[DOWNLOAD] "Dorton v. Ashland Oil & Refining Co." by Court Of Appeals Of Kentucky # Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Dorton v. Ashland Oil & Refining Co.
- Author : Court Of Appeals Of Kentucky
- Release Date : January 22, 1946
- Genre: Law,Books,Professional & Technical,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 57 KB
Description
CAMMACK, Justice. The case of Ashland Oil & Refining Co. v. Dorton, 300 Ky. 385, 189 S.W.2d 394, presents a full discussion of the controversy between the parties to this appeal. In that case Dorton predicated his cause of action upon the express terms of an alleged contract under which he permitted the Company to use a device he had invented for repressuring oil wells. The contract, which was signed only by Dorton, recited no consideration and, on its face, tended to show it was only a license to permit the Company to use his invention. He offered proof, however, to show that in exchange for the use of the device the Company had agreed to furnish him lifetime employment, but that it failed to do so. We reversed a $20,000 judgment in his favor and said the Company's motion for a directed verdict should have been sustained because Dorton failed completely to show he had been promised monetary compensation for the license, or that he had sustained any damage by reason of his alleged wrongful discharge. The opinion sets forth also that the proof was to the effect the invention was perfected and utilized under circumstances which would entitle the Company to 'shop rights,' that is, the right to use the invention in its business without the payment of royalties, since it had been perfected while Dorton was in the employ of the Company. Among other things the final paragraph of the opinion recited that the judgment was reversed for proceedings consistent therewith. After the mandate was filed in the lower court, Dorton tendered an amended petition predicated upon an implied contract, but a special judge refused to permit it to be filed because it was his view that our opinion on the first appeal was conclusive. On this appeal Dorton is insisting that he had a right to amend his cause of action; he properly alleged an implied agreement; and, in any event, the opinion on the first appeal is wrong and should be taken back, even though this requires our departure from the law-of-the-case rule.