Platt v. Union Packing Co.

WHITE, J.

This action was brought to recover damages for an alleged breach by defendant, a corporation, of a contract to purchase cattle. Judgment passed for plaintiff and defendant appeals.

Plaintiff based his right of action upon an oral agreement claimed to have been made with defendant through its agents, under the terms of which the defendant agreed to purchase approximately 350 head of steers at an agreed price of $8.50 per hundredweight, which would aggregate about $30,000. The agreement allegedly was entered into on May 13, 1935, at a time when the cattle were being fed for market by plaintiff at the Anderson ranch near Chandler, Arizona, and were in charge of plaintiff’s son for the purpose of sale. On May 15, 1935, fifty-six head of steers were shipped to defendant and paid for at the price of $8.50 per hundredweight, while on June 17th two additional carloads were likewise shipped to defendant and paid for as in the first instance. On June 20th defendant corporation advised plaintiff that it would not take the remainder of the steers at the price of $8.50 per hundredweight. Plaintiff recovered

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judgment for damages for breach of the contract to take the 237 additional head of cattle. The court awarded damages upon the theory that the breach of the contract occurred on June 20, 1935.

Stating the facts most favorably to plaintiff, as we must do when the findings are in his favor, the circumstances attendant upon the making of the agreement in question were substantially as follows: For some years plaintiff had been a cattle raiser and -feeder in Arizona, while defendant corporation was engaged in the business of dressing and packing meat, in connection with which it purchased cattle. Adolph Miller was president and general manager of defendant corporation, and Nate Miller, his son, was employed as a cattle buyer. Tom King was a commission buyer operating out of Phoenix, Arizona, and on previous occasions had purchased cattle for defendant, the latter of whom had provided King with printed forms of draft upon which he was denominated “purchasing agent” and which he used as a medium of payment for cattle purchased by him in behalf of defendant. The relationship of Tom King and Nate Miller with defendant was known to plaintiff and his son and agent, Harvey Platt. In the month of May, 1935, defendant, through its general manager, advised Tom King of the need for some fed steers, and in connection therewith Nate Miller went to Arizona, where he joined King, and the two of them, on May 13th, inspected the plaintiff’s steers at the Anderson ranch. Upon that occasion inquiry was made by King and Miller as to the price wanted for the steers, how they would be shipped, and the length of time that would be given defendant to take the cattle. Plaintiff’s son and agent informed King and Miller that the price would be $8.50 per hundredweight, f. o. b. shipping point, with a four per cent deduction of weight for shrinkage, and that plaintiff would give defendant thirty days within which to take the cattle. Upon objection of King and Miller to the condition of some of the steers, it was agreed that one steer would be excluded, thus leaving 351 head to be shipped. On the evening of that day Nate Miller communicated by telephone with his father, defendant’s president and general manager, advising the latter that he had bought for defendant corporation the 351 head of plaintiff’s steers upon the terms hereinbefore set forth; and on the following day King discussed the purchase with the