Winter Park Tel. Co. v. Southern Bell Tel. & Tel. Co., 12776.
| Decision Date | 07 April 1950 |
| Docket Number | No. 12776.,12776. |
| Citation | 181 F.2d 341 |
| Parties | WINTER PARK TELEPHONE CO. v. SOUTHERN BELL TELEPHONE & TELEGRAPH CO. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
H. M. Voorhis, and W. H. Poe, both of Orlando, Fla., for appellant.
Robert J. Pleus, and Edward J. Gurney, Jr., both of Orlando, Fla., for appellee.
Before WALLER and RUSSELL, Circuit Judges, and DeVANE, District Judge.
The Court below granted a summary judgment in favor of the Plaintiff without making any express findings of fact or conclusions of law.
We are of the opinion that this case is not one that readily lends itself to such a summary disposition.
The facts and circumstances, although in no material dispute as to their actuality, reveal aspects from which inconsistent hypotheses might reasonably be drawn and as to which the minds of reasonable men might differ.
The drawing of inferences and the acceptance of hypotheses arising out of the facts are ordinarily attributes that the judicial process has conferred upon the finder of the facts. For instance, a satisfactory solution of the present case necessarily involves the drawing of some factual deductions by which to answer such questions, and others which might arise upon a full determination of the case, as: Was the contract between Burnett and the Winter Park Telephone Company valid without, or conditioned upon, the approval of the Florida Railroad Commission? Was such an approval a condition precedent or subsequent to the contract for the acquisition of the farmers' telephone line by Winter Park? In view of the provision of the contract purporting to condition same upon the consent of the Plaintiff to permit the continuance of the connections of the farmers' telephone lines to Plaintiff's telephone system, can the Plaintiff, in the absence of showing of such consent, rightfully claim to be a third party beneficiary to such contract? If such contract without the approval of the Railroad Commission was unlawful, can the Plaintiff claim the rights of a third party beneficiary thereunder? Did the facts in the record show the existence of either an express or implied contract between the Plaintiff and the Winter Park Telephone Company entitling the Plaintiff to recover the amount fixed by the judgment? Or, should not the rights of the Plaintiff, under the facts, have been ascertained and measured by the principles relating to: (a) agency; (b) the declaration and enforcement of a constructive trust in order...
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