Case Name: A. J. CROSBY v. ENTERPRISE CHEESE CO.
Court: Vermont Supreme Court
Jurisdiction: Vermont
Decision Date: 1895-05
Citations: 67 Vt. 638
Docket Number: 
Parties: A. J. CROSBY v. ENTERPRISE CHEESE CO.
Judges: 
Reporter: Vermont Reports
Volume: 67
Pages: 638–640

Head Matter:
A. J. CROSBY v. ENTERPRISE CHEESE CO.
May Term, 1895.
Appeal. When specifications exceed twenty dollars.
Where the entire amount which the plaintiff seeks to recover as damages for a breach of the defendant’s contract is less-than twenty dollars, the suit is not rendered appealable by the fact that that sum is arrived at by the apportionment between several delinquents, of which the defendant is one¿ of a larger sum, the contract with the defendant being-several.
Petition for an appeal from the judgment of a justice upon the ground that the same had been denied by reason of fraud, accident or mistake. Heard at the December term, 1894, Windsor county, Ross, C. J., presiding, upon general demurrer to the petition. Demurrer sustained and petition, dismissed with costs. The petitioner excepts.
The petition set forth, in substance, that the Enterprise Cheese Company, the petitionee, had brought suit against the petitioner, claiming as damages the sum of twenty dollars ; that the petitioner had appeared and defended said suit; that a trial by jury had been had and verdict returned for the petitionee, and judgment entered upon that verdict, from which the petitioner prayed an appeal, which was denied.
The petitionee, to sustain the issue upon its part upon that trial, introduced a written contract between itself and the petitioner by which the petitioner agreed to deliver at the factory of the petitionee the milk of four cows during the term of three years from May 1st, 1890, and introduced testimony tending to show that the petitioner had not delivered milk according to said contract.
The petitionee claimed to recover the sum of nine dollars and seventy-five cents damages, that sum being arrived at in the following manner : The petitionee entered into a contract with one Aldrich to furnish him at its factory the milk of three hundred cows for three years from May 1st, 1890, in consideration of which said Aldrich agreed to manufacture the milk into cheese for an agreed price per pound. For the purpose of securing this quantity of milk, the petitionee entered into contracts with various persons similar to that with the petitioner. These contracts were not -filled, and the petitionee did not consequently furnish Aldrich with the agreed amount of milk, and by reason of its failure to do so, was obliged to pay him the sum of one hundred and fifty dollars as damages. A committee was appointed to-apportion this amount among the several parties who were delinquent in the same manner as the petitioner, and they determined that the amount chargeable to the petitioner was said sum of nine dollars and seventy-five cents. The jury returned a verdict for that amount.
Gilbert A. Davis for the petitioner.
J. y. Wilson and y. C. Enright for the petitionee.

Opinion:
TAFT, J.
This cause is a proceeding to enter an appeal from a judgment of a justice of the peace. The only question is whether the "specifications or exhibits of the plaintiff on trial " exceeded twenty dollars. If they did, the petitioner was entitled to an appeal. At the trial before the justice the petitionee presented a claim of nine dollars and seventy-five cents, being that part of one hundred and fifty dollars which it claimed the petitioner was liable to pay (the former having paid that sum as damages to one Aldrich for not furnishing him with the quantity of milk which it had agreed to do) and claimed the petitioner was liable to pay his share of the whole sum, proportioned among all the patrons delinquent in furnishing milk to the factory. The petitionee's books, showing the amount of cheese made and the prices at which it was sold, the tally sheets showing the amount of milk received daily, and the contract between the petitionee and Aldrich, the cheese manufacturer, were in evidence, and the petitioner claims they were " specifications or exhibits of the plaintiff on trial." They were in evidence in the case; means of proof by which the petitionee established its- demand, but were not in any sense a specification or exhibit of its claim. The petitionee's claim was nine dollars and seventy-five cents for money paid Aldrich on account of the petitioner not furnishing the milk he had agreed to furnish,, and that was all the claim shown by any of the papers in evidence. The case was not appeal-able ; the judgment was correct and the same is
Affirmed.