El Dorado Terminal Co. v. General American Tank Car Corp.

This is an appeal from a judgment denying to appellant, plaintiff below, recovery of moneys collected by the appel-lee, defendant below, as agent for appellant, from several interstate railways.

The case is at law, the jury was waived and the court based its judgment against appellant El Dorado Terminal Company, hereinafter referred to as the El Dorado Company on special findings and its conclusions of law.

The El Dorado Oil Works, a corporation owning and operating a vegetable oil refining plant at Berkeley, California, entered into a leasing contract with the ap-pellee General American Tank Car Cox- *906 poration, hereinafter referred to as the Car Corporation. The Car Corporation leased to the El Dorado Oil Works for three years, from January 1, 1934, 50 specialized coiled tank - cars for the carriage of the Oil Works’ vegetable oil. The rental for the cars was payable monthly. In the neighborhood of 99 percent of-the Oil Works’ product is so carried over one or another of three transcontinental railways, into interstate commerce from its Berkeley plant.

The lease was assigned by the Oil Works to the appellant El Dorado Company, the former’s wholly owned subsidiary, which.…