W. J. Latchford Co. (A Corporation) v. Southern California Gas Co. (A Corporation)

In an action upon a contract pursuant to which fuel was alleged to have been furnished at a rate in excess of the schedule price chargeable in such cases, judgment was rendered in favor of the defendant upon the pleadings. The plaintiff appealed.

The appellant's contract required, and it paid for some years, at the rate of twenty-six cents for natural gas furnished by the respondent. The complaint alleges that the respondent represented through its agent, who was clothed with authority to act for his principal, that the buyer was not entitled to nor eligible for a lower rate, and that a lower rate could not and would not be allowed; that said representations were false, were known to the defendant to have been made by said agent, and that they were known to be false and fraudulent, and were made with intent to deceive and defraud the plaintiff; that the plaintiff was entitled to the lower rate, and that the defendant knew that the latter rate was available to the plaintiff. Judgment was demanded for the difference between the alleged proper rate and the amount which had been paid. By the terms of said contract it was agreed: “All terms and stipulations heretofore made and agreed…