Alamo Hotel & Garage Co. v. Toledo Scale Co.

208 P. 476, 71 Colo. 577
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedJuly 3, 1922
DocketNo. 10,384
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 208 P. 476 (Alamo Hotel & Garage Co. v. Toledo Scale Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alamo Hotel & Garage Co. v. Toledo Scale Co., 208 P. 476, 71 Colo. 577 (Colo. 1922).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Campbell

delivered the opinion of the court.

The defendant in error, The Toledo Scale Company, was plaintiff below, and The Alamo Hotel and Garage Company, plaintiff in error, was defendant. The parties are designated here as there.

The plaintiff scale company brought this action against the defendant to recover the sum of $310.00, the agreed purchase price of certain scales which the defendant ordered and plaintiff delivered. The defendant in its answer denied the material allegations of the complaint and, as separate defenses, pleaded: (a) That the scales ordered by the defendant were different from those set out in the complaint; (b) That the scales delivered by the plaintiff were not the scales ordered by defendant, but were scales sent for its temporary use until the scales ordered by defendant were received; (c) That the scales ordered by the defendant have never been delivered.

Defendant also filed a counterclaim or cross-complaint against plaintiff in the sum of $124.82 for board and room of plaintiff’s agent at the defendant’s hotel, and for storage, repairs and supplies which the defendant from its garage furnished the plaintiff’s agent under an agreement with [579]*579him that such indebtedness was to be credited on the price of the scales. The new matter of the answer was denied in plaintiff’s replication. At the close of the evidence the plaintiff asked, and the court granted its application, for judgment in plaintiff’s favor, for the amount of the purchase price and interest. The defendant is here with his application for a supersedeas.

Errors assigned and argued are: 1. The contract was not complied with by plaintiff. 2. Error in admitting incompetent evidence over defendant’s objection. 3. In overruling defendant’s motion to suppress depositions of two witnesses for plaintiff, Peele and Zolg. 4. In granting plaintiff’s motion for directed verdict in its favor. 5. In refusing permission to the defendant to offer any evidence under its counterclaim. 6. In permitting plaintiff to amend its replication, thereby introducing a new defense. These in their order:

1. The defendant, by its president, entered into a written agreement with plaintiff, on its customary blank sale orders, for the purchase of a scales specifically described. The proof shows, without any contradiction, that the scales as ordered, in the written agreement, corresponded in description in every respect with the scales received, except only as to the serial number thereof. Upon the trial the defendant’s president admitted that the only discrepancy between the scales ordered and those received by the defendant, is that the serial number of the scales delivered is “811-T” instead of “811-N” as described in the contract of sale. As the defendant made no use of the scales after they were delivered, he knew of no other objection to them, except that they had been used for sometime before they were shipped.

It is doubtful, in the absence of any evidence to the contrary, of which there is none, that the mere fact that “T,” instead of “N,” is used in describing the serial number, while in all other respects the scales delivered correspond with the scales ordered, would constitute a failure on the part of the plaintiff, to comply with the terms of the cop-[580]*580tract. Indeed, the defendant does not claim that the scales numbered “811-T” are in any wise inferior to, or different from, the scales numbered “811-N.” However, under the evidence produced, we are satisfied that the defendant is not in a position to urge that the contract is not complied with.

The court permitted the plaintiff, at the close of the trial, to amend its replication and to plead an estoppel in pads, and this plea was that scales ordered by the defendant of the plaintiff were delivered to the defendant within a short time after the order was given, and that the defendant received the same and for a period of one year and five months thereafter, offered no obj ection to them; never notified the plaintiff that the scales received differed from the order, in any respect; never tendered the scales back to thé plaintiff, nor made any attempt to rescind the contract because of the alleged non-compliance therewith on the part of the plaintiff. Defendant’s president admits, what is set forth in plaintiff’s plea of estoppel, and the only excuse that he gives for not notifying plaintiff that the scales shipped were not the ones ordered, is that, while he made no attempt to give such notice to the plaintiff, he was waiting until he could see the plaintiff’s selling agent to inform him thereof, but that he was unsuccessful in learning the address of this agent and never made any claim to the agent, or any officer of plaintiff, of such non-compliance until after the suit was brought.

The plea of estoppel is good in form and the uncontradicted evidence sustains it. For this reason alone the trial court was right in holding that the plaintiff, if it did not ship the kind of scales ordered, defendant is estopped to say to the contrary.

2. There is no evidence that these scales were sent for temporary use of the defendant until the scales actually ordered by the latter were shipped, while the ruling of the court, that the scales ordered were received, or at least, defendant may not now be heard to deny it, is clearly supported by the evidence.

[581]*5813. The court was right in refusing to receive any evidence offered by defendant in support of its counterclaim. The amount claimed therein is $124.82. It does not appear how much was for board and room of plaintiff’s agent, and how much for storage, repairs and supplies, which the counterclaim says were furnished to him, and there is no evidence that the agent was authorized to incur such debt. The written contract of sale says that the sale was for money to be paid within thirty days, and that contract declares that no agent of the company has the right or power to waive any of its terms or to make any other or different agreement concerning the sale of scales than the specifications written into the contract. No proper foundation was laid, therefore, for the admission of evidence in support of defendant’s claim that the agent was authorized, expressly or impliedly, by the plaintiff to incur the bills set up in this counterclaim. The court rightfully held that no further evidence to sustain the counterclaim or cross-complaint could be admitted, for the offer made did not include any facts that would tend to prove authority of agent to bind his principal.

4. The alleged incompetent evidence admitted was in answer to this question, propounded to plaintiff’s witness Peele, which was taken by deposition: “State, if you know, how much is now due and owing to the plaintiff from the defendant, and for what?” The objection made is that this calls for a conclusion of the witness and is asking the witness to testify to the ultimate fact which the jury only could determine. The answer to the question is “that there is due and owing to the plaintiff from the defendant $310.00 for the scales delivered.”

Counsel cites Mogote-Northeastern Consolidated Ditch Co. v. Gallegos, 70 Colo. 550, 203 Pac. 668, as supporting the defendant’s contention that admission of this evidence was prejudicial error, in that it calls for a conclusion of the witness and is not a subject of expert testimony. It might be, if there was nothing else in the record on the' subject, that the questions and answers were technically [582]*582improper.

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Bluebook (online)
208 P. 476, 71 Colo. 577, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alamo-hotel-garage-co-v-toledo-scale-co-colo-1922.