Economu v. Schwartz

198 A.D. 723, 191 N.Y.S. 136, 1921 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8170
CourtAppellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York
DecidedDecember 2, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 198 A.D. 723 (Economu v. Schwartz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Economu v. Schwartz, 198 A.D. 723, 191 N.Y.S. 136, 1921 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8170 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

Merrell, J.:

The action is brought to recover $100 alleged to have been deposited by the plaintiff with the defendants, on or about October 25, 1920, as security for the performance on the part of the plaintiff of a contract for the purchase and sale of two platinum ring settings. It is alleged that the defendants on said date agreed to manufacture and deliver to the plaintiff, within a reasonable time, said ring settings in accordance with samples exhibited to the plaintiff, and for which, upon delivery, the plaintiff was to pay defendants the sum of $400. In the complaint it is alleged: “ That within a reasonable time thereafter the defendants thereupon offered [725]*725to the plaintiff, but neglected to deliver, two platinum ring settings in accordance with the contract, in accordance with the sample submitted, and in accordance with the description and patterns agreed upon; ” that the plaintiff duly performed all the conditions of the contract on his part and rescinded the sale and demanded the return of the $100 which he had so deposited.

Defendants in their answer admit the making of the aforesaid contract, and set up by way of counterclaim that the defendants manufactured and offered to the plaintiff the two platinum ring settings, which were in accordance with the samples exhibited to plaintiff and in accordance with the description and patterns shown the plaintiff at the time of the sale, and that the plaintiff refused to accept the same or to pay therefor. The defendants demand judgment upon their counterclaim in the sum of $300, giving credit to the plaintiff for the amount of such deposit.

The trial court found in favor of the defendants, and judgment of the trial court has been affirmed in the Appellate Term.

No evidence was given upon the trial respecting the market value of the two platinum settings. It was not alleged in the counterclaim, nor proven upon the trial, that the settings in question could not have been resold for a reasonable price, nor is there any evidence to show that the defendants notified the plaintiff that the goods were held by the defendants as bailees for the plaintiff. It was admitted by the defendants in their answer that the $100 paid as aforesaid was as security for the carrying out of the contract on the part of the plaintiff. Such payment, therefore, was not made on account of the purchase price, either before or after the settings were manufactured. The defendants’ recovery is for the purchase price of the settings.

It is the contention of the appellant that an action for the purchase price under the facts disclosed does not he.

The plaintiff testified that about the 25th of October, 1920, he went to the defendants’ place of business, accompanied by his wife, and that they were there shown certain platinu a settings; that the settings were satisfactory to the plaint: and that he ordered two. One was for a small diamond and [726]*726the other for a large one. The smaller setting .was to have ten or twelve small diamonds, and the larger setting thirty-six. When the settings were completed the plaintiff rejected the larger setting as not in accordance with the sample, and for that reason refused to accept the delivery of the settings or to pay for the same.

The evidence offered by the defendants is to the effect that the order was given substantially as claimed by the plaintiff, and that the two settings were ordered by the defendants, in accordance with the plaintiff’s order, from one Morris Wilinsky, a manufacturer, by a stock number, the small setting being known as No. 217, and the large setting as No. 256. Wilinsky’s place of business was in New York city, and he was the manufacturer from whom the defendants were accustomed to order settings similar to the ones selected by the plaintiff. Wilinsky manufactured the settings and brought them to the defendants’ place of business, where they were shown and tendered to the plaintiff.

Benjamin Schwartz, one of the defendants, testified that the aforesaid numbers by which the settings were ordered were stock numbers, and that such numbers could be purchased by anybody in the “ stock market,” and that anybody who wanted “ Wilinsky’s No. 256 can buy it in any jewelry store.”

Wilinsky testified that he received the order from the defendants, and that he did not customarily keep in stock mountings for three and one-half carats; that the largest mounting ordinarily kept in stock was for a carat and a half; that the larger mountings were made to order; that the stock number of the large setting which was manufactured by him for the defendants was “256;” that it was customary to furnish him with the stock number together with the number of carats of the stone to be set, and that he would then make the setting in accordance with the stock number.

The defendants offered proof to the effect that the settings tendered to the plaintiff were in exact accordance with the plaintiff’s order and exactly like the sampleso shown the plaintiff.

The trial court and the Appellate Term have found the facts in favor of the defendants, and the only question kto [727]*727be determined is as to whether or not under the circumstances the defendants were entitled to recover for the purchase price of the settings without alleging and proving that the settings could not readily be resold for a reasonable price, and that the defendants had notified the plaintiff that the goods were held by the defendants as bailees for him. No proof was given respecting the market value of the settings.

" The respondents rely upon the case of Scott v. Miller (114 App. Div. 6), and claim that the contract in question was for work, labor and services not within the Statute of Frauds, and for which the defendants were entitled to be compensated at the contract price upon tender of the settings to the plaintiff. The decision in the Scott case was made in 1906. The action was brought to recover the reasonable value of a portrait painted by the plaintiff for the defendant, Gertrude B. Miller. The portrait was that of the defendant’s deceased husband. The defendant had agreed to pay the plaintiff the reasonable value of her services, and had actually paid $1,000 therefor. A dispute arose concerning the value of plaintiff’s services, and the action was brought to recover the full value thereof. The court held that the plaintiff had made a sufficient tender of the portrait to the defendant and was entitled to recover the reasonable value of her services. Scott v. Miller and other kindred cases, even if they are held to be in point, are not controlling, since the enactment of the Sales of Goods Act, which now forms article 5 of the Personal Property Law (as added by Laws of 1911, chap. 571). Since the passage of such act, which took effect on September 1, 1911, an action for the purchase price can be brought only in the cases therein specified. Section 144 (Subds. 1, 2, 3) provides as follows:

§ 144. Action for the price. 1. Where, under a contract to sell or a sale, the property in the goods has passed to the buyer, and the buyer wrongfully neglects or refuses to pay for the goods according to the terms of the contract or the sale, the seller may maintain an action against him for the price of the goods.
2.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
198 A.D. 723, 191 N.Y.S. 136, 1921 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 8170, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/economu-v-schwartz-nyappdiv-1921.