Frick Co. v. Bridges

179 S.E. 861, 51 Ga. App. 123, 1935 Ga. App. LEXIS 594
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedApril 15, 1935
Docket24279
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 179 S.E. 861 (Frick Co. v. Bridges) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frick Co. v. Bridges, 179 S.E. 861, 51 Ga. App. 123, 1935 Ga. App. LEXIS 594 (Ga. Ct. App. 1935).

Opinion

Guerry, J.

The Frick Company sued Ruth R. Bridges and Don Bridges on certain promissory notes in the sum of $600 each. These notes represented the purchase-price of a certain engine sold under an express warranty contained in the order therefor signed by the defendants. The defendants admitted a prima facie case and set up as a defense that the engine was worthless and that the consideration for the notes had failed. By amendment the plaintiff attached to its petition the order for the machinery. This order was dated August 3, 1931, at Blakely, Georgia, and contained shipping directions to Fort Gaines, Georgia, for “One ‘Beu’ Twin City, 85 EL P. Engine Clockwise rotations with...............” The contract expressly warranted that the engine would burn fuel oil of 120 flash point, and that it was “well built, of good material, and when properly operated under like conditions, will perform as well as any other machine of the same size and rated capacity.” The order oí contract provided that $600 was to be paid in cash] and notes and mortgage executed for remainder of purchase-price; and these notes so executed are the ones sued upon. The evidence disclosed that the engine was shipped, and the $600 paid as per the contract, and notes and mortgage executed for the remainder of the purchase-price. The engine was set up for operation on August 26, 1931, and on trial was found to be defective in particulars set out in detail in the plea of the defendants. Thereupon notice in conformity with the contract was given Frick Company of such defects, and it sent a representative or representatives who made certain repairs. The evidence disclosed that after these repairs and corrections were made, the engine still failed to come up to the express warranties contained in the order. Don Bridges testified : “After Frick and Company got through putting in the cooling tower they didn’t stay around there and see it run long. Mr. Askew [a representative of the plaintiff] told me, after the cooling tower had been put in and connected, that it was laboring like hell. I told Mr. Askew I wanted him to take the engine back and give me my money, which his folks agreed to, and he said he would take it up with Mr. Ball. I wrote Ball in Atlanta and told him the engine would not pull the gin satisfactorily, and he said he would take it up. I tendered the engine to D. J. Askew, and wrote Frick and Company in Atlanta, offering to return the engine to them, but never got any response. I never got any response from Frick [125]*125and Company in Atlanta, and nobody connected with Frick and Company ever came to see me after they put np the cooling tower.” “I have never returned that engine to the place where I received it, because they asked me to try it, and if it did not perform, my money would be returned; but I have offered it back. I used the engine two seasons, but did not use it but six days after the cooling tower was installed. I did not return the engine at the end of the ginning season (1931), as Mr. Askew told me they were selling engines, not buying them. I got the engine at Fort Gaines, and never did take it back to Fort Gaines.” “I ginned 1520 bales in 1931, ginning approximately 600 of them with the little engine.” 920 bales were ginned with the engine bought from Frick Co. “The reason I used the engine in 1932 was because they would not accept it when I offered it back and I did not have sufficient funds to buy another.” The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff for $600, instead of $1800 sued for, and the plaintiff made a motion for a new trial which was overruled, and it excepted.

The contract of purchase contained the following provisions: “2. If, after notice by the purchaser as hereinafter provided and opportunity given to make machinery fulfill terms of warranty, it fails to make said machine, or attachments, or part thereof, perform according to contract, the company reserves the right to replace any part or parts, and if then the machine can not be made to fill the warranty, the machine or parts that fail are to be returned by the purchaser free of charge to the place where received, and Frick Company notified thereof, and at its option another may be substituted therefor that does fulfill the warranty, or the notes and money for such machine, part or parts, shall be immediately returned and the contract rescinded to that extent, and no further claims are to be made on Frick Company. . . The purchaser agrees as follows, to wit: If the machinery does not fulfill terms of warranty, to give notice in writing to the agent through whom purchased and by registered letter to Frick Company, Waynesboro, Pa., within five days from first putting same in operation, stating in what respect said machinery fails to perform. If defects reported are such as can be remedied by purchaser, Frick Company may, by letter, suggest remedy. If purchaser still fails to make same perform, he will immediately notify Frick Company again at Waynesboro, Pa., by telegram or registered letter, [126]*126and allow reasonable time to remedy defects, rendering at all times friendly assistance. To return machinery immediately to place where received, if Frick Company fails, after notice as above, to make same fulfill terms of warranty, If machinery is used longer than five days from first putting same in operation, without notice of failure to fulfill warranty, as required in paragraph a above, or if used at all after Frick Company is alleged to have failed to remedy defects, it shall operate as an acceptance of same and as a fulfillment of the terms of the warranty, That any assistance rendered by Frick Company, through its agents or employees, in operating said machinery within five days from starting same, shall not dispense with the notice required in paragraph a above, if same does not fulfill terms of warranty; nor shall such assistance operate as a waiver of such notice if given after the expiration of said five days, when no notice has been given of alleged failure to perform as provided in paragraph a above. . . That this order contains in writing and print the entire contract between the parties hereto, and that he has notice that no agent or salesman of Frick Company has authority to bind the company by any agreement not herein contained, not to alter this contract after it has been accepted by said company, nor take checks or notes payable otherwise than to order of Frick Company and that no employee of the company who is sent to make repairs or put machinery in operation, has authority to bind the company by any declaration, statement, or promise he may make with respect thereto.”

If believed by the jury, the evidence was sufficient to show that the plaintiff failed to deliver an engine which measured up to the express warranties contained in the contract of purchase. The evidence was also sufficient to show that the defendant complied with the terms of the contract of purchase with reference to giving notice of defects within five days after first putting the same in operation. The evidence was sufficient to show that Frick Company had failed to remedy the alleged defects pointed out, although an effort had been made so to do. As shown above, the contract provides that if Frick Company shall fail to remedy such defects, the purchaser shall “return machinery immediately to place where received,” and further, that if the machinery is “used at all after Frick Company is alleged to have failed to remedy defects, it shall operate as an ac[127]*127eeptance of same and as a fulfillment of the terms of the warranty.”

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Related

Frick Company Inc. v. Smith
27 S.E.2d 795 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1943)
Wade v. Hinson
13 S.E.2d 393 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1941)
Frick Co. v. Bridges
200 S.E. 173 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1938)
Belle City Manufacturing Co. v. Palmer
186 S.E. 219 (Court of Appeals of Georgia, 1936)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
179 S.E. 861, 51 Ga. App. 123, 1935 Ga. App. LEXIS 594, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frick-co-v-bridges-gactapp-1935.