29 Ga. App. 671 | Ga. Ct. App. | 1923
Only the first headnote needs'elaboration. Pillsbury Flour Mills Company of Minneapolis, Minn., sued the Southern Flour & Grain Company of Atlanta, Ga., for the alleged breach of four contracts for the purchase of wheat feed. With the exception of small items upon which damages were sought for the differences between the contract price and the market price at the time and place of delivery, the damages claimed were for the difference between the contract price of the wheat feed and its price on resale. The first of these contracts, dated May 6, 1920, was for 150 tons of “ Daisy Bed Dog Feed ” at $79, f. o. b., Atlanta, Ga., draft attached, “time of shipment within 60 days;” the second, dated May 14, 1920, was for 150 tons of “ Daisjr,” at $79, f. o. b., Atlanta, Ga., draft attached, “ time of shipment within 90 days;” the third, dated May 15, 1920, was for 200 tons of “ Daisy,” at $79, and 200 tons of “A Mids,” at $75, f. o. b., Atlanta, Ga., draft attached, “shipment scattered within 90 days;” and the fourth, dated May 17, 1920, was for 100 tons of “ Daisy,” at $80, and 100 tons of “ A Mids,” at $76, f. o. b., Atlanta, Ga., draft attached, •“ shipment within 90 daj^s seller’s option.”
The defendant tendered a plea and several amendments thereto which alleged, in substance, that the wheat product that the defendant contracted to purchase from the plaintiff, and which was shipped from Minneapolis, Minn., to Atlanta, Ga., was a low grade of flour called “ Bed Dog;” that this flour carried a higher freight
The plaintiff demurred to this plea, on the ground that it constituted no legal defense to the action, and that, even if the product shipped was billed contrary to the statute pleaded, the plea failed to show that such billing had any effect upon the breaching of the contracts by the defendant. The court sustained the demurrer, and the defendant excepted pendente lite.
The alleged false billing of the goods by the plaintiff in order .to obtain a lower freight rate than that actually carried by the product shipped was no defense to the instant suit for the breach of the contracts of purchase, and the court did not err in sustaining the plaintiff’s demurrer to the plea and to the amendments thereto. The interstate-commerce act, alleged to have been violated by the plaintiff, makes penal a violation of regulations governing shipments and brands, but it does not provide that contracts made by persons failing to comply with the act shall be void and unenforceable. In the case of Toole v. Wiregrass Development Co., 142 Ga. 57 (82 S. E. 514), it was held: “Under a statute passed for the purpose of raising revenue, which provides that every person or firm engaged in the business of buying or selling real estate on commission shall pay the sum of tep dollars for each county in which he or they may conduct such business, and that before such person shall be authorized to open up or carry on such business they shall go before the ordinary of the county in which they propose to do business and register their names and the business they propose to engage in, the place where it is to be conducted, and shall then pay their tax to the collector, and that any person failing to comply .with the foregoing requirements shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, but which does not provide that the contracts made by
It follows from what has been said, and the authorities cited, that while the interstate-commercé act declares that one who falsely bills goods in order to obtain a lower freight rate than that actually carried by the goods shipped is guilty of a misdemeanor, the act does not specifically or by necessary implication declare
Judgment affirmed.