Western Forest Products Co. v. Woodhead Lumber Co.

This action was brought for the recovery of the sum of $1,889.88, less freight charges, claimed by plaintiff as owing from the defendant for a carload of casing lumber shipped by the plaintiff from its mills in Seattle, Washington, to defendant’s plant in Los Angeles. The answer admitted the receipt of the carload of lumber in question, totaling 28,571 feet, but claimed that the quality of the lumber was not according to agreement, and that by reason of the inferior character of a portion of the lumber, the entire carload was of the reasonable value of only $1,298.77. Judgment, however, went for the plaintiff for the full amount of its claim, and defendant appeals.

It appears that one W. P. Frambes, of the firm of Fletcher & Frambes, who designated himself as a “wholesale commission merchant,” took defendant’s order for a carload of casing lumber which Frambes represented would be delivered to the defendant by the plaintiff company. The order provided that the carload was not to exceed 30,000 feet, of which amount not less that ninety per cent was to be of No. 2 casing lumber, and the balance of No. 3 casing. The price, according to the order, was $66.50 per thousand feet for No.…