Adams v. Bailey Transportation Co.

334 S.W.2d 591, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2157
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMarch 31, 1960
Docket13290
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 334 S.W.2d 591 (Adams v. Bailey Transportation Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Adams v. Bailey Transportation Co., 334 S.W.2d 591, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2157 (Tex. Ct. App. 1960).

Opinion

BELL, Chief Justice.

Appellant sued appellee to recover the sum of $1,400, the balance alleged to be due on a contract for installing an air conditioning unit in the offices of appellee. He also sought to recover attorney’s fees. The contract sued upon was in writing which contained a provision that the instrument covered all agreements between the parties and any claim of a verbal or other agreement was waived.

Appellee resisted the suit by defensively pleading that appellant represented that the 3-ton Day and Night unit installed would adequately cool the offices in the summer months and heat them in the winter months, though appellee had wanted a 5-ton Westinghouse unit, and that the unit installed failed to perform this purpose; that this representation constituted an express warranty; that in the alternative there was an implied warranty that the unit would perform the purpose for which it was purchased, to wit, to adequately cool and heat appellee’s offices; that there was a failure of consideration; and that appellant had represented if the 3-ton unit did not adequately cool and heat the offices, he would remove it and install the 5-ton unit at an additional charge of $250 and appellant had refused to do this. Appellee alleged also these representations were made with intent to deceive and it relied on them and was thus induced to make the contract.

By way of a cross-action appellee plead the same facts offensively, seeking a rescission of the contract and seeking to recover as damages the $200 payment it had made to appellant and $100 it had paid to' have the unit removed.

Trial was to a jury. The jury answered' that the unit failed to perform the purpose for which it was installed; that appellant had represented the unit would perform the purpose for which it was installed; that such representation was not made with intent to deceive; that appellant represented! that if the unit did not perform such purpose he would install a 5-ton Westinghouse unit for an additional $250; that such representation was not made with intent to deceive; and that appellee had called upon, appellant to install the 5-ton unit.

The court, based on the jury verdict,, rendered judgment cancelling the contract, awarding appellant recovery of the 3-ton Day and Night unit, and awarding appel-lee judgment for $300.

The effect of the jury verdict, insofar as it may be utilized to support the judgment, is to find there was a breach of an implied warranty that the 3-ton Day and Night unit would perform the purpose for which it was installed.

While appellee briefly urges that the jury found an express oral warranty,, we overrule such contention because of the provision in the written contract that all agreements not incorporated in the writing; *593 were waived and the writing contained all the agreements between the parties. To allow proof of an express oral warranty would be to vary the terms of a written instrument. Too, appellee briefly urges the jury’s finding of the agreement to install a 5-ton unit if the 3-ton unit did not adequately cool and heat its offices supports the judgment. We overrule this position because such an agreement could not in the light of the parol evidence rule be shown. Actually appellee was relying on both of these affirmative representations on the theory that they were made with intent to deceive and it relied on them and was thus by fraud induced to execute the contract. The jury finding of the absence of intent to deceive and the absence of any finding of reliance on the representation by appellee prevented any judgment on such theory favorable to appellee. The issues as to reliance were not answered as they were submitted conditioned on affirmative answers to the issues as to whether the representations were made with intent to deceive.

While the court’s judgment does not reflect on what answers it was based, we are of the view that it could only have been based on the answer to Special Issue No. 1, finding that the 3-ton unit failed to perform the purpose for which it was installed. This would be a finding there had been a breach of an implied warranty that where something is purchased for a special purpose, which fact is known to the seller, and the buyer relies on the superior knowledge of the seller to supply the article to serve such purpose, the law implies that the article will perform the purpose for which it is sold.

Special Issue No. 1 reads as follows:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the three ton Day and Night unit installed by plaintiff in defendant’s building failed to perform the purpose for which it was installed?”

The appellant objected to this issue and asked that one issue should inquire as to whether the equipment “wholly” failed to perform such purpose and another issue should inquire as to whether it only “partially” failed to perform such purpose. He urged an answer to the issue as submitted would not inform as to whether there was only partial or total failure to perform. Appellant submitted two specially requested issues. One read:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the 3-ton unit in question adequately performed the purpose for which it was intended?”

The other read:

“Do you find from a preponderance of the evidence that the 3-ton unit was wholly useless for the purpose for which it was intended?”

Both requested issues were refused.

The position of appellant is that a purchaser may not have rescission of an executed sale for breach of an implied warranty unless the article sold is wholly useless for the purpose for which it was sold, but if it performs such purpose in part the buyer is relegated to a suit for damages.

The position of appellee is that if an article is sold for a special purpose, which fact is known to the seller, and the buyer relies on the superior knowledge of the seller, the buyer is entitled to a rescission of the contract though executed if the article does not perform the purpose for which it is sold.

The rule in Texas, which seems well established, is that the buyer is entitled to rescission of an executed contract where there is a breach of the implied covenant of fitness of the article for the purpose for which it is sold only if it is entirely worthless for the purpose for which it was known by the seller to have been intended. Bedner v. Dunigan Tool & Supply Co., 142 *594 Tex. 663, 180 S.W.2d 919; Southern Gas & Gasoline Engine Co. v. Peveto, Tex.Civ.App., 150 S.W. 279; Fulwiler v. Lawrence, Tex.Civ.App., 7 S.W.2d 636; Dillard v. Clutter, Tex.Civ.App., 145 S.W.2d 632, writ ref.; Norvell-Wilder Hardware Co. v. McCamey, Tex.Civ.App., 290 S.W. 772; Wright v. Davenport, 44 Tex. 164; 30 Texas Law Review 341; 37-A Tex.Jur., § 311, pp. 640-643. If it is not entirely worthless for the purpose for which the seller knew it was intended, the buyer may only recover damages. 30 Texas Law Review 341.

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Bluebook (online)
334 S.W.2d 591, 1960 Tex. App. LEXIS 2157, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/adams-v-bailey-transportation-co-texapp-1960.