Pacific Coast Elevator Co. v. Bravinder

Citations

• 14 Wash. 315
• 44 P. 544
• 1896 Wash. LEXIS 367

Syllabus

<p>CONSTRUCTION OF CONTRACT OF SALE — PERFORMANCE — BURDEN OF PROOF — PARTIAL ACCEPTANCE — EVIDENCE — TECHNICAL WORDS — ADMISSIBILITY OF SAMPLES IN EVIDENCE.</p> <p>A contract between an elevator company and a wheat dealer whereby the company “ agrees and hereby sells ” a certain quantity of wheat at their warehouse, “all of which is to be delivered and paid for in thirty days from date of sale, and in case such delivery is not made [the purchaser] agrees to pay 15c per ton per month and 10 per cent, interest per annum on such amounts as remain undelivered,” constitutes an agreement to sell and not a present sale.</p> <p>In an action to recover the difference between the contract and the market price of wheat, which the purchaser has refused to accept on the ground that it was not merchantable as stipulated for by the contract, the burden of proof is upon the plaintiff to show that it had offered to deliver the kind of wheat called for by tbe contract.</p> <p>Where a contract has been made for the purchase of a quantity of wheat from an elevator company, a partial acceptance, before the quality of the wheat was discovered, would not show an acceptance of the whole quantity contracted for, nor an acknowledgment that the balance was of the required quality.</p> <p>Evidence by farmers who had sold grain to an elevator company, that their grain was of a good quality, and that so far as they knew there was very little shriveled wheat in the vicinity, is insufficient to show the quality of wheat in the warehouse, when large quantities of wheat had been received into the warehouse of which they knew nothing, and a large quantity had also been shipped therefrom.</p> <p>An agreement in a contract for the purchase of wheat to accept local “ weights and grades,” does not bind the purchaser to the grades established by the seller, when there are other wheat warehouses in the locality.</p> <p>In an action to recover upon a contract for the sale of wheat, which provided that the