Berlin Machine Works v. Miller

110 P. 422, 59 Wash. 572, 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1242
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 8, 1910
DocketNo. 8652
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 110 P. 422 (Berlin Machine Works v. Miller) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Berlin Machine Works v. Miller, 110 P. 422, 59 Wash. 572, 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1242 (Wash. 1910).

Opinion

Fullerton, J.

The appellant delivered to the respondents two certain machines; namely, a self-feed ripsaw and a band resaw, under the following contract of sale and guaranty :

Chehalis, Sept. 4th, 1905.
Berlin Machine Works.
Main Office and Works: Beloit, Wisconsin.
Subject to strikes, accidents or other delays beyond your con* trol, please ship in good order the following Machinery, delivered F. O. B., Beloit, Wisconsin, about 1 week:
One latest improved ‘Pilot Wheel Set Works’ band resaw, No, 285, 64" 8" saw — Right hand with double roller bed as per explanations attached. Furnish one saw filed and fitted.
One self-feed rip saw, style No. 254, no counter with 1 16" saw,
Man to superintend starting and prove guarantee.
Freight allowed to Startup, Wash.
All communications to Chehalis, Wash.
For which we agree to pay within 9 months after date of shipment fifteen hundred and fifty and no-100 dollars with exchange.
The purchaser agrees to make settlement within sixty days after date of shipment and to then evidence all payments due at a later date, by notes bearing date of shipment and interest.
$150.00 for freight to be sent to Wallace Lbr. Co. when advised,
$300.00 cash, 60 days from shipment.
Balance at $125.00 per month, notes 6%.
See other side for guarantee.
It is agreed that title to the property mentioned above shall remain in the consignor until fully paid for in cash, and that in case of rejection consignee will promptly deliver it to consignor F. O. B, at Beloit, Wis., and that this contract is not modified or added to by any agreement not expressly stated herein, and that a retention of the property forwarded, after 60 days from date of shipment shall constitute a trial and acceptance, be a conclusive admission of the truth of all representations made by or for the consignor, and void all its contracts of warranty express or implied. It is further agreed that the purchaser shall keep the property fully insured for the benefit of the Berlin Machine Works.
Ship via with Wallace Lbr. Co. to Startup, rebilling to Gate, Wash.
Accepted by B. G. Williams, salesman for Berlin Machine Works, subject to approval at the main office, Beloit, Wisconsin.
H. J. Miller Lbr. Co.,
By H. J. Miller, Prop.
[575]*575Received and accepted Beloit, Wis., 9-8-05, Berlin Machine Works, by Osborn.
The guaranty was written on the back of the order and was in the following words:
H. J. Miller Lbr. Co.,
Chehalis, Wash.
Gentlemen: We guarantee the No. 285 to work successfully on
all classes of stock up to its full limit and to handle 8" stock from 12x12 or 14x14 up to 50,000 ft. BM in ten hours, provided saws are properly put up to stand up to work in hand. In event the guarantee is not made good, we agree to refund money paid for freight, installation and belting and remove from premises.
Accepted, Berlin Machine Works,
H. J. Miller Lbr. Co., Per Williams.
Chehalis, Wash.,
Sept. 4, 1905.

The machines described in the contract were shipped to the respondents on October 3, 1905, and reached them towards the latter part of the same month. The ripsaw was immediately set up by the respondents and used regularly by them thereafter as a part of the equipment of their mill. The band resaw was set up and started under the direction of one of the appellant’s assistants. This machine, according to the claim of the respondents, failed to comply with the guaranty, or work satisfactorily otherwise, and acceptance thereof was refused. This action was thereupon brought by the appellant to recover the purchase price of the machines as fixed by the contract. The respondents took issue on the allegations of the' complaint, and a trial was had which resulted in a judgment in their favor. This appeal was taken therefrom.

Taking up the assignments of error in the order in which the appellant presents them, the first to be noticed is the contention that the contract is an entire contract, not capable of being severed. But it has seemed to us that the contract was severable rather than entire. It is true there was but one consideration expressed for the two machines, and there is nothing in the record tending to show that a separate [576]*576price for each machine was agreed upon. But while these considerations tend strongly to establish the entirety of a contract, and in the absence of other conditions would be controlling, we do not understand them to be conclusive' in all cases regardless of what may be the remaining conditions of the contract. To so hold would violate a cardinal principal of the construction of contracts; it would be to construe the contract with reference to a part of the language employed, rather than by a reference to the whole. The entirety of a contract, it must be remembered, depends on the intention of the parties, and this intention is to be gathered from a consideration of the whole of the contract rather than from a consideration of a mere part.

Turning to the contract, it will be observed that the machines were sold under entirely distinct agreement's. With reference to the self-feed ripsaw, there are no covenants of warranty whatsoever, save such as are implied from the mere fact of sale, and no obligation is assumed concerning it or its operation after it reached the respondents; it was agreed that the retention of the saw after sixty days from the date of the shipment should constitute a trial and acceptance of the saw, and that in case of rejection, it was agreed that the consignee should return it to the consignor f.o.b. at Beloit, in the state of Wisconsin. With reference to the band resaw, the consignor specially guaranteed that it would work successfully on all classes of stock up to its full limit, and that it would cut three-inch stock from pieces twelve by twelve inches, or fourteen by fourteen inches, in size up to fifty thousand feet board measure in ten hours. It was agreed that a man should be sent to superintend starting the machine and to prove the guaranty; and that if the guaranty was not made good the money paid by the respondents for freight, installation of the machine in their mill, and for belting, should be refunded them and the machine removed from their premises. There was no time fixed within which [577]*577any of these acts should be done, other than such as the law implies; namely, a reasonable time.

In view of these differences in the contract with reference to the two machines, it seems idle to -suppose that the parties intended that the agreements with reference to the one machine should be deemed broken in the case the agreements were not performed as to the other.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
110 P. 422, 59 Wash. 572, 1910 Wash. LEXIS 1242, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/berlin-machine-works-v-miller-wash-1910.