Harding v. Taubel

1 F.2d 614, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 1867
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedSeptember 30, 1924
DocketNo. 3134
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 1 F.2d 614 (Harding v. Taubel) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Harding v. Taubel, 1 F.2d 614, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 1867 (3d Cir. 1924).

Opinion

DAVIS, Circuit Judge.

On December 22, 1921, a contract of which the following is a copy was entered into by plaintiffs and defendant :

“Boston, Mass., Dec. 22, 1921.

“Confirmation of Order No. 4r-7253

“Lewis E. Taubel, Norristown, Pa.:

“We have entered your order of the 21st as our 4-7258, as given our Mr. J. M. Reynolds for 25,000 lbs. 36/2 ‘RP’ royal lustre mercerized cones.

“Payable in New York or Boston funds only from Nyanza Mills. Price $1.00 f. o. b. Woonsocket, R. I. Terms, 2% 10th prox. Freight paid to Norristown, Pa.

“Deliveries, about 5,000 lbs. monthly, beginning January

“All to be taken by June, 1922.

“Shipping directions as above. A. H. G.

“Very truly yours,

“Harding, Tilton & Co.,

“By [Signed] Karl M. Nelson.

“This is in accordance with our understanding.

“[Signed] Lewis E. Taubel.”

Printed at the bottom of this letter, and separated from the body of it, was, among other things, the statement that “all agreements made in connection with this transaction are specified on this acknowledgment.”

Late in December, 1921, or early in January, 1922, plaintiffs delivered 5,050 pounds of this order, of which the defendant used 1,564 pounds, which at the contract price, less certain credits, amounted to $1,439.02. In using four cases of this installment, de[615]*615fendant broke 2,000 needles, which were valued at $80. He notified plaintiff of this fact, and threatened to return the balance and cancel the contract, because, as he contended, the material did not comply with a sample of 300 pounds purchased December 9, 1921, but, upon request of plaintiffs’ salesman, he used three more cases, making seven cases in all. These three eases proved to be the same in character as the other four, and so on February 18, 1922, the defendant returned the balance of the 5,050 pounds, and went into the open market and purchased 25,000 pounds of similar yarn at $1.05 per pound, 5 cents per pound more than he was to pay plaintiffs. Defendant contends that plaintiffs expressly warranted the bulk purchased on December 22, 1921, to be of the same quality as the sample of 300 pounds, while plaintiffs contend that the purchases on December 9th and 22d were separate, distinct, and independent.

At the trial the eourt adopted the theory of the defendant, and admitted evidence tending to show that the bulk was not of the same quality as the sample, and accordingly charged the jury which rendered a verdict, in substance for the defendant, but in form for thé plaintiffs in the sum of $187.22. This amount was the excess admittedly due plaintiffs for tho yam delivered over and above the counterclaim allowed defendant for damages because the bulk did not comply with sample.

The plaintiffs filed a motion for a new trial, but this was denied. While the learned trial judge concluded that he had erred in admitting evidence of an express warranty, and in submitting that question to the jury, he said:

“I also think that these errors were not prejudicial to the plaintiff, because the defendant was entitled to introduce evidence that the sale was by sample, and was entitled to instructions that, if it was a sale by sample, then there was an implied warranty that the bulk order should correspond in quality with the sample. In other words, what was submitted as a question of express warranty should have been submitted as a question of implied warranty; but the terms of both warranties were the same.”

It is true that section 16 of the Pennsylvania Sales Act of May 19, 1915 (P. L. 543; Pa. St. 1920, § 19Ó64), provides that, “in a case of a contract to sell or a sale by sample: (a) There is an implied warranty that the bulk shall correspond with tho sample in quality.” The real question, however, is whether or not the sale was by sample.

Plaintiffs urge that the sale was not by sample, because the agreement was deliberately put into writing, which contains the whole of their undertaking, and that does not refer to a sale by sample. They further say this very order expressly provides that “all agreements made in connection with this transaction are specified on this acknowledgment.”

When parties have deliberately put their agreements into writing in such terms as import a legal obligation, without any uncertainty as to the object or extent of their engagement, it is conclusively presumed that their whole undertaking, its extent and manner, was reduced to writing, and all “oral agreements which the parties may have made before or at the time of the execution of the written contracts are regarded by the law to be merged in the writing.” Rash v. Shower Bros. (C. C. A.) 288 Fed. 819; 1 Greenleaf on Evidence (16th Edition) § 275; Dewitt v. Berry, 134 U. S. 306, 315, 10 Sup. Ct. 536, 33 L. Ed. 896; Northern Assurance Co. v. Grand View Building Association, 183 U. S. 308, 318, 22 Sup. Ct. 133, 46 L. Ed. 213; Etna Forge & Bolt Co., etc., v. Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co., etc. (C. C. A.) 282 Fed. 786. Therefore, in the absence of fraud, accident, or mistake, not here alleged, parol evidence may not be admitted to contradict or vary the terms of a written instrument. The provision that “all agreements made in connection with this transaction are specified on this acknowledgment,” is doubtless a printed protection that goes out with all of tho plaintiffs’ letters on every subject.

If the writing here is complete, and shows tho extent and manner of the undertaking of the partios, either with or without the above provision, parol evidence that this was a sale by sample, and that the bulk did not correspond in quality with tho sample, was inadmissible. The evidence establishes that there are several grades of mercerized yam. The so-called sample was all of two-ply and free from slugs; hut the bulk was mixed, some two-ply and some fouryply, and contained slugs. In trying to use four bales of the mixed, as above stated, tho defendant broke 2,000 dial needles. The contract and evidence show that defendant thought that the bulk order was to be of tho samo quality as the 300 pounds previously purchased, for, when he began to have trouble on account of the mixture, he wrote, January 12, 1922, complaining about the four-ply and the slugs which were on the yarn, and stated that he would try a [616]*616few more eases, and if they worked the way the one he was then working did, he would return the balance and cancel the order. The plaintiffs’ salesman, Mr. J. M. Reynolds, then called on defendant once or twice and urged hirq to give the yam further trials. He did so, and again wrote plaintiffs on January 27, 1922, stating that he had tried a few more cases, but they were just the same as the others, and asked for shipping instructions to return the yarn; but he did not receive a reply to this letter and so on February 18, 1922, he wrote again as follows:

“On January 27 I wrote you regarding the 36/2 yarn which I purchased from you on approval of one ease. This yarn did not turn out to be as good as the sample case, which Mr. Reynolds knows, as he took with him 5 or 6 cones from the mill which were mixed with four-ply. On another occasion he took another lot of 5 or 6 cones with four-ply and also badly wound.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
1 F.2d 614, 1924 U.S. App. LEXIS 1867, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/harding-v-taubel-ca3-1924.