Source: http://masscases.com/cases/sjc/251/251mass251.html
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 04:49:14+00:00

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W. R. GRACE & COMPANY vs. NATIONAL WHOLESALE GROCERY COMPANY, INCORPORATED.
Where an action of contract in the Superior Court is referred to an auditor with a provision that his findings of fact shall be final, a motion to recommit the report is a proper method to raise questions as to the correctness of rulings by the auditor concerning the admission or exclusion of evidence.
At hearings by an auditor, to whom, with a provision that his findings of fact should be final, was referred an action by a general dealer in sugar against a wholesale grocer for breach of a contract of sale of "Brazilian washed sugar" by the plaintiff to the defendant, the defendant contended that the sugar delivered was not in conformity with the contract. It appeared that "Brazilian washed sugar" was "not such an article as would be known or recognized by that description merely, so as to enable one to determine what would be a proper fulfillment of the contract without further evidence." Held, that, there being an ambiguity about the application of the words written in the contract to its subject matter, it was proper for the auditor to admit such evidence, as to negotiations of the parties preliminary to the contract and as to a sample submitted by the plaintiff, as would identify the subject matter of the contract.
(3) The natural purpose of the purchase by the defendant was for use in the wholesale grocery business, and the auditor did not err in admitting testimony offered by the defendant to the effect that the sugar tendered was unfit for the wholesale grocery business.
At the hearing above described, it was proper for the auditor to exclude an office copy of a letter from the plaintiff to its broker where there was nothing to show that the letter was mailed in ordinary course and the broker, called as a witness, was not interrogated on the subject.
CONTRACT for the alleged breach by the defendant of a contract for the sale of sugar to it by the plaintiff. Writ dated December 14, 1920.
In the Superior Court, the action was referred to an auditor. The terms of the reference to the auditor and material findings and rulings by the auditor are described in the opinion. It appeared from the auditor's report that on "April 27, 1920, the plaintiff through its broker, one Fletcher, located in Providence, Rhode Island, negotiated with the defendant, represented by one Wexler, for the sale of sugar and as a result of the negotiations a contract was made on April 27, 1920," and "was executed by the defendant in Fall River and by the plaintiff in New York." It provided for delivery in New York.
A motion to recommit the report to the auditor was denied by Lummus, J., who also ordered the report confirmed and judgment to be entered for the defendant on the report. The plaintiff alleged exceptions and also filed what purported to be an appeal.
L. E. Wood, I. Brayton, & D. Havens, (of New York,) for the plaintiff.
D. R. Radovsky, H. W. Radovsky, & I. H. Simon, for the defendant.
their evidence and report his findings to the court, and his findings of fact shall be final." Motion to recommit the auditor's report was denied. The report was confirmed and judgment entered in favor of the defendant.
Motion to recommit the report is a proper method to raise questions as to the correctness of rulings concerning the admission or exclusion of evidence where the auditor's findings of fact are final. Tripp v. Macomber, 187 Mass. 109. Pettey v. Benoit, 193 Mass. 233. In all other respects such a motion is addressed to sound judicial discretion. Randall v. Peerless Motor Car Co. 212 Mass. 352, 370, 372.
The auditor found that the defendant was justified in rejecting the sugar on two separate and distinct grounds, (1) that the plaintiff tendered an amount of sugar in excess of the quantity ordered, and (2) that the quality of the sugar offered for delivery was not in conformity with the contract. In our view of the case it is necessary to consider only the questions of law touching the second ground.
or if a sample were shown, it or a description of it would be competent upon the issue whether the article tendered corresponded with that described in the contract. Stoops v. Smith, 100 Mass. 63, 66. Miller v. Stevens, 100 Mass. 518. Pike v. Fay, 101 Mass. 134. Keller v. Webb, 125 Mass. 88, 89. Strong v. Carver Cotton Gin Co. 197 Mass. 53, 59. West End Manuf. Co. v. P. R. Warren Co. 198 Mass. 320, 324. Avondale Mills v. Benchley Brothers, Inc. 244 Mass. 153, 157.
The auditor appears to have followed this rule both in reaching his main conclusion and in the evidence which he received. The evidence as to a sample used by the broker of the plaintiff and as to his representations concerning it at the time of making the contract was rightly admitted and dealt with correctly.
There is nothing to indicate that the auditor in reaching his conclusions did not give appropriate force and significance to every word used in the contract.
231, 232. Friend v. Childs Dining Hall Co. 231 Mass. 65, 71. Manchester Liners, Ltd. v. Rea, Ltd.  2 A. C. 74. The plaintiff was a general dealer in sugar, the defendant a wholesale grocer. The natural purpose of the purchase by the defendant was for use in the wholesale grocery business. Fitness for that purpose cannot be held on this record to have been an impertinent inquiry.
No error is disclosed in the exclusion of the office copy of a letter from the plaintiff to its broker. There was nothing to show that the letter was ever mailed in ordinary course. There was nothing to raise a presumption that it was received by the broker. Prudential Trust Co. v. Hayes, 247 Mass. 311. Moreover, the broker was called as a witness and he was not interrogated concerning the letter.
The finding that the goods tendered did not conform to the requirements of the contract is not tainted with any reversible error. It is decisive of the case. It becomes unnecessary to examine the exceptions touching the other ground on which the auditor based his findings.

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