Henkel v. Pontiac Farmers Grain Co.

This appeal comes to us as a result of a judgment in favor of the defendant in a small claim proceeding in the circuit court of Livingston County. The matter was heard as a bench trial and no transcript was made other than certain tape recordings. While this has complicated our review, we have been furnished with a reasonably accurate abstract prepared by the defendant-appellee, together with excerpts from the tapes prepared by the plaintiff-appellant.

Plaintiff was the owner of extensive farm lands and they were tilled by his tenant on a 50-50 crop-share basis. During the harvest season of…