181 Iowa 1203 | Iowa | 1917
At the date of the transaction which is the subject of this controversy, there were three established newspapers published in the city of Crestón, to wit: The Advertiser-Gazette, of which the plaintiff herein was proprietor; the Plain Dealer, owned by the Plain Dealer Publishing Company, a corporation; and the Morning American, owned by W. H. Robb. The defendants Beatle and Sampson were stockholders in the Plain Dealer corporation, the former being also its president, and Nye was the editor and general manager of the paper. It is plaintiff’s claim that, having learned that Robb desired to dispose of the American, and believing it desirable that said journal be eliminated from the Crestón newspaper field, he and the defendants entered into an oral agreement, by which he was authorized to purchase the American, together with its subscription list and other assets, and that, when such property was acquired, plaintiff would take the subscription list at such reasonable valuation as might thereafter be agreed upon. The remainder of the property and materials so purchased, he alleges were to be sold, and, after applying the moneys so realized and the value of the subscription list to the reduction of the cost or expense incurred in the purchase, the remainder was to be treated as a loss, one half of which was to be assumed and borne by plaintiff, and the other half by the defendants. Proceeding according to this agreement, plaintiff says that he did purchase the American from Robb, paying therefor the sum of $6,000; but when he demanded of defendants the performance of the undertaking on their part, they neglected and refused to proceed any further, or to pay their share of the loss so incurred.
On trial to the court, decree was entered in plaintiff’s favor against the publishing company, substantially as prayed, and for a money recovery of one half the loss incurred in the purchase of the property and its subsequent sale. No money judgment was rendered against the other defendants. The corporation alone appeals.
We also agree with the trial, court that there was sufficient circumstantial evidence that the three individual defendants were authorized to treat with plaintiff on behalf of the corporation, and that, in any event, their action in that respect was ratified by the conduct of the defendant. It did receive, and for some purpose made at least temporary use of, the subscription list. It also, after the purchase had been made by plaintiff, published in its own newspaper and announced to the world that, in conjunction with the plaintiff, it had purchased the American and eliminated it from the newspaper field in Crestón.
The case presented by the appeal is purely one of fact; and, as we are satisfied that the trial court’s findings there