Keystone Elevator & Warehouse Co. v. Pennsylvania Railroad

Citations

• 246 Pa. 336
• 92 A. 340
• 1914 Pa. LEXIS 516

Syllabus

<p>Contracts — Evidence—Relevancy—Grain elevator companies— Railroads — Oral agreement — Value of services.</p> <p>A railroad company and a grain elevator company entered into an agreement under which the latter performed certain services' in connection with the loading and unloading of cars at its elevator, and the collection of freight charges, for which a reasonable compensation was to be paid by the railroad company. After acting under the agreement for more than a year the parties terminated the agreement by mutual consent. The elevator company demanded for its services thirty-five cents for each ton cf grain handled by it during the existence of the agreement, and offered evidence to show that the services were reasonably worth that amount. Plaintiff’s evidence was uncontradicted, but defendant offered to show that an officer of the plaintiff company owned a large percentage of its stock, that he was also á partner in a firm of grain dealers, and that he was the owner of a patented process for cleaning grain, which netted him large profits. The referee refused to admit the evidence on the ground that such evidence was not relevant in determining the value of the services rendered by the plaintiff and that defendant could not be permitted to go behind the corporate entity of plaintiff company to inquire into the profits derived by stockholders from other sources. Held, the court did not err in dismissing exceptions to the referee’s report and in entering judgment for the plaintiff.</p>