Grist v. Schoenburg

197 P. 35, 115 Wash. 335, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 734
CourtWashington Supreme Court
DecidedApril 12, 1921
DocketNo. 16156
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 197 P. 35 (Grist v. Schoenburg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Washington Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grist v. Schoenburg, 197 P. 35, 115 Wash. 335, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 734 (Wash. 1921).

Opinion

Holcomb, J.

The parties hereto, on August 19,1919, made and entered into a written contract whereby appellants purchased of respondent his entire 1919 crop of "Winter Nellis and Keifer pears, at an agreed purchase price for the entire crop of $2,700 f. o. b. Yakima, Washington. Seven hundred dollars was paid down on the purchase price of the entire crop at the time of the execution of the contract. Thereafter respondent picked, packed and delivered to appellants Winter Nellis and Keifer pears in accordance with the terms of the contract, claimed that he had delivered the entire 1919 crop of such pears, and was entitled to the remainder of the purchase price. Appellants, however, were disappointed as to the quantity of pears in the crop so purchased, and refused to pay respondent the balance of the contract price. Respondent accordingly brought suit for the balance of the contract price, less certain offsets for boxes to contain the pears, and paper to wrap them, which were furnished by appellants at agreed prices.

Appellants, in their answer, pleaded misrepresentation and fraud on the part of respondent. The substance of the misrepresentation and fraud, alleged by appellants in their affirmative defense, was that, at the time of the execution of the contract, and prior [337]*337thereto, namely, on or about August 15,1919, respondent represented to appellants that he had a growing-crop of Winter Nellis pears of not less than twelve hundred boxes, first-class, merchantable pears, and a growing crop of Keifer pears of not less than four hundred boxes of first-class, merchantable pears; that he was certain that his estimate was correct, from the fact that, in 1918, this was the amount of the crop of such pears grown upon the same acreage upon which the 1919 crop was grown, and that he had a greater amount of pears of each variety growing in the year 1919 than in 1918; that appellants relied upon such representations and believed the same, and entered upon the contract because thereof.

It is then alleged that the representations were false, and known by respondent to be false at the time they were made, or could have been known by him to be false by ordinary diligence; that there was not the quantity of pears represented by respondent, and that, in truth and in fact, the quantity of Winter Nellis pears grown and delivered was 593 boxes, and of Keifer pears 120 boxes, and that at the time of the execution of the contract, Winter Nellis pears were of the market value of $1.40 per box, and Keifer pears $1.25 per box. That therefore appellants had been damaged in the sum of $1,138.20, and the consideration for the contract had failed to that extent; and it was further alleged that appellants had furnished respondent merchandise under the contract of the value of $203.99, and that, deducting- the value of such merchandise and the damage as alleged, there was owing- by appellants to respondent the sum of $657.81, which they therefore tendered to respondent, and which he refused to accept, and which they tender in their answer.

The affirmative allegations of fraud and misrepresentation, damage and failure of consideration, were [338]*338denied by the respondent in his reply. Upon these issues, upon a trial to the court and a jury, the jury returned a verdict for respondent in the sum of $1,830.06, and judgment was entered thereon.

On appeal two assignments of error are made:

First: denying appellants’ right to cross-examine the respondent as to how many pears he grew in his orchard in the season of 1919, he having testified on direct examination that he had delivered all of them.

Second: In denying appellants’ motion for a new trial.

I. On direct examination, respondent testified that he had both packed and delivered to appellants all of his pears of the Winter Nellis and Keifer varieties. On cross-examination, he was asked by counsel for appellants how much he estimated his pear crop would be, and how many Winter Nellis pears he had, and how many pickers he had. The court sustained objections to these questions on the ground that they were not proper cross-examination, being a part of appellants’ case. Appellants cite no authorities upon this proposition.

We have statutes, Rem. Code, § 1225, providing:

“A party to an action or proceeding may be examined as a witness, at the instance of the adverse party, or of one of several adverse parties, and for that purpose may be compelled in the same manner and subject to the same rules of examination as any other witness to testify at the trial,” etc.

And Rem. Code, § 1229, provides:

“The testimony of a party, upon examination at the trial,” etc., “may be rebutted by adverse testimony.”

We have held that these statutes are plain and explicit, and leave no room for interpretation. A party has the undoubted right to call the adverse party to [339]*339the stand and examine him, and to rebut his testimony by adverse testimony. Thomas v. Fos, 51 Wash. 250, 98 Pac. 663.

The questions propounded were relevant to the issues raised by appellants’ affirmative defense, and the court in its discretion might “have permitted the questions to be answered in cross-examination of the respondent, being the adverse party to the case, when attempted by appellants. Having such positive statutory right that cannot be denied, it is incumbent upon the trial court to accord the right by any orderly procedure which does not prejudice the party. But, ordinarily, the time for a party to examine his adversary is when his own case proper is reached; the time or stage of the trial when such examination may be had being, however, in the discretion of the trial court. 40 Oyc. 2473.

While it is true that the object of cross-examination is to weaken or disprove the case of one’s adversary, and that the right of cross-examination of such adversary should not be abridged (40 Cyc. 2476-77), nevertheless, under the statute quoted, appellants had a complete remedy at their own command by putting the respondent upon the stand when they reached their case proper, and in examining or cross-examining him as the statute permits, not being bound by his testimony, and having a perfect right to contradict it. There was, therefore, no error in limiting the cross-examination as was done by the ruling of the trial court.

II. Appellants based their motion for a new trial upon (1) misconduct and bias of a juror, and (2) newly discovered evidence.

As to the bias and misconduct of the juror, it is claimed that he was biased and prejudiced against two of the principal witnesses of appellants, having had [340]*340trouble with them about two years before, and that he concealed the fact, and testified on his voir dire that he was not acquainted with the witnesses. The record of the voir dire examination of the jurors is not brought before us. The affidavit of appellant, however, to the effect that the knowledge of the bias and prejudice of the juror towards the witnesses did not come to their attention until after the jury had been selected and the case was proceeding, shows that the knowledge came to the attention of the appellants before verdict.

“It is the general rule that if a juror deceives or misleads a party by falsely testifying when being examined as to his competency, and as a result the juror, though in fact disqualified, is accepted, such conduct, when discovered,

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Smith v. Kent
523 P.2d 446 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1974)
Tate v. Rommel
478 P.2d 242 (Court of Appeals of Washington, 1970)
Nelson v. West Coast Dairy Co.
105 P.2d 76 (Washington Supreme Court, 1940)
Crown v. Miller
91 P.2d 713 (Washington Supreme Court, 1939)
Wilder v. Nolte
79 P.2d 682 (Washington Supreme Court, 1938)
Repanich v. Columbia & Northern Fishing & Packing Co.
237 P. 1012 (Washington Supreme Court, 1925)
State v. Hanson
234 P. 28 (Washington Supreme Court, 1925)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
197 P. 35, 115 Wash. 335, 1921 Wash. LEXIS 734, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grist-v-schoenburg-wash-1921.