Country Club Soda Co. v. Arbuckle

181 N.E. 256, 279 Mass. 121, 1932 Mass. LEXIS 938
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMay 18, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 181 N.E. 256 (Country Club Soda Co. v. Arbuckle) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Country Club Soda Co. v. Arbuckle, 181 N.E. 256, 279 Mass. 121, 1932 Mass. LEXIS 938 (Mass. 1932).

Opinion

Field, J.

This is an action for breach of warranties of fitness and of merchantable quality of sugar sold by the defendants, refiners in the State of New York, to the plaintiff, a manufacturer of beverages in this Commonwealth. The answer was a general denial and waiver. The case was heard by a judge sitting without jury, who made specific findings of fact and found for the plaintiff. It is before us on the exceptions of the defendants to the admission and exclusion of evidence, and to the judge’s rulings, refusals to rule as requested and denial of the defendants’ motion that he find for them, and on the exceptions of the plaintiff to rulings and refusals to rule as requested by it.

The defendants shipped by rail to the plaintiff in Springfield, on its order, a car load of fine granulated sugar containing one hundred twenty barrels. The plaintiff paid for the car load, used fifteen barrels, retained another barrel [125]*125from which samples were taken for examination, and reshipped to the defendants the other one hundred four barrels. The defendants paid to the plaintiff the contract price of the sugar returned, and the freight thereon.

The judge found that the sugar was sold to the plaintiff with an implied warranty of fitness and an implied warranty of merchantable quality, that there were breaches of these warranties, that as to four barrels there was a waiver of the breach of warranty of fitness, but as to eleven barrels there was no such waiver, and that the contract was not rescinded.

It was found that the amount of the damages as to four barrels of sugar used (and the barrel from which samples were taken) was the difference between the contract price — the value it would have had at the time of delivery to the carrier for the buyer if it had conformed to the warranty of merchantable quality — and its actual value. As to the other eleven barrels used it was found that the natural and probable consequence of the breach of the implied warranty of fitness was the loss of the syrup made from that sugar, and that this syrup if it had been fit for use in the manufacture of beverages would have had a value equal to the cost of the sugar and the cost of converting it into syrup, but, since the judge was unable to determine the cost of such conversion, he found that the only damage proved by reason of the breach of warranty of fitness was the contract price — the value which this sugar would have had if it had conformed to this warranty.

The defendants contend that the plaintiff cannot recover any damages in this action. They contend that the evidence did not warrant a finding that there was an implied warranty of fitness of any of the sugar, but warranted only a finding that there was an implied warranty of merchantable quality; that the evidence did not warrant a finding that there was a breach of either warranty; that, if there was any breach of warranty, it was waived by the plaintiff, and that by the return of the one hundred four barrels by the plaintiff and the acceptance of them by the defendants with repayment of the purchase price the contract was [126]*126rescinded. They contend, moreover, that if the plaintiff can recover at all it can recover as damages only the difference between the value which the sugar would have had if there had been no breach of warranty and its actual value. The plaintiff, on the other hand, contends that it is entitled to recover in this action the cost of the product made from the fifteen barrels of sugar and prospective profits.

The judge found, in accordance with an agreement of the parties, that the law of sales in New York as set forth in the sales act and the decisions of the courts of that State is the same as in Massachusetts.

1. The evidence warranted a finding that there was an implied warranty of fitness of the sugar for the manufacture of beverages.

There was evidence that the plaintiff, through a sugar broker, on June 26, 1928, ordered from the defendants one hundred twenty barrels of fine granulated sugar, delivery to be complete on receipt of the goods by the carrier, that the plaintiff received an invoice therefor dated July 6, 1928, and that the sugar was placed in a freight car in Brooklyn — and thus,, as is agreed, delivered to the plaintiff — between 1:00 and 2:00 p.m. on that day. (It appeared that fine granulated sugar, as the term is used in the trade, means a certain size of granulated sugar.) There was evidence, also, that the plaintiff had done business with the defendants for several years before the purchase in question and, earlier in the year 1928, had received a car load of sugar from them. A letter dated July 18 from the defendants to the plaintiff in reply to complaints by the plaintiff of the condition of the sugar now in question, taken in connection with other evidence in the case, disclosed by fair inference that the defendants knew at the time of the sale of this sugar that the plaintiff was a “soda manufacturer,” that is, a manufacturer of beverages, and in the manufacture of such beverages used granulated sugar in the preparation of filtered syrups. See Laplante v. Warren Cotton Mills, 165 Mass. 487, 489. A letter dated July 5 from the plaintiff to the defendants, introduced in evidence by the defendants, stated with reference to a [127]*127car load of sugar previously shipped from the defendants’ refinery, “. . . we find that this car of sugar has a lot of dirt. It is full of fine black specks and clogs our filters more than ever. We have had a hard time to filter the syrup and when you look right into the syrup you can see something that looks like black soot. We will appreciate it very much if you will advise us what we can do with this sugar. A week ago we asked . . . the broker, to place a car of sugar with you, which he did. We trust that this next car will not be in the same condition as the last car. We are writing . . . [the broker] today instructing him to ship the next car at once and we hope you will see that there won’t be any dirt in it as we shall have to return it if there is.” The inference was warranted that this letter was received by the defendants before they delivered to the carrier the car load of sugar now in controversy, and that the plaintiff’s order was not accepted by them before they received this letter.

It could be found on this evidence that before any sale, or contract of sale, was made by the defendants the plaintiff made known to them, by implication if not expressly, the particular purpose for which the sugar was required — the manufacture of syrups for use in making beverages — and relied on the defendants’ skill and judgment to furnish fine granulated sugar, reasonably fit for this purpose so far as the absence of foreign matter was concerned. G. L. c. 106, § 17 (1). DePasquale v. Bradlee & McIntosh Co. 258 Mass. 483, 488. Blanchard v. Kronick, 269 Mass. 464, 465; S. C. 277 Mass. 31. Weiner v. D. A. Schulte, Inc. 275 Mass. 379. Griffin v. Metal Product Co. 264 Penn. St. 254. Manchester Liners, Ltd. v. Rea, Ltd. [1922] 2 A. C. 74. See W. R. Grace & Co. v. National Wholesale Grocery Co. Inc. 251 Mass. 251, 254-255. Gossler v. Eagle Sugar Refinery, 103 Mass. 331, specially relied upon by the defendants, was decided on the ground that the buyer did not rely on the judgment of the seller. In Wilson v. Lawrence, 139 Mass. 318, and Inter-State Grocer Co. v. George William Bentley Co. 214 Mass.

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Bluebook (online)
181 N.E. 256, 279 Mass. 121, 1932 Mass. LEXIS 938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/country-club-soda-co-v-arbuckle-mass-1932.