Corn delivery case turns on witness credibility

The Plaintiff company in this case from New Brunswick claimed that it had delivered 8 loads of wet corn to the Defendant company at harvest and that the Defendant company failed to pay for the corn.  The Plaintiff valued the claim at over $33,000.  The Defendant company denied that there was a contract calling for payment to the Plaintiff company at all.  Instead, the Defendant said that it had agreed to purchase the corn from an entirely different third party; the price to be paid for the corn was to be credited to the outstanding account the third party had with the Defendant company.

The judge at trial commented: "There are two starkly different versions of the facts of this case.  Ultimately, the disposition of this case will turn on findings of credibility."  The judge determined that neither the representative of the Plaintiff company nor the third party (an uncle and his nephew) were credible witnesses and found as follows:

Based on my findings of fact, it is clear that there never was a contract between the plaintiff and the defendant for the sale of corn. The arrangement was that the third party, KT, would deliver bulk wet corn to the plaintiff’s premises in Centreville to be picked up by the defendant, the value of which would be applied by the defendant to the third party’s outstanding account. There being no contract of purchase and sale between the plaintiff and the defendant, the plaintiff’s action is dismissed. Given that there is no liability on the defendant, the defendant’s third party claim is dismissed.

Read the decision at: Taylor’s Feed & Tires Ltd v Brennan Farms Ltd.

Summary Judgment granted for failure to deliver on marketing contract

The Saskatchewan Court of Queen's Bench granted summary judgment in favour of Walker Seeds Ltd. after the defendant, Jacob Enterprises Ltd., failed to deliver fully on a marketing agreement for desi chickpeas. The agreement provided that Jacob would deliver to Walker all chickpeas growns on 660 acres of land in 2006, save that Jacob could retain 95 pounds net per acre for seed. There was a dispute between the parties as to how much Jacob actually harvested in 2006. The contract provided for a base production amount of 13,200 bushels, and the Court found that Jacob had exceeded this production, although he delivered only 8,258 bushels to Walker. The Court granted judgment to Walker for the difference owing of 4,942 bushels at 60 pounds per bushel (296,520 pounds) times $6.25 per bushel, or $18,532.50.

A counterclaim by Jacob Enterprises for severe emotional distress caused by an alleged failure by Walker to pay for delivered chickpeas in a timely fashion and failure to provide receipts for grain was dismissed. The Court noted the difficulty it had in accepting a claim by the corporation for the emotional distress of its shareholder.

Walker Seeds Ltd. v. Jacob Enterprises Ltd. 2009 SKQB 482
http://www.canlii.org/en/sk/skqb/doc/2009/2009skqb482/2009skqb482.html