Southern Pacific Co. v. Hyman-Michaels Co.

The plaintiff, Southern Pacific Company, sued to recover demurrage charges claimed to be due on 365 freight cars containing scrap iron purchased by defendant from plaintiff for overseas shipment. The cause was tried by a jury, and it returned a verdict in favor of the defendant, Plaintiff appeals from the judgment entered upon *759 the verdict and from the order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

The main grounds urged for reversal are that there was no contested issue of fact to be submitted to the determination of the jury; that the evidence established as a matter of law that the demurrage tariffs imposed by plaintiff applied to the factual situation presented, and that therefore the trial court erroneously submitted the cause to the determination of the jury; and that in any event the evidence introduced does not support the verdict. The points made by plaintiff in this behalf are not sustainable.

The circumstances out of which the controversy arises are these: For many years the defendant company was engaged in the business of purchasing large quantities of scrap iron from the western railroads for sale and shipment overseas through the port of San…

I concur. I agree that, if the question presented on this appeal presents a question of fact, the evidence supports the implied finding of the jury that title to these goods did not pass until they were delivered to the Belt Line Railroad. Indeed, in my opinion, a finding to the contrary would not be supported.

As the main opinion points out, appellant urges that the question of when title passed was a question of law and not of fact and should not have been submitted to the jury. There may be merit in this contention. It seems to be the rule that where the construction of a contract is involved, and there is either no extrinsic evidence or such evidence is uncontradicted, the question of construction is one of law. But it does not follow that submitting such a question to the jury was necessarily prejudicial to appellant. Under the circumstances above outlined, it is the duty of the appellate court to interpret the contract independent of the construction given to it by the trier of the fact, and to make a final determination of the controversy in accordance with the applicable principles of law. (Estate of Platt, 21 Cal.2d 343, 352 [ 131 P.2d 825 ].) If this question is one of…

The plaintiff, Southern Pacific Company, sued to recover demurrage charges claimed to be due on 365 freight cars containing scrap iron purchased by defendant from plaintiff for overseas shipment. The cause was tried by a jury, and it returned a verdict in favor of the defendant. Plaintiff appeals from the judgment entered upon the verdict and from the order denying its motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict.

The main grounds urged for reversal are that there was no contested issue of fact to be submitted to the determination of the jury; that the evidence established as a matter of law that the demurrage tariffs imposed by plaintiff applied to the factual situation presented, and that therefore the trial court erroneously submitted the cause to the determination of the jury; and that in any event the evidence introduced does not support the verdict. The points made by plaintiff in this behalf are not sustainable.

The circumstances out of which the controversy arises are these: For many years the defendant company was engaged in the business of purchasing large quantities of scrap iron from the western railroads for sale and shipment overseas through the port…