Haney-Campbell Co. v. Preston Creamery Ass'n

93 N.W. 297, 119 Iowa 188
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedJanuary 26, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 93 N.W. 297 (Haney-Campbell Co. v. Preston Creamery Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haney-Campbell Co. v. Preston Creamery Ass'n, 93 N.W. 297, 119 Iowa 188 (iowa 1903).

Opinion

Weaver, J.

This action is based upon a written contract, by which plaintiff undertook to erect and equip a creamery for the defendant association at Preston, Iowa, for the[sum of $8,150. That portion of the contract which is more particularly involved reads as follows: “The party of the second part agrees to make a payment for building material and machinery covered by this agreement as follows: Twelve hundred dollars ($1,200) when the building is completed according to contract; nine hundred and fifty dollars ($950) in thirty (30) days from date of completion and starting of machinery; provided machinery is according to contract, and the Squeezer Combine churn is satisfactory. An extra thirty (30) days shall be allowed for testing separators; and-in sixty (60) days from the. completion and starting of the machinery in said factory the balance, one thousand ($1,000) dollars, shall be due and payable: providing that during that time said separators do good and satisfactory work. Should the said separators fail to do good work, and prove unsatisfactory to the second party, the first party agrees to substitute any style of belt-machine separator designated by said second party of not greater capacity than of 2,500 pounds per hour, or to permit the second party to withhold a sum not to exceed one thousand dollars ($1,000), that they may purchase other separators. Should the separators mentioned in specifications prove defective, the first party is permitted to remedy any such defects within a reasonable time without prejudice.” The plaintiff alleges that it has fully performed its agreement, and there is due and unpaid upon the contract price the sum of $1,000, for which it asks judgment. The defendant denies that plaintiff has performed its contract, and alleges that there is [191]*191notMng due or unpaid on the contract price. Defendant further answers that the plaintiff agreed to furnish separators with a capacity of 2,500 pounds per hour, but failed so to do; that within the period allowed for testing the separators they were found to be insufficient, defective, and unsatisfactory, and incapable of doing satisfactory work; that notice of such failure of the separators was given to the plaintiff; that, after waiting a reasonable time for plaintiff to remedy the defects, or to furnish other machinery in lieu thereof, and plaintiff failing so to •do, defendant was compelled to and did furnish other and proper machinery at the reasonable and necessary expense of $1,000, and elected to withhold the sum of $1,000 from -the contract price of the creamery, as by the express terms of the agreement it had the right to do; for which reason it is claimed there is nothing whatever due the plaintiff.

i. cohstuction of contract; satisfaction of purchaser; instructions, I. Plaintiff complains in argument that the trial •court misdirected the jury as to the' construction of the contract and the duties and obligations ■ of _ the parties thereunder. ‘The paragraphs of &. jt o x-the court’s charge to which most serious ex•ception is taken are as follows:

“(10) Said separators must not only have been capable, under proper management, of doing good work, — that is, such work as would be satisfactory to intelligent and reasonable men using that character of machinery, — but said contract required that, when tested, they should work -satisfactory to the defendant company. The defendants allege that said separators were not satisfactory to them, ■and, as before stated, the burden rests on the defendants to establish such alleged fact by a preponderance or greater weight of the evidence.
“(11) The defendants, in determining whether or not they were satisfied with such separators, must have acted honestly, and in good faith, and after making a fair and ■reasonable test of such separators.- They had no right to [192]*192base their action on any whimsical, fictitious notion or mercenary motive. Whether or not the defendants were honestly and in good faith dissatisfied with said separators and their work, is a question of fact for you to determine. In coming to a conclusion on such question, involving as it does the intention and motives of said company, you may and should take into consideration the acts and conduct of said company done through its officers, together with all other facts and circumstances shown in the evidence which may aid you in coming to a just conclusion.”

Criticising the rule thus stated, the appellant says: “The object of the contract was to secure machinery that would do ‘good work,’ and the right to reject it in case it failed to do good work; only this, and nothing more. Whether or not the separators did good work was susceptible of pro^, and the judgment of third persons was quite as competent and reliable as that of defendants. If defendants rejected the machines that were capable of doing good work, they acted unreasonably, and in violation of the clear intent of the contract, They necessarily acted either in bad faith, or through ignorance, or prejudice, or the undue influence and manipulation of third persons, who had pecuniary ends to gain in having these separators rejected. At most, they must give satisfactory reasons for their conduct, and must act reasonably; and their conduct in this respect is subject to judicial inquiry. ”

We cannot agree with the proposition thus stated. While the holdings upon this general question do not seem to be uniform, we think the rule has never been established that under a contract of the kind here being considered the buyer must not only act reasonably in rejecting the article furnished by the seller, but must also be able to give “satisfactory” reasons for such rejection. Under plaintiff’s theorv the rights of the parties are to be determined precisely as if the words, “and fail to prove satisfactory to the second party” were eliminated from [193]*193the contract. This we have no right to do. No word or words in a contract are to be treated as redundant if any meaning reasonable and consistent with other parts can be given thereto. Heywood v. Heywood, 42 Me. 229 (66 Am. Dec. 277); Randel v. Canal Co., 1 Har. (Del.) 151; Hollingsworth v. Fry, 4 Dall. 345 (Fed. Cas. No. 6,619, 1 L. Ed. 860); Baron v. Placide, 7 La. Ann. 229. There is nothing which inheres in the words referred to, nor in the contract as a whole, which justifies an inference that the parties did not mean exactly what they said. In the absence of anything in the contract as an entirety, or in the nature of the subject matter, which requires a different interpretation, courts are required to give effect to the agreement according to the ordinary popular meaning of the terms employed and in the established usage of the language. Cash v. Hinkle, 36 Iowa, 623; Stettauer v. Hamlin, 97 Ill. 312. That a • stipulation that the buyer shall be satisfied with his purchase before the sale is complete, or before he can be held liable for the price, is valid, has been many times decided. Silsby Mfg. Co. v. Town of Chico, (C. C.) 24 Fed. Rep. 893; Gray v. Railroad Co., 11 Hun, 70; McCarren v. McNutty, 7 Gray, 139; Brown v. Fostor, 113 Mass. 136 (18 Am. Rep. 463); Gibson v. Vail, 53 Vt. 476; Pierce v. Cooley, 56 Mich. 552 (23 N. W. Rep. 310); Exhaust Ventilator Co. v. Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co. 66 Wis. 227 (28 N. W. Rep. 343, 57 Am. Rep. 257); United States Electric Fire Alarm Co. v. City of Big Rapids, 78 Mich. 67 (43 N. W. Rep. 1030); Platt v. Broderick, 70 Mich. 577 (38 N. W. Rep. 579);

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Bluebook (online)
93 N.W. 297, 119 Iowa 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haney-campbell-co-v-preston-creamery-assn-iowa-1903.