Bennett v. Piscitello

170 Misc. 177, 9 N.Y.S.2d 69, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2268
CourtRochester City Court
DecidedDecember 30, 1938
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 170 Misc. 177 (Bennett v. Piscitello) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Rochester City Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Bennett v. Piscitello, 170 Misc. 177, 9 N.Y.S.2d 69, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2268 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1938).

Opinion

Tompkins, J.

On August 5, 1936, the plaintiff offered in writing to install in defendants’ macaroni plant a No. 3 AR, 141 Ray oil burner and equipment to connect with defendants’ then coal heating system. The offer was accepted in writing by defendants on June 9, 1937. Thereafter the burner was installed, the installation being completed about the middle of the following August. The [179]*179agreed price was $1,240, one-half payable on completion and the-balance in thirty days; $920 of the purchase price has been paid. This action is brought to recover the balance of $320. There is no controversy as to the foregoing facts.

The oil burner was used by the defendants for about one year, when they removed it, the plaintiff having failed to comply with their demand to take it out.

The defendants allege both as a defense and a counterclaim the breach of an express warranty as to the amount of oil the heater would consume, and they demand judgment in the sum of $2,795. The plaintiff did not reply, but relies on section 156 of the Justice Court Act, which provides that new matter in the answer is deemed controverted by “ traverse or avoidance.” Section 87 of the Municipal Court Code of New York City provides that the court in its discretion may order a reply. A reply certainly would have been proper in this case. We must assume the plaintiff meets these allegations of a breached warranty by traverse or avoidance,” or perhaps both.

The plaintiff’s offer of August 5, 1936, at the bottom has the word over.” On the back1 are the words Fuel Analysis.” On the supposition that your present full requirement of coal is 135 tons.” This is followed by figures showing that 135 tons of coal has the same number of B. T. U.’s as 21,315 gallons of oil. “ B. T. U.” stands for British thermal unit.

The defendants urge that this statement was an express warranty that where 135 tons of coal had been sufficient for their plant, 21,315 gallons of oil, when burned in the oil heater plaintiff proposed to install, would do equally well.

Section 93 of the Personal Property Law defines an express warranty as an affirmation of fact by the seller relating to the goods, if its natural tendency is to induce the buyer to purchase, which he does, relying thereon.

This statement of the relative number of B. T. U.’s in oil and coal respectively, related to the efficiency of the oil heater which the plaintiff proposed to sell defendants, and install in their macaroni plant. Was the natural tendency of this affirmation an inducement to the defendants to buy the heater? The court so held on the trial when the defendants sought to show the prior discussion between the parties as to why they were induced to change from coal to oil. The plaintiff objected to its receipt on the ground that parol evidence might not be received to vary the terms of a written instrument. The court then ruled that if the plaintiff contended the language was ambiguous and did not warrant this construction, he might show by parol evidence how the statement [180]*180came to be inserted as a part of the contract. He did not accept the court’s offer. He should be bound by the court’s construction — unless the same is plainly erroneous.

The plaintiff proposed to install his oil burner, and so replace coal with oil as a heat producer. A statement as to the relative number of heat units of the two fuels could have been made with but one purpose, and that to show the superiority of oil as a fuel and thereby induce the defendants to install his oil burner. It is not only the logical conclusion, it is the only conclusion as to the reason of its incorporation in the offer. It was not a mere scientific conclusion announced to a group of scientists. It was the statement of a practical fact, made to a manufacturer to induce a sale. It was an express warranty that 21,315 gallons of oil burned in the oil heater which plaintiff proposed to install in defendants’ plant, would have the same efficiency as 135 tons of coal burned in the furnace which the oil heater replaced.

Was there a breach of this express warranty? There is no controversy over the kind of coal used, or that No. 6 oil was not the proper oil. From the middle of August, 1936, to the middle of August, 1937, the defendants used 149 tons of coal. From the middle of August, 1937, to the middle of August, 1938, when they took out the oil heater, they used 30,229 gallons of oil. The mean temperature when coal was used was 49.2°, while when oil was burned, 48.9°. During the coal period, the defendants made 3,006,173 pounds of macaroni, while when oil was used they made 2,815,173 pounds, about 100 tons less. Using the ratio that 21,315 gallons of oil equal 135 tons of coal, then 149 tons of coal would equal 23,727 gallons of oil as a heat producer. They actually used 30,229 gallons, an excess of 6,502 gallons, or twenty-seven per cent.

The plaintiff asserts that the defendants’ statement to the plaintiff, that 135 tons of coal was the amount they had previously used per year was untrue. It is not so proved. This statement was made prior to plaintiff’s offer of August 5, 1936. The 149 tons were used between August, 1936, and August, 1937. Even if untrue, it was immaterial. 'The warranty was not as to the amount of oil which would be used, but was the ratio of B. T. U.’s of oil to coal.

The plaintiff urges that the fact that during the time oil was used, two thirty-six-inch fans were installed in the drying rooms, their use was a change of condition which released the plaintiff from this warranty. Their use, after installation, called for more heat. It nowhere appears, however, it had any effect upon the operation or effectiveness of the oil burner. The pertinent question is simply the increased amount of oil their use compelled.

[181]*181When the fans were in operation with a lower temperature outside, it required oil to heat the cooler air. But how much? The fans were ready for use February eighth. There is no record of the periods they were used. The plaintiff is entitled to the benefit of any uncertainty he did not create. Prior to the fans’ installation the air in the room where the macaroni was dried was changed by opening windows. How much air came through the windows does not appear. Sufficient, however, to give the same results accomplished by the fans. The fans were used from one to two hours at a time, whenever needed.

Charles Wiley, the city’s heating expert, testified:

1. That one B. T. U. will raise fifty-five cubic feet of air one degree Fahrenheit.
2. That one thirty-six-inch fan, rotating 565 r. p. m., will take out 8,000 to 10,000 cubic feet of air per minute, and at 1,700 r. p. m., fifty per cent more.
3. That there are 152,000 B. T. U.’s in one gallon of No. 6 fuel oil.
Using these figures, two thirty-six-inch fans, rotating 1,700
r. p. m., would force out approximately 1,520,000 cubic feet of air per hour. The equation for determining how many gallons of oil will raise this volume of air 30° is as follows:
1,520,000 x 30
- = 5.49 gallons.
152,000 x 55

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Related

East River Savings Bank v. Cerullo Motors, Inc.
134 Misc. 2d 699 (New York County Courts, 1987)
Abdallah, Inc. v. Martin
65 N.W.2d 641 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1954)
Bennett v. Piscitello
259 A.D. 964 (Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of New York, 1940)

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Bluebook (online)
170 Misc. 177, 9 N.Y.S.2d 69, 1938 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 2268, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/bennett-v-piscitello-nyroccityct-1938.