Federal Motor Truck Sales Corp. v. Shanus

250 N.W. 713, 190 Minn. 5, 1933 Minn. LEXIS 871
CourtSupreme Court of Minnesota
DecidedNovember 3, 1933
DocketNo. 29,441.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 250 N.W. 713 (Federal Motor Truck Sales Corp. v. Shanus) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Federal Motor Truck Sales Corp. v. Shanus, 250 N.W. 713, 190 Minn. 5, 1933 Minn. LEXIS 871 (Mich. 1933).

Opinion

*6 HOLT, Justice.

The appeal is by plaintiff from the order denying its motion in the alternative for judgment notwithstanding the verdict or a new trial.

Plaintiff’s action was to foreclose a conditional sales contract for the sale of a truck by plaintiff to defendant. Defendant by an amended answer alleged that the truck was sold with a warranty of fitness; that there ivas a breach of the warranty in that the brakes would not and could not be made to function properly, although plaintiff had repeatedly attempted to remedy the defects therein without avail; that on account of failure to make the brakes work properly defendant rescinded the contract and counterclaimed for a return for what he had paid thereon. The jury returned a special verdict to the effect that plaintiff did not inform defendant when it took the truck that it was taken for the purpose of foreclosure, and a general verdict in favor of defendant assessing “his damages in the sum of one hundred dollars, and the company keep both trucks.” The jury’s reason for not returning larger damages is found in the fact that plaintiff had taken an old truck of defendant’s in the deal at perhaps a high valuation. At any rate, more than half of the purchase price had been paid.

There has been more than the usual sparring for positions of supposed advantage in this litigation. Had plaintiff been satisfied with retaking its truck and retaining all it got from defendant there likely would have been no litigation. But plaintiff insists on having its pound of flesh. It desires to foreclose the contract by selling the truck at a sheriff’s sale, where no one but itself is likely to bid, and take a deficiency judgment for the balance. Plaintiff seeks to review various orders, such as opening the default judgment and permitting defendant to answer, allowing an amended answer, and transferring the case from the court calendar to the jury calendar. These were all matters Avithin the judicial discretion of the trial court. The record does not disclose any abuse of that discretion in any of the orders made on the subjects mentioned, and no useful purpose would be served by any statement of the showing made as basis for the orders. Ho harm came to *7 plaintiff from denial of its motion to strike parts of the amended answer as sham and frivolous, or from not compelling defendant to elect whether to rely on fraud or on breach of warranty, for there was no proof of fraud offered, and the so-called counterclaim for rescission was predicated and submitted solely upon the breach of implied warranty.

One of the contentions of plaintiff is that this was a sale of a truck under its well known name “Federal,” and therefore by this provision of the uniform sales act implied warranty is excluded:

“In the case of a contract to sell or a sale of a specified article under its patent or other trade-name, there is no implied warranty as to its fitness for any particular purpose.” 2 Mason Minn. St. 1927, § 8390(4).

The evidence would justify a jury in finding that defendant did not buy the truck by or on account of its trade-name, but on account of the representations of plaintiff’s salesman as to the quality of the truck for the work defendant had to do with it. Defendant testified that Murray, the salesman, who knew defendant’s business, assured defendant that this truck Avould be the very thing for his business, and defendant relied thereon in making the purchase. The case of Iron F. C. S. Co. v. Brown, 182 Minn. 399, 401, 234 N. W. 685, 686, appears decisive against plaintiff’s contention. There it was said:

“We are of the opinion that where the buyer fully informs the seller of his particular needs and the seller undertakes to select or supply an article suitable for the purpose involved, subd. 1 [of § 8390]' applies even though the article may be described in the contract of sale by its trade-name.”

Section 8390(1) reads:

“Where the buyer, expressly or by implication, makes known to the seller the particular purpose for Avhich the goods are required, and it appears that the buyer relies on the seller’s skill or judgment (whether he be the groAver or manufacturer or not), there is an implied warranty that the goods shall be reasonably fit for such purpose.”

*8 When he purchased the truck defendant signed an order therefor, exhibit A, and also a conditional sales contract, exhibit B. The order contained these statements:

“This order is subject to all of the printed conditions following and the truck is sold under the warranty printed on the reverse side of this order. * * * It is understood and agreed that there are no representations or agreements with respect to the goods ordered other than as herein written.”

On the reverse or back side of the order are printed purported warranties of the Federal Motor Truck Company of Detroit, Michigan, presumably the manufacturer of the truck, but not signed by it, and it is not stated to be the warranty or contract of plaintiff. The conditional sales contract contains this statement:

“No warranties have been made in reference to said property by the seller to the purchaser unless expressly written hereon at the date of purchase.”

There are no warranties written or printed thereon. Do the quoted provisions exclude the existence of the implied warranty of fitness? It would seem that the decision in Bekkevold v. Potts, 173 Minn. 87, 88, 216 N. W. 790, 59 A. L. E. 1161, answers the question in favor of the buyer. There the sales contract stated:

“No warranties have been made * * * by the seller to the buyer unless * * * written hereon.”

This is essentially the language of the order and conditional sales contract in this case. From the quoted part of the sales contract in the Bekkevold case the court said [173 Minn. 90]:

“We must conclude that the parties did not intend to exclude the implied warranty which could easily have been done in unmistakable terms had they so chosen.”

It cannot be held that the printed matter on the reverse side of the order excludes implied warranty of fitness. It starts out in this manner:

“This is to certify that we, the Federal Motor Truck Co., of Detroit, Mich., warrant the new motor trucks manufactured by us *9 to be free from defects in material and workmanship, * *. The foregoing obligation to make good any defective parts returned as herein provided is in lieu of all other warranties expressed or implied, and of all other obligations or liabilities on our part, and we neither assume nor authorize any other person to assume for us any other liability in connection with the sale of our trucks.”

This equivocal recital of what the manufacturer warrants on the back of the order cannot be held to exclude implied warranty in the sale by plaintiff, a dealer, where the final contract executed by both parties to this transaction, the conditional sales contract, contains no reference to any manufacturer’s warranty. Moreover, in that connection consideration should be given of § 8390(6), reading:

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Bluebook (online)
250 N.W. 713, 190 Minn. 5, 1933 Minn. LEXIS 871, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/federal-motor-truck-sales-corp-v-shanus-minn-1933.