v Vy;TOiiJtl95TO5tliJ\!)twatliiifc)it;at;>i>;j^:^^ 



Pertinent hega) Findings 



Receivers for Lumber Corporations 



If the majority of stookliolders uutl tlie directors of a lumber 

 company are found to be permitting au officer of the company to 

 conduct important matters of the company irregularly and without 

 keeping an intelligent account thereof, a receiver will be appointed 

 on application of a minority stockholder. (Louisiana supreme court, 

 In re Receivership of Leidigli-Dalton Lumber Company, 66 Southern 

 Beporter 390.) 



Destruction of Machinery Under Conditional Sale 



In a recent suit against a railway compauy brought by a lumber 

 company for negligently setting fire to a mill, the Tennessee supreme 

 court decided several interesting rules applicable to loss of machinery 

 held under a conditional sale contract, title being reserved in the 

 seller until pajTnent of the agreed purchase price. (Unaka Springs 

 Lumber Company vs. C, C. & O. Ey. Co., 170 Southwestern Ee- 

 porter 591.) The court holds that destruction of machinery in the 

 hands of a conditional buyer does not avoid his liability for the 

 remaining purchase price which he agreed to paj'. In such case 

 either he or the seller may recover the value of the property from 

 the person through whose negligence it was destroyed, but the recovery 

 will be held for the benefit of both parties to the contract. 

 Time for Delivery of Lumber Sold 



In a suit for breach of contract to deliver a quantity of liunber, 

 it appeared that it was finally understood between the parties that 

 delivery should be made after a certain date, on demand of the 

 buyer, and the Alabama supreme court applied the following generai 

 rule of law applicable to sales in general: 



"When the time of delivery is at the option of the buyer, he 

 must at least exercise his right within a reasonable time, and the 

 seller is entitled to a reasonable time after notice to make deliver}-, 

 but he cannot delay delivers beyond a reasonable time." (Mobile- 

 Gulfport Lumber Company, 66 Southern Eeporter 438.) 

 Authority of Representatives 



As between an employer of a rcpreseutative and third persons the 

 limit of the agent's power to bind his employer is the apparent 

 authority with which the agent is invested. The employer is bound 

 by the acts of the agent within the apparent authority which he 

 knowingly permits the agent to assume, or which he holds the agent 

 out to the public as possessing. The reason for this is that to permit 

 the principal to dispute the authority of his agent in such cases 

 would be to enable him to commit a fraud upon innocent persons. 

 (Jfew Jersey court of errors and appeals, J. Wiss & Sons Company, 

 vs. H. g'. Vogel Company, 92 Atlantic Eeporter 360.) 

 Duty to Trespassing Children 



In sustaining a judgment against a planing mill company for 

 injury to a boy nine years old, caused by his pulling down a pUe of 

 lumber loaded on a two-wheeled truck, which was left in such manner 

 that one end of the load projected from a dry kiln into a street, and 

 which was so loaded that it required but slight exertion to overbalance 

 the load, the Arkansas supreme court said in the case of McDaniel 

 vs. VaUey Planing Mill Company, 170 Southwestern Eeporter 994: 



"Appellant (the company), in the exercise of that care which the 

 law requires of an ordinarily prudent person in the conduct of his 

 business, was bound to anticipate that children, as well as adults, 

 were likely to be walking along the street, and that a child of tender 

 years might be tempted to play with a loaded truck or to indulge in 

 such childish pranks as the one in question. » ♦ * Having left 

 the truck there heavily loaded with lumber with the front end stick- 

 ing up and the load on the truck so nearly evenly balanced that only 

 a slight exertion was necessarj- to tilt it down, wc think the negligence 

 of the appellant was a question for the jury. ' ' 



In this decision, the court applies the well settled rule of law that 

 a .person who negligently leaves a dangerous condition attractive to 

 children, will be held responsible for such injuries as might have 

 been reasonably foreseen. 



Transaction of Business by Foreign Corporations 



The Alabama statute, which forbids nonresident corporations from 



transacting business in the state without first obtaining a license 

 to do so, was invoked against a lumber company in the case of 

 MobileGulfport Lumber Company vs. Bruuuer, 66 Southern Eeporter 

 438. In this suit, plaintiff company sought to recover damages for 

 breach of a contract by defendant to deliver a quantity of lumber 

 in care of a vessel at Mobile. One of the defenses successfully 

 interposed was that plaintiff, a non-resident corporation, had not 

 obtained a license to do business in Alabama at the time the contract 

 was entered into, and that, therefore, the agreement was unenforce- 

 able. Since it is well settled that laws of this kind do not apply 

 to interstate or foreign transactions, but only to contracts made and 

 to be performed wholly within the limits of the state, the lumber 

 company replied to the defense that the contract in question consti- 

 tuted au interstate transaction, for the reason that when it was 

 made it was contemplated by both parties that the lumber would be 

 immediately loaded by the lumber company in the vessel at which 

 defendant was to make delivery, for shipment abroad. But the 

 Alabama supreme court refused to sustain this claim on the part of 

 the lumber company, holding that the agreement was purely an intra- 

 state transaction, since it appeared that the contract was not only 

 made in Alabama, but that it was to be wholly performed, so far as 

 defendant was concerned, by delivery of the lumber to plaintiff 

 company at Mobile and payment therefor in that city. 

 Shipper's Right to Sue Carrier 



The right of a shipper of a carload of lumber to recover its value 

 from the railway company to which the freight was delivered, on 

 the buyer refusing to receive the same, because not delivered by 

 the carrier which he had designated, was denied by the Arkansas 

 supreme court, in the case of Southern Lumber Company vs. Warren 

 & Ouachita Valley Eailway Company, 170 Southwestern Eeporter 998, 

 under the following circumstances: Plaintiff lumber company ac- 

 cepted an order from Wm. Buechley it Son of Pottsville, Pa., for a 

 carload of lumber, to be routed over the Philadelphia & Eeading 

 railroad as the delivering carrier, the purchasers having switch con- 

 nections with that road. Plaintiff' delivered the lumber to defendant, 

 with directions for routing as requested by the purchasers, but, 

 through negligence of an intermediate carrier, the shipment was 

 delivered to the Pennsylvania Company as the delivering carrier, and 

 for that reason the purchasers refused to accept the delivery tendered 

 by tliat company on its tracks, and the lumber was placed in storage 

 by the Pennsylvania Company. Thereupon plaintiff' brought its suit. 

 The shipment being an interstate one, defendant was forced to admit 

 liability for negligence of a connecting carrier, but successfully 

 interposed the defense that the purchasers of the lumber, and not 

 plaintiff", were the proper parties to maintain the suit. The supreme 

 court decided : 



"It is undisputed that the sale of the carload of lumber by the 

 plaintiff to its customer in Pottsville was unconditional, and that it 

 delivered the same to the carrier for shipment in accordance with 

 the directions of the purchaser. The delivery to the carrier under 

 those circumstances constituted a delivery to the purchaser and com- 

 pleted the sale, the title to the goods then being in the consignee. 

 Any loss or damage thereafter sustained fell upon the purchaser as 

 the owner of the goods, and he alone is entitled to sue." 



The Laurentide Company of Quebec, producer of pulp and pulp- 

 wood, is reforesting its non-agi-icultnral cut-over lands. It is also 

 importing reindeer from Newfoundland, to see if they can take the 

 place of dogs in winter woods work. 



A small railroad operating an oil-burning locomotive on the Tahoe 

 national forest, California, had a breakdown during the past summer 

 and burned wood instead of oil for one day. On this day fifteen 

 fires started along the right of way. During the preceding year only 

 one fire occurred near the railroad and it was not thought that the 

 engine was responsible for that one. 



—21— 



