GREGG MAXCY, INC.,
v.
SOPHRONIA C. BATEMAN, ET VIR.
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Gregg Maxcy, Inc. purchased a citrus crop from the Batemans under a contract specifying payment of 75 cents per standard field box. The purchaser failed to harvest all fruit and allegedly used larger 'Jumbo' boxes instead of standard boxes, prompting the sellers to sue for unpaid fruit. The Florida Supreme Court affirmed the lower court's judgment, holding that the purchaser took title to the entire crop and was obligated to harvest and pay for all merchantable fruit within a reasonable time.
Title to the citrus fruit passed to the purchaser upon execution of the contract. The purchaser was bound as an indivisible obligation to take and pay for the entire crop of fruit at the contract price, and the seller was entitled to enforce payment for fruit that should have been picked and packed within a reasonable time according to prevailing commercial practice, even if the purchaser failed to harvest it.
“The title to the fruit was in the purchaser from the date of the contract. It was his duty to remove it when it became merchantable.”
Establishes that title passed upon contract execution and the purchaser's obligation to harvest merchantable fruit
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceOn August 22, 1932, Gregg Maxcy, Inc. entered into a contract to purchase all marketable oranges and tangerines from the Batemans' grove for the 1932-…
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In this case plaintiff in error bought a crop of citrus fruit from defendants in error. The contract was in the following language:
“This Contract, Made and entered'into this 22nd day of August, 1932, between Sophronia C. Bateman and W. W. Bateman, her husband, of the City of Wauchula, County of Hardee, State of Florida, parties of the first part, and Gregg Maxcy, Inc., of City of Sebring, County of Highlands, .State of Florida, party of the second part.
“Witnesseth, that the party of the first part has this day sold to the party of the second part all marketable oranges and tangerines on the trees in the groves known as the Bateman Grove described as follows:
“SWJ4 of the SEJ4 and the SE% of the SWRÍ in Section 25, Township 34, Range 24, Hardee County, State of Florida.
“Said fruit for the seasons of 1932-1933 and 1933-34 to be purchased by Gregg Maxcy, Inc., at seventy-five cents (75 cents) per standard .field box, on trees. -In considera*748tion of $300.00 amount acknowledged by party 'of the first part balance to be paid when and as fruit is picked, it is further agreed that all moneys over seventy-five cents (75 cents) per box net, above all expense handling and brokerage is to be credited to former account of W. W. Bateman. It is agreed by party of the first part that $300.00 is acknowledged on above fruit, as first payment. Witness the hands and seals of the Growers and the corporate name and seal of the Broker the day and date aforesaid.”
The purchaser failed to gather a part of the citrus fruit purchased, and, as is alleged in the declaration, the purchaser instead of using “standard field boxes” for the gathering of the fruit used what is called Jumbo boxes, which it is alleged held ten per cent. (10%) more fruit than the “standard field box” and the sellers alleged that by reason of using the box known as the Jumbo box instead of the standard field box, the purchaser took 240 standard field boxes more fruit than was accounted for and owed the seller $180.00 for that fruit as well as for 800 .boxes of fruit which the seller alleged were left On the trees unpicked and unpaid for.
The contract in this case, except for the fact that there is not in this contract a'specific time limit in which the fruit was to be gathered and packed, is not materially different from the contract which we had under consideration in the case of Metcalf v. Keene & Co., 122, Fla. 27, 164 Sou. 704. That contract was held to be an indivisible one and was held to bind the purchaser to take the entire crop of fruit at the pi-ice named in the contract. In that case Mr. Presiding Justice Ellis, concurring, said:
“The title to the fruit was in the purchaser from the dale of the contract. It was his duty to remove it when it became merchantable. As it became merchantable the seller *749was entitled to receive a certain price per box for it. The contract did not secure to the purchaser the right to allow any fruit to become overripe and spoil so as not to be merchantable merely because the contract placed a limit of time upon him within which he should remove it. The reason for the. limitation of time is apparent. It secured payment to the seller for all merchantable fruit within a definite time limit, and the prevention of possible infection of his grove by overripe, decaying and falling fruit.”
The -real contention here is, that the title to the citrus fruit which was the subject matter of' the contract did not pass from the seller to the purchaser before the purchaser took possession of the fruit.
Under authority of the opinion and judgment in the case of Metcalf v. Keene & Co., supra, the Circuit Judge was correct in holding that the title did pass and in effect that the purchaser was bound to take and pay for the fruit and that the seller was entitled to enforce payment from the purchaser of that fruit contemplated in the contract which was not picked and paid for within a reasonable time and when under prevailing practice in regard to such matters the fruit should have been picked, packed and shipped.
It follows that charges complained of were properly given and that charges requested and denied were properly denied. So the judgment should be affirmed.
So ordered.
Affirmed.
Ellis, P. J., and Terrell and Buford, J. J., concur.
Whitfield, C. J., and Davis, J., concur in the Opinion and Judgment.
Brown, J., dissents.
(dissenting). — Unless the contract between the parties contemplates otherwise, the general rule prevails. *750That rule, briefly stated, is that title does not pass before actual delivery so long as something remains to be done as between the seller and buyer for the purpose of ascertaining the quality, quantity or price of the subject matter. See 55 C. J. 532-536, 948, 413; 24 R. C. L. 20-39; Tripp v. Wade, 89 So. 870, 82 Fla. 325; McCampbell Furniture Stores, 158 So. 283, 117 Fla. 351. The case of Metcalfe v. Keene, 122 Fla. 27, 164 So. 704, is not exactly in point here.
The contract here was for the sale and purchase of- “marketable” fruit, to be paid for when and as picked.
Brown, J.
(dissenting). — Unless the contract between the parties contemplates otherwise, the general rule prevails. That rule, briefly stated, is that title does not pass before actual delivery so long as something remains to be done as between the seller and buyer for the purpose of ascertaining the quality, quantity or price of the subject matter. See 55 C. J. 532-536, 948, 413; 24 R. C. L. 20-39; Tripp v. Wade, 89 So. 870, 82 Fla. 325; McCampbell Furniture Stores, 158 So. 283, 117 Fla. 351. The case of Metcalfe v. Keene, 122 Fla. 27, 164 So. 704, is not exactly in point here.
The contract here was for the sale and purchase of- “marketable” fruit, to be paid for when and as picked.
Cases With Similar Vibessemantic neighbors from the corpus
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Davis v. State, 560 So. 2d 1231 (Fla. 5th DCA 1990)…e relationships between the concepts of sale, delivery and possession is unimportant — the issue is can a sale be completed without having possession of the thing sold? If a sale can occur without delivering possession (Gregg Maxey, Inc. v. Bateman, 126 Fla. 747, 171 So. 811, (Fla.1937) why cannot a sale occur without having possession?. Sales are conducted by brokers without possession of the thing sold on a daily basis. Since a sale can occur without possession — through brokers, agents, whatever — then p…
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McDONALD v. Everette E. Connell and Dean T. Davis, 158 So. 2d 780 (Fla. 2d DCA 1963)…ble fruit picked and removed by the purchaser. Thus, it is evident that the printed form of the contract contemplated the passing of title to the purchaser, as was held with respect to similar forms of contract in Gregg Maxcy, Inc. v. Bateman, 1937, 126 Fla. 747, 171 So. 811, and Metcalf v. Keene & Co., 1935, 122 Fla. 27, 164 So. 704. However, in the instant situation, the printed form of contract was modified because the sellers were not the growers but were dealers—commonly known in the trade as fruit bu…
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Townsend Fruit Co., Inc. v. Mayo, 98 So. 2d 345 (Fla. 2d DCA 1957)…ents’ citrus dealer’s bond. "Done at Tallahassee, Florida, on this 28 day of May, A. D. 1956. “Sgd/ Nathan Mayo “As Commissioner of Agriculture of the State of Florida.” The Florida Supreme Court in the case of Gregg Maxcy, Inc. v. Bateman, 1937, 126 Fla. 747, 171 So. 811, held that: “Under contract of sale of citrus fruit stipulating that seller ‘has this day sold’ marketable fruit in grove described, ‘said fruit to be purchased at 75 cents per standard field box, on trees, title to marketable fruit pa…1 / 2
Previewing 3 of 4 citing cases — full citator treatment, depth of discussion, and citing context are member features.
Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceAuthorities Cited
- Tripp v. Wade, 82 Fla. 325 (Fla. 1921)
- Metcalf v. R. D. Keene & Co., 122 Fla. 27 (Fla. 1935)
- McCampbell Furniture Stores, Inc. v. Cent. Farmers Tr. Co., 117 Fla. 351 (Fla. 1934)