199 A.D. 719 | N.Y. App. Div. | 1922
This action is on an assigned claim of the E. C. Mills Leather Company, a Massachusetts corporation, and is predicated on a contract, evidenced by a written confirmation by defendants under date of March 13, 1917, and a formal acceptance thereof by the assignor, for the sale of 18,000 green calfskins by defendants to the assignor and is brought to recover the purchase price paid by the assignor for part of the hides which were lost while in the possession of the French Line as the ocean carrier after delivery thereof to it at the port of Havre, France, and before it delivered the hides to the assignor at New York.
Defendants were engaged in business in the cities of New
“ Remarks: We are not responsible for any delay in arrival of vessel or vessels carrying these goods. If same should be lost, this contract to be null and void so far as regards any undelivered portion. This contract to be void so far as any undelivered portion • or its entirety is concerned if delivery or deliveries are prevented by war, revolution, blockade, strikes, prohibition of export and/or other causes of force majeure and/or consequences thereof or any unforeseen circumstances beyond our control. No claim under this contract can be recognized, unless made within 10 days after arrival, and, in case of disagreement, same to be settled amicably, or, failing so, by arbitration. In no case can the goods be left for sellers account.”
It was not shown in the testimony or stated in 'the points or on the argument whether in making the contract a printed blank was used; but deeming that this might be important we sent for and examined the contract introduced in evidence; and it appears thereby that a printed blank bearing the letterhead of the defendants was used, and that all material provisions of the contract preceding the paragraph headed, “ Remarks ” was in typewriting written on the blank, and that the word “ Remarks ” and the paragraph following, which has beep quoted, were printed.
On the date of the contract and as therein provided, the assignor caused a letter of credit to be issued by Brown Bros, of Boston in favor of the defendants in Paris, “ by the terms of which drafts for said shipment were to be drawn at 90 days sight against cost of merchandise, insurance, including war risk, freight charges, and bill of lading to accompany the draft,” and on that day defendants at New York notified their Paris house thereof by cable. On receiving the first shipping receipt or bill of lading from Ramsay’s on the fifteenth of March, defendants at Paris drew their draft on Brown Bros, for the amount of the invoice of goods so shipped to the order of Lehideux & Co., bankers in Paris, at ninety days’ sight, and delivered the same together with the Ramsay bill of lading indorsed by them in blank to Lehideux & Co., who discounted the draft and paid the proceeds thereof to the defendants. On the same day defendants forwarded from Paris to the assignor their invoice for the goods so shipped with a letter stating that they had drawn their ninety days’ draft against the letter of credit for the amount of the invoice. On the 7th of April, 1917, which was before the steamer arrived, Lehideux & Co., through New York bankers, caused to be presented to Brown Bros, the draft, the Ramsay bill of lading and consular invoice, and Brown Bros, accepted the draft and
Answering the complaint for repayment of the amount paid as the purchasing price of the skins which were lost, the defendants contend that title passed to the assignor on delivery of the skins to Ramsay’s Foreign Service and that from that time the risk was with the assignor; and they also allege, in effect, an accord and satisfaction by an assignment of° any claim they may have had against the French Line to and an acceptance thereof by the assignor. The facts upon which that defense is predicated have no bearing on the cause of action with respect to the second shipment, for they relate only to a claim made by the defendants against the French Line on account of the first shipment. On the 21st of November, 1917, the attorneys for the assignor wrote the defendants that the assignor had placed in -their hands the claim for the shortage of the forty bundles of skins, saying that they understood that the defendants had presented to the French Line a claim covering the goods and that it had been approved but not yet paid, and that, inasmuch as the proceeds of the claim should ultimately be turned over to the assignor, they asked for a letter from the defendants to the French Line requesting that payment be made to the assignor; but they therein stated that it must be understood that such request was not to be deemed a waiver of any claim which the assignor had against the defendants; and on the thirtieth of the same month the attorneys again wrote, the defendants, referring to their letter of the twenty-first and stating that they had received no acknowledgment or reply, and asking for a statement of the attitude of the defendants in the premises. The defendants answered both letters December first, stating that the matter was in the hands of their attorney, who had been absent, but would
It was stipulated that prior to the commencement of the action, the E. C. Mills Leather Company duly assigned each
Defendants called their general manager, who testified that c. i. f. meant the cost of the invoice, insurance against marine perils and the payment of freight, and that when a bill of lading is delivered showing that a certain quantity of goods had been forwarded, that the freight has been prepaid, and an insurance certificate showing that insurance against marine perils has been paid is also delivered, the shipper has performed his part of the contract. In the discussion between the court and counsel which then followed, counsel for the defendants claimed that upon the delivery to Brown Bros, of the bill of lading, the title to the goods passed to the assignor. It does not appear that plaintiff made any claim that a certificate of insurance was not obtained or delivered at the same time or that by a failure to deliver a certificate of insurance, defendants were not entitled to the benefit of the contract as a c. i. f. contract. The record only shows that plaintiff claimed that the French Line bilí of lading should have been delivered and that title to the goods did not pass to the assignor until its delivery and until it had possession of the muniments of title, which he claimed was not until after the goods had arrived and the loss had been sustained. ■
The president of the assignor was called by the plaintiff and testified that he was not aware as to whether there was a practice or custom by which the French Line would, on the Bamsay bill of lading, without production of its own bill of lading, deliver the goods so shipped, where, as here, with respect to the first shipment, the French Line bill of lading contained a notation that the goods were to be weighed at New York under the supervision of the shipper. A representative of Hull & Co., the customs brokers, called by the defendants, testified that the United States customs authorities did not enter goods on a Bamsay bill of lading, and that when his firm receives such a bill of lading it is taken to the French Line, and there a French Line bill of lading is filled out and used to make the entry, and if the French Line does not happen to have a bill of lading, they stamp a notation on the Bamsay bill of lading which answers the purpose, and on a Bamsay bill of lading so stamped, the goods are thus obtainable without
The learned counsel for the appellant urges three points as grounds for reversal, viz.: (1) That in the circumstances the order on the French Line delivered by the defendants to the assignor, which has not been returned, constituted an accord and satisfaction; (2) that this was a c. i. f. contract and, therefore, upon the delivery of the documents to Brown Bros., title passed to the buyer and it assumed all risk as of the time of the delivery of the goods to the carrier; and (3) that if the defendants, owing to their failure to deliver the French Line bills of lading to Brown Bros, on presentation of the drafts are not entitled to have the contract deemed a c. i. f. contract, in any event, title passed to the buyer on the delivery of the Ramsay bills of lading to Lehideux & Co., when the drafts were discounted, for presentation of the drafts and delivery of the bills of lading to Brown Bros, or upon presentation of the drafts and delivery of the Ramsay bills of lading to Brown Bros.
As already observed, the alleged accord and satisfaction relates only to the first shipment; but even as to that I deem it quite clear that there was no accord and satisfaction. The assignor, expressly, without prejudice to its claim against the defendants, requested the order for the payment to be made directly to it by the French Line in settlement of the claim for the first shipment which the defendants had made against the French Line, and that payment was not made, and the French Line disclaimed anything more than a nominal liability. Since the French Line did not pay the claim and there was no formal assignment of it by the defendants to the assignor, but merely an order or direction to the French Line
Counsel for the respondent contends that even though the parties intended that the agreement should constitute a c. i f. contract, defendants are not entitled to the benefit thereof as such, for the reason that they did not perform the obligation on that theory resting upon them of presenting to Brown Bros., with the draft, the necessary documents to enable the assignor to obtain the goods if they arrived, and to enable it to assert any claim there might be against the French Line, and to obtain the insurance in case of a loss covered thereby. No point is made of the failure of the defendants to deliver to Brown Bros, a policy or certificate of insurance covering each shipment and that only as required under a c. i. f. contract (Manbre Saccharine Co., Ltd., v. Corn Products Co., Ltd., L. R. [1919] 1 K. B. 198), and since that point was not taken on the trial, I think it should not, even if it were urged, avail the respondent now, for, had it been taken on the trial, it might have shown that delivery of a proper policy or certificate of insurance was made or tendered to Brown Bros., or that the defendants were in a position to deliver it and that delivery was not insisted upon. It is strenuously urged, however,' in behalf of the respondent, and was urged upon the trial, that defendants should have delivered to Brown Bros, or to the assignor a French Line bill of lading so indorsed by them as to enable the assignor to make the necessary customs house entry of the goods and to obtain delivery thereof from the French Line. The theory of a c. i. f. contract is that it constitutes a sale of goods by delivery not of goods but of documents, viz., a bill of lading, invoice and policy or certificate of insurance, and that it is incumbent upon the seller to deliver or to tender delivery of them to the buyer within a reasonable time after the date agreed upon for the shipment of the goods, and that on performance of that duty by the
If all of the provisions of the contract were to be given full effect, then it might well be contended, as counsel for the respondent argues, that the contract contains provisions inconsistent with its having been intended as a strict c. i. f. contract and bringing it within the rule frequently announced by this court that the use of the abbreviation c. i. f. in such ' circumstances should be construed as having been used with reference only to the price to be paid by the purchaser and not with the intention of giving the agreement full effect as a c. i. f. contract. (See Willits & Patterson v. Abekobei & Co., Ltd., 197 App. Div. 528; Standard Casing Co., Inc., v. California Casing Co., Inc., Id. 187; Schopflocher v. Essgee Co. of China, Inc., Id. 781; Pottash v. Cleveland-Akron Bag Co., Id. 763; Boss v. Hutchinson, 182 id. 88.) Here, however, the inspection of the contract, as already stated, shows that the only provisions thereof which are inconsistent with its being a strict c. i. f. contract were printed, and that the other material provisions were typewritten on the blank form of contract. In such circumstances the rule is well settled that the provision so inserted on a ' blank form of contract where inconsistent with the printed provisions thereof supersedes such printed provisions and is controlling (Heyn v. New York Life Ins. Co., 192 N. Y. 1; Collins v. Knuth, 51 App. Div. 188; Robertson v. Frohman, Inc., 198 id. 782); and with respect to the precise point now under consideration it has been held that the filling in in a blank form of contract of provisions indicating an intent that it was to be deemed a c. i. f. contract, even though inconsistent with the printed provisions thereof, govern. (Law & Bonar, Ltd., v. British-American Tobacco Co., Ltd., L. R. [1916] 2 K. B. 605.) I am, therefore, of opinion that the agreement for the purchase and sale of the skins was intended as a strict c. i. f. contract, and that the assignor waived a strict compliance therewith as such, as already pointed out, and that, therefore, the defendants fully performed their obligations when the
It follows, therefore, that the findings of fact and conclusions of law, inconsistent with these views, to be specified in the order, should be reversed and appropriate findings and conclusions of law in accordance herewith should be made, and that the judgment should be reversed, with costs, and the complaint dismissed, with costs.
Clarke, P. J., Smith, Mebeell and Gbeenbatjm, JJ., concur.
Judgment reversed, with costs, and complaint dismissed, with costs. Settle order on notice.