Opinion ID: 2226194
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: was the provision for march delivery waived?

Text: The contract in question provided merely for March delivery. The space in the printed form where a specific date could have been inserted was left blank. The manager of the elevator testified that in view of the fact that no specific date for delivery was stated in the contract, it was the elevator's duty and responsibility to notify the seller of the date on which he was to make delivery. [1] Munch testified that no notice was given during the month of March 1973 by the elevator to the seller to make delivery of the grain as contracted for. The buyer, having contracted with the seller for March delivery of his grain, was obligated to furnish, during the month of March, facilities reasonably adequate to receive the grain. In Farmers Union Grain Terminal Assn. v. Nelson, supra, 223 N.W.2d at 498-499, this court approved the following instruction of the trial court: `The Plaintiff is under a duty to exercise a reasonable amount of care and effort to provide space for Mr. Nelson's grain. In order to excuse the Plaintiff from accepting delivery on the date provided in the contract, the lack of available space must be beyond the power of the Plaintiff to prevent. You are instructed that whether the Plaintiff used a reasonable amount of care in providing available space for the grain is to be determined by you on the basis of all of the evidence in this case. If the Plaintiff failed to use said reasonable amount of care, then it cannot recover damages from the Defendant for failing to deliver the grain after March 30, 1973.' In this case, the buyer claims its refusal to accept delivery during March, April, and May was necessary because of insufficient boxcars or other transportation facilities with which to transport the grain from Mott to the Minneapolis market. The trial court found, however, that the evidence at trial disclosed that during the month of March 1973 the elevator received 39,675 bushels of wheat in deliveries. The trial court made the finding that the March deliveries consisted of 15,572 bushels which were received on prior contracts and 4,165 bushels which were purchased by the elevator for cash. The record is not conclusive as to the remaining 19,938 bushels, and the trial court was not satisfied with the elevator's explanationswhether it was wheat on other contracts, cash sales, or wheat stored in the elevator for future sales. The evidence further reflects that in the month of April 53,831 bushels of wheat were delivered to the elevator, and in May 115,925 bushels were delivered. The elevator was unable to testify at trial as to the breakdown of the April and May deliveries into contract deliveries, cash deliveries, or storage for future sale. The trial court found, and it appears from the evidence, that during the month of March, the low point of deliveries of grain to the elevator, the elevator purchased more grain for cash than the 4,000 bushels involved in the Svihovec contract. This finding detracts from the elevator's argument that the shortage of boxcars made acceptance of the Svihovec contract wheat impossible. [2] The trial judge foundand on the basis of the record we agreethat the plaintiff elevator breached the agreement by its refusal to accept Svihovec's grain, by failing to notify him when to make delivery, and by its failure to provide reasonable facilities for the receipt of the grain. Under Section 41-02-82, N.D.C.C. (§ 2-703 of the Uniform Commercial Code): Where the buyer wrongfully rejects or revokes acceptance of goods or fails to make a payment due on or before delivery or repudiates with respect to a part or the whole, then with respect to any goods directly affected and, if the breach is of the whole contract (section 41-02-75), then also with respect to the whole undelivered balance, the aggrieved seller may 1. withhold delivery of such goods; 2. stop delivery by any bailee as hereafter provided (section 41-02-84); 3. proceed under the next section respecting goods still unidentified to the contract; 4. resell and recover damages as hereinafter provided (section 41-02-85); 5. recover damages for nonacceptance (section 41-02-87) or in a proper case the price (section 41-02-88); 6. cancel. Where the buyer breaches the agreement, the seller is released from his obligation under the contract and may pursue the remedies as provided in Section 41-02-82, N.D.C.C. (UCC § 2-703). The trial court found that the defendant was within his rights under the Code when he refused to make delivery under the contract and resold the wheat at a private sale. By doing so, he exercised his right under subdivision 6 to cancel the sale. The elevator argues that even if time was of the essence of the contract, the seller's willingness to deliver the grain as late as the month of May was a waiver of the requirement that delivery be accepted in March. The elevator claims that Svihovec's conduct in holding his grain operated as a waiver under Section 41-02-16(4, 5), N.D. C.C. (UCC § 2-209). The conduct of Svihovec in continuing his inquiries about delivery of his wheat to the elevator both before and after March 31 may have indicated an intent on his part to keep the contract alive, at least up to the latter part of May when he had his final confrontation with Munch concerning the delivery of his wheat to the elevator. If time was of the essence of the contract when the agreement was made, this particular feature may have been waived by Svihovec. Nelson v. Glasoe, supra, 231 N.W.2d at 768. A waiver of a time is of the essence provision does not leave the time-for-delivery term of the contract open, although the elevator contends that it does. Section 41-01-14, N.D.C.C. (UCC § 1-204), provides: 1. Whenever this title requires any action be be taken within a reasonable time, any time which is not manifestly unreasonable may be fixed by agreement. 2. What is a reasonable time for taking any action depends on the nature, purpose and circumstances of such action. 3. An action is taken `seasonably' when it is taken at or within the time agreed or if no time is agreed at or within a reasonable time. The evidence discloses that near the middle of September 1973 Munch telephoned Svihovec and demanded delivery of the wheat. By September 15, 1973, the price of wheat had jumped to more than $4 a bushel. We hold that even if time was not of the essence of the contract as a result of the waiver of this feature by Svihovec's conduct, it nevertheless was the obligation of the buyer elevator to accept delivery of the grain within a reasonable time after March 31, 1973. This the elevator failed to do. The trial court found, and we agree, that the lapse of nearly two months from the end of March, when the delivery date expired, to the last part of May, when the elevator last refused to accept the grain, was an unreasonable time within which to comply with the contract. What constitutes a reasonable time within the facts of a given case is a question of fact. Shy v. Industrial Salvage Material Co., 264 Wis. 118, 58 N.W.2d 452 (1953); Dockter v. Sheridan County, 72 N.D. 607, 10 N.W.2d 485 (1943). The trial judge determined that Svihovec was justified in treating the contract as breached by the elevator after he had waited almost two months for some favorable word from the elevator that his wheat would be accepted. It may be unreasonable to expect a farmer in Svihovec's position to hold his grain for a longer period under the circumstances: he had made a redemption of his grain from a Government loan and needed money to repay the loan; there was uncontroverted testimony that some of the grain had become bug-infested and some 150 bushels had to be discarded; the risk of further loss or damage remained Svihovec's; and the storage bin was needed for the 1973 crop. We agree with the trial judge's finding of unreasonable delay by the elevator in making its demand for delivery in September, fully six months after the contract had expired. The trial judge found that the elevator failed to perform within a reasonable time after a tender of performance by the seller and after the time for performance had expired. The court further concluded that the general conduct of the elevator was such as to justify the seller Svihovec in treating the contract as breached by the elevator. This court is satisfied that there is credible evidence to support such findings.