Ditto v. International Harvester Co.

181 N.W. 544, 105 Neb. 544, 1921 Neb. LEXIS 81
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 19, 1921
DocketNo. 21148
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 181 N.W. 544 (Ditto v. International Harvester Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ditto v. International Harvester Co., 181 N.W. 544, 105 Neb. 544, 1921 Neb. LEXIS 81 (Neb. 1921).

Opinion

Dean, J.

Plaintiff sued to recover damages from defendant that he alleged arose out of the fraudulent sale to him by defendant’s agents of a defective stationary engine that was intended to be used for pumping water for irrigation purposes on plaintiff’s farm near Gillette, Wyoming. At the close of the testimony, when both parties had rested, the court directed a verdict against plaintiff and in favor of defendant for $1,305 on its cross-petition for an alleged remainder of the unpaid purchase price. The plaintiff appealed from a judgment on the verdict.

Plaintiff alleged generally that in April, 1913, he was induced by the false and fraudulent representations of defendant’s agents to purchase the defective engine in [545]*545question; that he explained in detail to defendant, through its agents, the use to which the engine was to be put, and also described the engine then in use and the pump that was to be operated; that he informed them of the acreage to be irrigated, the kind of soil, the kind of crops to be raised, the amount of water necessary, and the height to which it must be raised to irrigate the land. Hé alleged that he was a farmer and had no knowledge of machinery and engines, “especially of the type and kind of engine” in question, which defendant’s agents well knew; that defendant, knowing well the use to which plaintiff intended to put the engine, falsely and fraudulently represented to plaintiff and- warranted that its giant model 50-horse power 1913 type engine was of sufficient capacity and power to do the required work; that plaintiff relied on the representations and warranties so made and in reliance thereon was thereby induced to purchase the engine; that he hauled it to his farm and with the assistance and under the supervision of E. A. Thorsen, one of defendant’s agents, it was attached to the pump; that Thorsen started the engine, but it failed to operate the pump and was unfit to do the work for which it was intended and which the agents falsely and fraudulently represented and warranted that it would do; that he insisted that defendant take the engine back and return the consideration; that Thorsen refu'sed to do so, and in order to induce plaintiff to keep the engine falsely represented that a larger pulley Avheel, which he attached to the engine, would remedy the defect; that it failed to do 'so and the engine failed to pump the amount of water required by defendant’s warranty ; that defendant again refused, on plaintiff’s demand, to take the engine and return the consideration, but he assured plaintiff that “it would work all right after fit got well limbered up,”’ that he made complaint at the general office of defendant at Chicago and expert mechanics were sent from there to his farm, and they all failed, after considerable effort, to remedy the defect or to cause the engine to do the work for Avhich it was intended; that [546]*546the engine has never done “the work as represented and Avar ranted by the defendant;” that it was not the “giant model 1913 type as represented by the defendant, but was in fact an earlier model which had been manufactured by the defendant in 1909 or 1910, and from which the model number and name plate had been removed and defaced so that it was impossible to identify the model and make;” that the engine that Avas in fact purchased was up-to-date and reasonably worth $1,800, while the engine delivered was old and of no value, “by reason whereof plaintiff suffered damages in the sum of $1,800;” that he paid defendant $450' in cash when the engine was purchased; tha,t he gave two notes of $675 each; that the cost of hauling and installing the engine and other incidental expenses directly connected therewith caused an outlay by plaintiff of $950; “that by reason of the above-mentioned fraudulent representations and false warranties the plaintiff sufferd damages,” not only with respect to the foregoing-items, but he was also damaged in the years 1913 and 1914 by a decrease in the yield of his potato, hay, beet and grain crops in the sum of $11,933.50, and that the crop loss complained of was the immediate and the direct result of the incapacity and the inability of the engine to pump approximately the amount of Avater that was pumped by the engine formerly used by plaintiff on his farm, and that Avas necessary to properly irrigate the land, ‘all of Avhich defendant's agents represented and warranted the engine so purchased by plaintiff would do, and that because of such lack of Avater, so occasioned by defendant's fraud, approximately 175 acres of his farm land in 1913 and 1914 yielded only about one-third of the crop theretofore yielded by it; that his total damage aggregates $13,772 pn the premises.

Defendant in its amended ansAver and cross-petition denied every material allegation in the petition; alleged that it sold “to the plaintiff through its agent, J. T. Morgan,” of Gillette, Wyoming, the engine “referred to in plaintiff’s [547]*547petition,” under the terms of a written contract and written warranty; that it delivered, “installed, tested and operated” the engine on plaintiff’s farm, and that he at the time “expressed satisfaction with said engine and the way it operated and did its work; ” that he then paid to defendant’s agent $450 in cash and delivered to the agent two notes for $675 each; that the engine “was well made, .of good materials, and was durable if used with proper care. * * * Defendant states that said engine worked excellently until about August 1, 1913, when, because of the careless and negligent manner in which plaintiff and his agents took said engine apart and endeavored to put it together again, sevéral important parts'were broken. Defendant states that about August 29, 1913, its agents, though not bound by law so to do, repaired said engine as well as it was possible, and it avers on information and belief that the said engine since said date has run in a satisfactory way.”

Defendant denied that any of its agents represented or warranted that the engine “was of sufficient capacity to pump enough water to irrigate the crops plaintiff proposed to raise or that the plaintiff explained to said agents * * * the crops he proposed to raise. Defendant avers that it ivas beyond the power and authority of the said E. A. Thorsen, mentioned as defendant’s agent in the plaintiff’s petition, or of J. A. Peterson, who with said Thorsen took said order, or J. T. Morgan, to make any representation or warranty whatsoever in respect to the said engine; that the authority of said agents and each of them was confined to soliciting the said written contract heretofore referred to, * * * and that the only warranty or representation made by defendant or binding upon it is the said Avarranty contained in said Avritten contract. * * * Defendant denies that plaintiff is entitled to any damages whatsoever, but alleges that under the written contract plaintiff’s damages, if any, are limited to the purchase price of said engine.” Defendant alleged that no part of a $675 note given as a part of the purchase price, or the [548]*548interest thereon, has been paid by plaintiff, and prays that his petition be dismissed and for judgment on the note with interest and costs.

Defendant pleads as an exhibit a copy of the instrument under which the sale was made. So far as it is material here the copy follows: “Order for gas and gasoline engine. To J. T. Morgan. Town, Gillette. State, Wyo. The undersigned * * * hereby orders, subject to your approval ajid to all conditions of agreement and warranty printed on back of this order and made a part hereof, to be shipped * * * to J. T. Morgan * * * one International 50 H. P.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
181 N.W. 544, 105 Neb. 544, 1921 Neb. LEXIS 81, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ditto-v-international-harvester-co-neb-1921.