Opinion ID: 1806918
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Marketing of potatoes.

Text: The resolution of this issue requires a review of the record to determine whether the findings of the trial court are supported by credible evidence and not against the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence. We have reviewed the rather extensive record, and as might be presumed, there is a conflict in the testimony presented by the respective parties as to whether the plaintiff marketed the defendant's product with dispatch, as provided in the contract. The growers brought their product to the shed of the defendant. The defendant had the responsibility for moving sufficient potatoes from the bins to meet the orders from the plaintiff, together with a sufficient allowance for potatoes which would not pass the required grade. The potatoes making up the orders were promptly shipped and the remaining potatoes, which resulted from any overestimate of the amount required to fill the order and those potatoes which did not meet the grade but were salable, became part of the floor inventory. Potatoes comprising the floor inventory could be sold directly from the floor or used to fill orders on sales effected by the plaintiff. Testimony offered by the plaintiff was, among other things, intended to prove that slow movement of potatoes was limited to sales from the floor inventory; the volume of its sales in 1965 as compared with previous years showed proper performance of the contract; the volume of the potatoes left on the floor was small and they were there but for a short period of time; the 1965 marketing conditions were bad and the quality of the potato crop poor; and that a comparatively small quantity of potatoes deteriorated because of slow movement. The testimony offered by the defendant and a number of growers was exactly opposite that of the testimony offered by the plaintiff in nearly every respect. A meeting was held in August, 1965, to discuss with the plaintiff the problem of slow sales. The meeting was called because the growers were dissatisfied with the slow movement of their potatoes. At the meeting, the growers requested that they be permitted to use other brokers to move their produce more rapidly. However, the plaintiff refused and the slow movement continued after the meeting. The testimony of slow sales included both sales from the bins and from floor inventory. The trial court found that potatoes were a very perishable crop and that speed in handling was of great importance from a financial standpoint, and that the plaintiff failed to market the defendant's potatoes expeditiously and in the manner contemplated by the contract. The trial court also found the breach material. The trial court's findings will not be upset unless contrary to the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence. Estate of Erbach (1969), 41 Wis. 2d 335, 340, 164 N. W. 2d 238. We here determine that the findings of the trial court on this issue are supported by credible evidence and not contrary to the great weight and clear preponderance of the evidence. Plaintiff contends that its adequate performance under the contract was shown by testimony that the plaintiff was doing the best he could. Our attention is directed to Ekstrom v. State (1969), 45 Wis. 2d 218, 172 N. W. 2d 660, for the proposition that breach is not shown by mere error in judgment. However, the court in that case was discussing the conditions under which a satisfaction clause may be dispensed with. The plaintiff's obligation under the contract in this case was not to use his best judgment in marketing or to market to the best of his ability, but to market with dispatch. The trial court in its decision, stated that the nature of the product and the nature of the contract casts a strong burden on the Plaintiff to see that the Defendant's potatoes were marketed expeditiously.... The plaintiff also contends that the defendant failed to show its performance was improper because there was no testimony by experts in the field of potato marketing, and that the growers were not qualified to evaluate the plaintiff's performance under the contract. However, the lack of expert testimony goes to the question whether the defendant met its burden of proof. The growers did not evaluate the plaintiff's marketing ability, but testified to slow movement of their own potatoes. Their testimony in that regard was competent to show lack of dispatch in marketing and, therefore, the failure of the plaintiff to meet its obligations under the contract. Tunkieicz v. Libby, McNeill & Libby (1969), 44 Wis. 2d 414, 420, 171 N. W. 2d 393. Plaintiff further contends that the defendant's proof of improper performance was not adequate because the defendant failed to introduce written records of the floor inventory. However, the written records of floor inventory did not show which grower's potatoes were part of the floor inventory on any given day, nor did they show the length of time the potatoes remained on the floor.