Westbrook Grain & Milling Co. v. Johnson

• Decision Date: 13 May 1918
• Docket Number: (No. 359.)
• Citation: 203 S.W. 1032
• Parties: WESTBROOK GRAIN & MILLING CO. v. JOHNSON et al.
• Court: Arkansas Supreme Court

203 S.W. 1032

WESTBROOK GRAIN & MILLING CO. v. JOHNSON et al.

(No. 359.)

Supreme Court of Arkansas.

May 13, 1918.

Appeal from Circuit Court, Chicot County; Turner Butler, Judge.

Action by the Westbrook Grain & Milling Company against Walter L. Johnson, with garnishment against W. H. Sherrick. Judgment for plaintiff upon verdict assessing damages at $1. Plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.

William Kirten, of Lake Village, for appellant. J. R. Parker, of Lake Village, for appellees.

WOOD, J.

On February 16, 1917, Walter L. Johnson sold to the Westbrook Grain & Milling Company of Pine Bluff 140 tons of sample grade hay at $10 per ton, to be delivered at Pine Bluff, and to be shipped as fast as possible. Johnson delivered 64 tons of hay on the contract, and failed to deliver the remaining 76 tons. The Westbrook Grain & Milling Company, hereafter designated as appellant, brought this action against Johnson, hereafter designated appellee and had a writ of garnishment issued against W. H. Sherrick. Appellant alleged that the hay was worth $16 per ton in Pine Bluff at the time appellee breached his contract, which the testimony showed was on the 28th day of April, 1917. The garnishee answered, admitting debt to Johnson in the sum of $456. Appellee answered, admitting the contract, and that he had failed to deliver 76 tons of hay, but denied that the appellant was compelled to pay $16 per ton, and denied that the hay which appellee contracted to deliver to appellant was worth $16 per ton at Pine Bluff at the time of appellee's failure to perform his contract. He stated that the hay that he contracted to deliver to appellant was very poor grade, and that he sold the balance of the hay in Greenville, Miss., at $8 per ton. He denied that appellant was damaged in the sum of $6 per ton or in any sum.

Howell Westbrook testified that he owned the Westbrook Grain & Milling Company; that he was forced to go into the open market at Pine Bluff and buy 76 tons of the same kind of hay that appellee had contracted to deliver; and that he paid therefor the sum of $16 per ton. Appellant was therefore damaged by the failure of the appellee to perform his contract in the sum of $456.

Appellee testified, over the objection of the appellant, that hay of the kind he contracted to deliver to appellant was of such poor grade that he could not find a buyer for such hay in Greenville at any price. He went to Vicksburg and sold the hay at $8 per ton about the 28th of April. The freight on the hay to Vicksburg was $2 per ton, so the price on the hay the latter part of April was $10 per ton in Vicksburg. He testified that he was unable to perform his contract because he could not get the hay to the shipping point for Pine Bluff on account of the bad roads. The hay was such poor grade that it had no real commercial grade...