David A. Thorndike, Respondents v. Hesperian Orchards, Inc., Appellant

Summary

The Washington Supreme Court affirmed a judgment for $10,271.73 owed to Oroville apple growers under a written contract requiring their Golden Delicious crop to be pooled with like fruit and settled at the average pool price. The packer's affirmative defenses — that an employee had authority to withdraw the growers' substandard apples from the pool for separate marketing, and that quality responsibility lay with the growers — failed for want of proof, since packing and shipping were contractually under the packer's exclusive charge and supervision. On review, the court held that bench-trial findings are deemed a verdict under RCW 4.44.060 and may not be retried de novo or displaced by appellate findings, because the 1893 de novo statute had been abrogated by rule-making power and expressly repealed in 1957. Footnote 2, offered purely as historical interest, canvasses the constitutionality question the court expressly declined to decide, noting Wisconsin's contrary experience and the constitutional limit on legislative control of appellate jurisdiction.