United States v. Skolness
| Decision Date | 14 June 1960 |
| Docket Number | No. 16277,16278.,16277 |
| Citation | 279 F.2d 350 |
| Parties | UNITED STATES of America, Appellant, v. Arthur L. SKOLNESS, also known as Art Skolness, Appellee (two cases). |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit |
Connor F. Schmid, Asst. U. S. Atty., St. Paul, Minn., Fallon Kelly, U. S. Atty., St. Paul, Minn., Connor F. Schmid, St. Paul, Minn., on the brief, for appellant.
Gaylord A. Saetre, Moorhead, Minn., for appellee.
Before GARDNER, WOODROUGH, and VOGEL, Circuit Judges.
This was an action brought by the United States on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation to recover the balance due on a loan under the so-called 1954 Barley Loan and Purchase Agreement Program of the Commodity Credit Corporation, 7 U.S.C.A. § 1032. The principal amount of the loan was $12,889.32. The note was secured by a chattel mortgage covering 11,612 bushels of barley raised by defendant in 1954 and stored in a new granary constructed by the defendant on his farm during the summer of 1954, specifically for the purpose of storing grain under the farm storage program of the Commodity Credit Corporation. The loan agreement between defendant and the Commodity Credit Corporation contained an optional provision which granted defendant the right either to pay the loan in cash or, in lieu thereof, to deliver the mortgaged barley to the Commodity Credit Corporation at an agreed price of $1.11 a bushel. After the barley was stored in defendant's granary it developed that it was heating. This condition was reported by defendant to the proper representative of Commodity Credit Corporation. In order to remedy this situation it was proposed to remove part of the barley to a commercial facility authorized to receive grain for the Commodity Credit Corporation. Defendant then removed some 8,200 bushels of the barley and delivered it to the Fargo Grain Terminal at Fargo, North Dakota. The Fargo Grain Terminal collapsed on June 12, 1955 and the owner thereof failed to account for the barley to either the Commodity Credit Corporation or to defendant. Pursuant to authority of the Commodity Credit Corporation defendant, subsequent to the collapse of the Fargo Grain Terminal elevator, delivered 4,067.44 bushels of barley and received credit therefor on his loan at the rate specified in his loan agreement.
It was defendant's contention on the trial of the action that he was also entitled to credit on his loan for the 8,200 bushels delivered to the Fargo Grain Terminal. The plaintiff, however, contended that defendant had made an absolute sale of the 8,200 bushels of barley to the Fargo Grain Terminal and this was the issue of fact before the trial court. The court decided this issue in favor of the defendant and entered judgment dismissing plaintiff's complaint. The issue as to whether defendant had delivered the 8,200 bushels of barley to the Fargo Grain Terminal for storage for the Commodity Credit Corporation, or had made sale thereof on his own account as he was entitled to do under his loan agreement, was hotly contested and there was considerable conflict in the evidence and both parties relied to a considerable extent on the attending circumstances as proof of the divergent contentions of the parties.
The specific findings assailed are to the effect that defendant was given oral instructions by a representative of the Commodity Credit Corporation to deliver the grain to any authorized grain storage facility willing and available to receive the grain on behalf of the Commodity Credit Corporation and that thereafter defendant delivered to the Fargo Grain Terminal, an authorized grain warehouse facility, 8,246 bushels and 38 pounds, gross amount, of said barley; that said delivery was made with the knowledge and consent of the authorized representative of the Commodity Credit Corporation. The court concluded as a matter of law:
On appeal, plaintiff contends, first, that the findings of the court are not sustained by substantial evidence and, second, that the court committed prejudicial error in excluding from evidence Exhibit 15 offered by the plaintiff.
The findings of the court are presumptively correct and may not be set aside unless unsupported by substantial evidence, induced by an...
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