Opinion ID: 2617671
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: analysis of the evidence

Text: This being an appeal from a directed verdict, we consider the evidence in the light most favorable to the plaintiff, giving the plaintiff the benefit of every reasonable inference supported by the record. Foster v. Schnell Refrigeration Co., 280 Or. 411, 414, 571 P.2d 497 (1977). In 1962, the plaintiff's predecessors in interest, L.P. and Jesse Stubblefield, signed a quarry agreement with the defendants Allen and Ruth Wodtli. This contract would have expired in 1982. After succeeding to the Stubblefields' interest, the plaintiff, Willamette Quarries, entered into a new quarry agreement with the Wodtlis on March 31, 1966. This contract superseded the 1962 contract and expired on March 31, 1986. The contract between Willamette Quarries and the Wodtlis defined with precision a 40-acre tract of land owned by the Wodtlis. The contract granted the plaintiff two rights. First, it allowed the plaintiff to establish a quarry for the purpose of severing and removing revetment and/or riprap rock. It provided that this quarry shall be located upon and confined to a tract not to exceed five (5) acres in said 40 acre subdivision, which has heretofore been agreed upon by the parties. Second, it stated that the plaintiff had the exclusive right to remove revetment and/or riprap rock from the premises and that no rock of this type shall be removed from the other quarries or quarry sites on the property of Vendors without the written consent of the Vendees. The contract stated that the plaintiff would pay the Wodtlis ten cents per cubic yard for the rock. The ten-cent-per-yard figure was based on the fact that the plaintiff expected to sell the rock for $1.80 per cubic yard. The contract also stated that the plaintiff had already paid a $50 exploration fee and would pay an additional $500 to the Wodtlis before commencing its quarrying operation. The plaintiff thereafter constructed a road to its quarry site, removed the soil over the rock and dumped it in a waste area, and commenced quarry operations. It also stockpiled 1390 cubic yards of rock described by one witness as riprap rock. In 1981 the defendant Morse Brothers entered into an agreement with the defendants Wodtli which allowed Morse Brothers to remove rock and gravel from this same 40-acre tract. This contract states that Morse Brothers shall respect the contractual rights of the plaintiff, Willamette Quarries, and it erroneously states that the plaintiff's contract with the Wodtlis expires in 1982. [1] Between 1981 and 1983, Morse Brothers extracted rock from the 40-acre tract, including rock from the plaintiff's quarry, some of which it sold to defendant J.C. Compton Contractors. The plaintiff alleged and introduced evidence tending to prove that Morse Brothers severed and removed rock from the plaintiff's quarry and also removed 1390 cubic feet of rock previously stockpiled by the plaintiff. The plaintiff's complaint alleged breach of contract by the Wodtlis, intentional interference with contractual relations by Morse Brothers, and trespass and conversion by all the defendants. The trial court granted a directed verdict but did not specify the ground on which it was granted. The Court of Appeals reversed only that part of the conversion claim against Morse Brothers and J.C. Compton Contractors pertaining to the 1390 cubicyard stockpile. Willamette Quarries v. Wodtli, supra, 93 Or. App. at 311-12, 761 P.2d 1356.