Title: Dix v. Trigger Contractors, Inc.

State: mississippi

Issuer: Mississippi Supreme Court

Document:

337 So. 2d 694 (1976) D.R. DIX v. TRIGGER CONTRACTORS, INC., a Mississippi Corporation. No. 48785. Supreme Court of Mississippi. September 14, 1976. Rehearing Denied October 12, 1976. Louie M. Bishop, Waynesboro, for appellant. Guy M. Walker, Laurel, for appellee. Before GILLESPIE, C.J., and ROBERTSON and LEE, JJ. ROBERTSON, Justice, for the Court: On a bill for attachment in chancery, Trigger Contractors, Inc., a Mississippi corporation, recovered a judgment for $3,246.56 against D.R. Dix, a non-resident of Mississippi, in the Chancery Court of Wayne County. Dix employed Trigger Contractors, Inc., on Johnny May's recommendation, to disassemble the equipment at one oil well and to reassemble and rebuild it at another drilling site. Trigger performed this work during May and June, 1974, and submitted to Dix a number of itemized invoices totalling $5,885.50. B.P. Trigg, president of Trigger, asked Dix for a payment on account and Dix, on June 7, 1974, handed a $1500 check to Trigg. Trigg deposited this check to Trigger's account in the First State Bank, Waynesboro, Mississippi. Trigg testified that later on he talked to either Mr. Bill Flannigan or Mr. Dix about paying him the balance due, and either Flannigan or Dix advised him that they wanted to go over the invoices with him. Over the next two or three weeks, Trigg called them several times and "they informed me they had sent my check to Mr. Johnny May's office." Trigg further testified: This $1,500 check was drawn by D.R. Dix on Deposit Guaranty National Bank, Jackson, Mississippi, dated July 3, 1974, and made payable to Trigger Contractors, Inc. In the lower left corner was written in "Final Payment". Trigg lined out the word "Final" on the face of the check and wrote above "Final" the word "Part", making the notation read "Part Payment". Typed on the back of the check was: "excepted (sic) by Trigger Contractors Inc. as part payment only. Balance due on account $2,885.50". Trigg signed underneath: "B.P. Trigg, President". Trigg negotiated this check with the First State Bank of Waynesboro, Mississippi, on July 8, 1974, and that bank stamped on the back of the check: "Pay any bank P.E.G. First State Bank Waynesboro, Miss." Trigger then filed suit for $4,385.50 on July 12, 1974. The bill for attachment averred: No mention was made in the bill of the $1,500 payment made by check, dated July 3, 1974. On July 29, 1974, Trigger amended its bill for attachment by adding another invoice in the sum of $361.02, thereby making the total due $4,746.52. No mention was made in the amendment of the $1,500 check cashed by Trigg on July 8, 1974. Appellant assigns as error: Trigger contends that its claim was liquidated and undisputed and that its President Trigg had no idea that Dix was not satisfied with the amount of the bill. Flannigan, an associate of Dix, testified: The general rule is stated in 1 Am.Jur.2d Accord and Satisfaction § 22 (1962): While this is a case of first impression in Mississippi (where the check has been altered and the condition changed), there are Mississippi cases that treat of accord and satisfaction. In Cooper v. Yazoo and Mississippi Valley Railroad, 82 Miss. 634, 35 So. 162 (1903), this Court said: In May Bros. v. Doggett, 155 Miss. 849, 124 So. 476 (1929), this Court ruled: While we think that it is clear from the record that the claim was very muchly disputed, and that President Trigg knew this, still there is a Mississippi case holding that it makes no difference whether a claim is liquidated or disputed. In Metropolitan Life Insurance Company v. Perrin, 184 Miss. 249, 183 So. 917 (1938), this Court said: The creditor, Trigger Contractors, Inc., was duty-bound to either accept the $1,500 check of July 3, 1974, as conditioned or refuse to accept it. Trigger had no right or authority to alter the check and change the condition on which it was tendered, that is, from "Final Payment" to "Part Payment". The cashing of the $1,500 check, conditioned by the debtor as "Final Payment", constituted an accord and satisfaction. Therefore, the decree of the chancery court is reversed and judgment rendered here for appellant Dix. REVERSED AND RENDERED. GILLESPIE, C.J., PATTERSON and INZER, P. JJ., and SMITH, SUGG, WALKER, BROOM and LEE, JJ., concur.