Olwell v. Nye & Nissen Co.
Washington Supreme Court
173 P.2d 652, 26 Wash.2d 282 (1946)
- Written by Josh Lee, JD
Facts
E.L. Olwell (plaintiff) sold his one-half interest in Puget Sound Egg Packers to Nye & Nissen Co. (the Company) (defendant). Under the terms of the agreement, Olwell retained ownership of an egg-washing machine. Olwell stored the machine on property adjacent to the property leased by the Company. Without Olwell’s knowledge or approval, the Company took the machine out of storage and used it approximately one day a week. Olwell discovered this unauthorized use and offered to sell the machine. Olwell and the Company could not agree on a price, and Olwell sued the Company to recover the reasonable value of the unauthorized use of the machine. The trial court determined that the Company had saved approximately $10 per day in labor expenses per day that the machine was used and that the Company used the machine approximately one day per week. The trial court entered judgment for Olwell in the amount of $1,560, which was $10 per week for 156 weeks of use covered by the statute of limitations. The Company appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Mallery, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 833,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,500 briefs, keyed to 994 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
