Huber Tool Works, Inc. v. Marchant Calculators, Inc.

SALSMAN, J. Plaintiff obtained a judgment against the defendant for a balance due on a contract and defendant appeals.

In 1958, the defendant was developing a new invoicing machine. There was some urgency involved in its completion and defendant asked various suppliers, among them plaintiff, to inspect drawings and blueprints and to make and manufacture only such parts as each of the suppliers could deliver within a deadline date fixed on each drawing. Nothing was said by either plaintiff or defendant concerning the price to be paid for the parts to be manufactured. By agreement plaintiff took a number of blueprints and began the manufacture of parts for defendant’s machine. As work was completed, plaintiff would ship the completed parts to defendant [824]and then submit an invoice to defendant on a “time and materials” basis. Defendant paid five such invoices, but did not pay the remainder as submitted, because in defendant’s judgment the prices charged were unreasonable. Defendant did not notify plaintiff to stop work, however, but rather accepted and used all parts manufactured and shipped by plaintiff. The trial court entered its judgment in favor of plaintiff for the full amount of plaintiff’s demand.

Defendant complains on this appeal of the trial court’s failure to grant a motion for a nonsuit. The rules relating to nonsuits are well known and have often been defined in the case law of this State. A typical example is the ease of Raber v. Tumin, 36 Cal.2d 654, 656 [226 P.2d 574], where it is said: “The granting of a motion for nonsuit is warranted ‘. . . when, and only when, disregarding conflicting evidence, and giving plaintiff’s evidence all the value to which it is legally entitled, indulging in every legitimate inference which may be drawn from that evidence, the result is a determination that there is no evidence of sufficient substantiality to support a verdict in favor of the plaintiff.’ ” (See also Card v. Boms, 210 Cal. 200 [291 P. 190] ; Estate of Lances, 216 Cal. 397 [14 P.2d 768]; 2 Witkin, Cal. Procedure, § 126, p. 1858.) Moreover, when the motion for a nonsuit is made and denied and the defendant then proceeds with his case, if the judgment thereafter entered is supported by substantial evidence, regardless of which party produced the evidence, the order denying the motion for a nonsuit will not be disturbed on appeal. (See Handley v. Capital Co., 152 Cal.App.2d 758, 764-765 [313 P.2d 918] ; Lowe v. San Francisco etc. Ry. Co., 154 Cal. 573-576 [98 P. 678].) Here defendant does not seriously contend that plaintiff is not entitled to some payment for the parts manufactured for and accepted and used by defendant. Defendant’s real contention is that the trial court allowed more than the reasonable value of the materials and parts supplied. The evidence before the trial court showed that plaintiff was entitled to some recovery and hence the denial of defendant’s motion for a nonsuit was entirely proper.