California Cotton Cooperative Ass'n v. Byrne

GRIFFIN, J. This is an action to recover $4,573.31. The complaint contains six separate causes of action. The last five of these were based on accounts stated. The first cause of action was based on a course of conduct between appellant and respondent in connection with contracts of sale between them covering sales of several lots of cotton aggregating about 1,600 bales, out of which course of conduct appellant claims in the last five causes of action that there arose accounts stated. The respondent’s answer contains denials as to all of appellant’s causes of action. The issues went to trial before the court without a jury and resulted in a judgment in favor of defendant and respondent. From this judgment appellant has taken this appeal.

The trial court found generally that in September, 1940, the appellant and respondent entered into an oral agreement under the terms of which they agreed, during the cotton season of 1940-1941, that the respondent would sell to appellant strict middling 1% inch cotton for 10c per pound and [342]bright middling 1% inch cotton for 9.85c per pound, and that the grade and staple of the cotton agreed to be sold could vary between strict middling 1% inch to bright middling 1% inch; that respondent delivered to appellant 2,603 bales of cotton ranging from strict middling 1% inch to bright middling 1% inch, and that appellant accepted 1,007 bales thereof; that after the agreement was entered into the market price of strict middling 1% inch cotton and bright middling V/s inch cotton dropped considerably below the contract price and that by reason of the dropping of the market price the appellant arbitrarily rejected 1,596 bales of the cotton delivered to it. The court then found that the appellant had not suffered any damages as a result of any act of the respondent and that there were no accounts stated between them.

Appellant contends, mainly, that there is no substantial evidence justifying the finding of the trial court. It is argued that there was no substantial evidence to show that there was any drop in the market or that the rejection of the cotton by appellant was arbitrary. The evidence does show that respondent had been engaged in the business of buying and selling cotton for over thirty years and was an experienced judge of the quality and staple of cotton. It was orally agreed that respondent would sell cotton to the appellant at the price set forth in the findings. Appellant company, under the agreement, was to grade, in accordance with the custom, the cotton so sold, for the purpose of fixing the price to be paid by it. The method of measuring the length of the cotton which was pulled from each side of the bale was not by any measuring device but by running the cotton through the classifier’s fingers to determine its length. It was testified that this was the customary method used and that classifiers become so expert they can tell its exact length in this manner. Many bales were rejected by appellant because it was claimed by it that the length of the cotton was 1/32 of an inch off of the specifications called for in the contract.