally sufficient to support the verdict.

Counsel first insist that the evidence is not sufficient to show that Gaunt had any authority to act for the defendant in the purchase of the feed in question. According to the testimony of Carter, Gaunt had been working for the defendant about two months before it opened any account with the plaintiff. Gaunt was known as the bookkeeper of the defendant, and acted for it in opening an account for the purchase of feed in the month of June, 1924. Gaunt admitted that he bought the items on the account in June, 1924, and that he had authority from the defendant to make the purchase. He said, however, that he had special authority from the manager of the company to make the purchase. According to his testimony, he never authorized the plaintiff to furnish feed to Ferrell and charge the same to the plaintiff. According to the testimony of Carter, he did make such an agreement. The jury found in favor of the plaintiff and, by its verdict, accepted the testimony of Carter as true. This would make a case where the undisputed evidence shows that Gaunt had the authority to open an account with the plaintiff for the purchase of mule feed from it. The defendant sold its mules to Ferrell about the first of July, 1924. The plaintiff continued to furnish feed to Ferrell, and charged the same to the defendant by Ferrell. This was pursuant to an agreement between Carter and Gaunt according to the testimony of the former. Under these circumstances, the jury might have...