Case of Rush Johnson Inc

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CASE of Rush Johnson Farms Inc. v. Missouri Farms Association, 555 S.W.2d 61 --Facts-- Rush Johnson Farms, Inc. sued the Missouri Farmers Association, Inc.(MFA) in 1977 at the Circuit Court of Chariton County in the state of Missouri. The plaintiff (Johnson) sued the defendant (MFA) for balance due from a crop of beans he sold them in 1973. MFA claims that Johnson did not deliver all of the promised product so they need not give him the price asked. Johnson claimed he never entered into a legal contract because it was an oral agreement between them and himself and a quantity was never agreed upon. When the MFA sent the contract to Mr. Johnson for 6000 bushels of beans, he threw the contract away. --Issues-- Should Mr. Johnson as a farmer be treated as a “merchant” as defined in the UCC? Should the oral agreement be a binding contract for 6000 bushels at $4.02 per bushel? --Answer/Holding-- Mr. Johnson is a farmer by trade and is held under the definition of “merchant” as defined in the UCC. Since Mr. Johnson is seen as a merchant by the court, the oral contract for 6000 bushels is legal. These conclusions came about because Mr. Johnson understood the “specialized knowledge” and business of Bean Farming to the extent that he understood how to get the best price, when he was quoted as asking the Secretary to call back when Bushels reached $4 per bushel and the fact that he checked the mail for Rush Johnson Farms. The phone conversation he had with the secretary was quoted by the secretary as being a ‘definite’ amount of 6000 bushels was upheld as a binding contract since he is a merchant. --Reasoning-- The court in this case quoted from Mo. Rev. Stat. § 400.2-105 which defines the word "goods" as used in Mo. Rev. Stat. § 400.2-201 to include the unborn young of animals and growing crops. Mo. Rev. Stat. § 400.2-104 defines "merchant" as a person

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