Jones

Action in conversion; plaintiff claimed to be the owner of fourteen tons of raisins grown during 1926 on land owned by one George Betel. These raisins were seized by the defendant sheriff while they were in sweat boxes on the land of Betel; defendant was acting under a writ of attachment in an action entitled Dauer v. Betel, and the raisins were seized as the property of Betel. In April, 1923, Betel had signed a contract with plaintiff’s assignor commonly known as the “raisin contract.”

The first and chief point raised by appellant is that under this instrument the title to the raisins attached by appellant was at that time in Betel, the grower and defendant in the attachment suit, and was not in the plaintiff who recovered judgment for conversion in the trial court.

The contract commenced “Witnesseth: That the buyer (Sun-Maid Raisin Growers, a corporation) does hereby purchase and the seller (Betel) does hereby sell all of the raisin grapes to be produced during the years 1923 to 1937 inclusive ...” It specified how the raisin grapes should be cured and delivered, how and when they should be paid for by the familiar pooling, marketing, and dividend scheme. It contained a…