American Fruit Product Co. v. Davenport Vinegar & Pickling Works

172 Iowa 683
Supreme Court of Iowa·Decided November 27, 1915·Published·Cited by 12 cases

Opinion

Weaver, J.

Plaintiff’s petition alleges, first, a sale of 80 barrels of vinegar to the defendant, pursuant to a written contract; that said sale was made on or about December 39, 1911, but that the shipment was invoiced as of January, 1912; and that, of the agreed price of said vinegar, there remains due and unpaid the sum of' $200. In a second count, plaintiff alleges the further sale to defendant of 5 other carloads of vinegar of 80 barrels each, pursuant to the terms of a written contract, and that, of the agreed purchase price, there is due and unpaid the sum of $2,258.34. In a third count, the defendant is charged with the alleged agreed price of a quantity of “Holly Brand Juice”, sold to the defendant on its written order, to the amount of $239.07, which is also due and unpaid. In an amendment filed pending the trial, plaintiff further alleges that the shipments of vinegar for which payment is demanded were received,, accepted and retained by defendant. The defendant admits the contracts mentioned in the petition and the sales made to it thereunder, as alleged by the plaintiff, but denies that the goods delivered were of the guaranteed quality. It pleads no payments upon the purchases in addition to those credited in the petition. It pleads, however, a counterclaim for damages, based upon an alleged warranty of the goods purchased and a breach thereof.

It is claimed by appellee in argument that defendant does not, in fact, allege any warranty of the goods, and at most alleges a failure of the goods to comply with plaintiff’s representation or description. For reasons stated in a later paragraph of this opinion, the objection cannot be sustained. The plaintiff denied the counterclaim; and, upon the issues thus joined, there was a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff, and defendant appeals.

I. The written contract, declared upon in the second count, is attached as an exhibit to the petition, and is in the following form: «

“Terms of Sale: 1% discount for cash in ten days; or net thirty days from date of invoice. -
[687] “The American Fruit Product Company, of Rochester, N. Y., hereby agrees to sell and deliver as hereinafter specified to The Davenport Vinegar & Pickling Works, of Davenport, Iowa, on track at seller’s Mills in New York State, 1,000 barrels of A. F. P. Co. Brand Apple Vinegar, in carload lots of not less than eighty barrels, as follows:
“30% thereof before June 1st, 1912.
“30% thereof between June 1st and August 1st, 1912.
“20% thereof between August 1st and September 1st, 1912.
“20% thereof between September 1st and 'October 1st, 1912..
“And the said The Davenport Vinegar & Pickling Works hereby agrees to purchase and pay for said Apple Vinegar -14- cents per gallon, package included, in accordance with the terms above stated, and to receive said Apple Vinegar at the times and in the quantities above specified.
“Such Apple Vinegar is guaranteed to be -6- per cent, or -60- grains in strength, and to be the product of apples; also to comply with the National Pure Food Laws. . . .
“. . . The price is guaranteed against our own decline on any unfilled portion during period of this contract.
“Signed in duplicate this 17th day of Nov., 1911.”

The contract mentioned in the first count is not set out; but the evidence tends to show that it was identical with the one above quoted, as to terms and conditions of sale. It-appears that the contract mentioned in the second count was entered into before the delivery of all the vinegar under the first contract for which payment is claimed in the case. Before any deliveries were made under the second contract, and after the delivery of the carload mentioned in the first count of the petition, the defendant notified plaintiff that the vinegar was not of the specified quality, and that chemical tests had shown it to be below the legal standard, and defendant would not undertake to put the product on the market. Th§ [688] correspondence growing out of this complaint was voluminous. Plaintiff having expressed -its willingness to deliver vinegar which, when reduced by a given proportion of water, would conform to the requirements of the Iowa pure food statute, defendant forwarded its duplicate copies of the written contracts, asking that such stipulation be inserted therein. To that request, plaintiff responded as follows:

“May 9th, 1912.
“We acknowledge receipt of your favor of the áth inst., together with copies of your vinegar contracts with us, which we return herewith. We have no objection whatever in giving you a guarantee on the 60 grain vinegar that we ship you to apply on these contracts, but if we were to make any changes or additions to the contracts that have already been executed it would technically invalidate them, so to avoid any misunderstanding we can cover the subject by letter which will serve the same purpose and we believe will meet with your entire approval.
‘‘The only guarantee that we can give you on 60 grain vinegar is that we guarantee it to contain the required amount of solids or constituents to comply with all State and National Pure , Food Latos when properly and accurately reduced to 40 grain strength, by the addition of pure distilled water.
“You may treat this letter as a supplement to the existing contracts if you so desire and you may be assured that every gallon of vinegar we ship you will contain the proper amount of solids to reduce to your, standard strength.
“Yours very truly,
“American Fruit Product Co.,
“W. F. Borncamp, Sales Mgr.”

Other vinegar being ordered after the date of the supplemental contract, defendant again complained that chemical tests showed it to be substantially identical with prior shipments, which had been found unsatisfactory. Still other [689] shipments were found satisfactory, and so reported to plaintiff. Later defendant again complained that two carloads shipped in September, 1912, were materially below the agreed standard, and said, “We wish to advise you that we will not handle this kind of dope. We must have vinegar that will reduce to forty grains and still comply with the law after being reduced.” After setting out in detail what it claimed to be a chemical analysis of the vinegar, defendant further said: .

“We wish you to understand right now that it is useless for you, to send us any more vinegar that is not A-l and comply with the law after reduction to 40 grains.

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American Fruit Product Co. v. Davenport Vinegar & Pickling Works, 172 Iowa 683 (iowa 1915).

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