Henson v. Wright

296 S.W.2d 367, 41 Tenn. App. 439, 1955 Tenn. App. LEXIS 63
CourtCourt of Appeals of Tennessee
DecidedFebruary 25, 1955
StatusPublished

This text of 296 S.W.2d 367 (Henson v. Wright) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Henson v. Wright, 296 S.W.2d 367, 41 Tenn. App. 439, 1955 Tenn. App. LEXIS 63 (Tenn. Ct. App. 1955).

Opinion

CARNEY, J.

The complainant below, J. J. Henson, filed his original bill against the appellant, Joe Wright, d/b/a Wright Buick Company of Camden, Tennessee, and the Commerce Union Bank, a Tennessee Banking Corporation with an office in Camden, Tennessee. Complainant sought the rescission of a contract for the purchase of a tractor and equipment from the defendant, Joe Wright, and sought cancellation of a title retention note in the total sum of $654 payable in monthly payments of $36.39 each, to the order of defendant, Joe Wright, and by him endorsed and transferred to the defendant, Bank, which held the note at the time the suit was filed.

The complainant, who was employed by the TVA at or near the Few Johnsonville Steam Plant as a boiler maker and who lived at Eva, near Camden, Tennessee, inquired of the defendant, Wright, about the purchase of a second hand tractor and equipment to work a few acres of truck patch. The defendant, Wright, who was in the automobile business and who was not a regular tractor dealer, told him that he thought he knew where he could procure one for him.

[441]*441On an agreed date the complainant, the defendant, Wright, and a mechanic named Stepp went ont to the home of Mr. Johnson, who owned the tractor, and looked over the tractor, and the tractor was started and driven aronnd in a field at Johnson’s home, without a plow or other implement attached. Johnson was not at home at the time of the demonstration.

The complainant, Henson, agreed to buy the tractor, and arrangements were made by the defendant, Wright, for one Arnold, a witness for defendant, to deliver the tractor and equipment to complainant’s home. Arnold hauled the implements in the truck and the tractor was driven by one Hurlie Williams. About a mile from complainant’s home the tractor quit running and was towed or pulled to the defendant’s garage and place of business in Camden.

The witness, Arnold, testified that he did not remember who hired him to deliver the tractor, but the defendant, Wright, testified that he arranged with Arnold to deliver the tractor for $10, and it was understood that the $10 would be charged on open account against the complainant, Henson.

On the following Saturday the defendant, Wright, notified the complainant that the tractor had been repaired, and asked complainant to come after the tractor, which he did.

Complainant testified that within a short time after the tractor was delivered to his home he started it up and tried to pull a plow, but the tractor did not have sufficient power to pull the plow. Also, complainant testified that there was great difficulty in starting the tractor. Com[442]*442plainant notified defendant, Wright, of the defects in the tractor, and on one occasion Wright went in person and worked on the tractor, and on another occasion he sent a mechanic out to Henson’s home to work on the tractor. Complainant, Henson, was still not satisfied and was complaining to the defendant that the tractor was not in good working order, and on March 27, 1953, the defendant, Wright, told the complainant’s wife that he was not going to do anything further to the tractor.

Thereupon the complainant notified the defendant that he would not pay any of the installments due on the purchase money note, one of which was due March 27, 1953, and that he was rescinding the purchase because of a breach of warranty, and on April 15, 1953, the complainant hired two people to deliver the tractor and equipment by truck to the defendant, who refused to allow them to leave the same at his place of business in Camden, and they were forced to return the tractor and equipment to the complainant’s home, where the same were at the time of the filing of the bill.

The complainant contended that at the time of the salo the defendant warranted the tractor to be in good condition and suitable for use in pulling the equipment, which consisted of a disc, cultivator, and turning plow. His testimony is as follows:

“* * * Q. You say you told Mr. Wright what you wanted to do with this tractor? A. Yes sir.
‘ ‘ Q. Did he say that he had a tractor that would do the work? A. Yes sir, he said he had one that would do the kind of work that I wanted. In fact, it was bigger than what I wanted.
[443]*443■ “Q. Was there any equipment that he wanted to sell yon with the tractor? A. Yes, sir, it was a disc and a cultivator and a turning plow.
“Q. What kind of a tractor was it? A. John Deere.
“Q. Had Mr. Wright been in the automobile and tractor business in Camden for a number of years? A. Well, he was in the automobile business — I never seen a tractor over there until I bought this one.
“Q. Now, you say that you told him the purpose that you proposed to put this tractor to? A. Yes sir.
“Q. Did he make any representations as to the fitness of the tractor that you were buying? A. Yes sir, he said it was in good shape, it was what I wanted and he thought I would be well pleased with it.
“Q. Did you rely on the statement that he made to you about its condition and its fitness for the special purpose that you were buying it for ? A. Yes sir, I figured that he was truthful about it.
“Q. I will ask you to state if you would have bought the tractor if he had not said it was in good shape or that it was the kind you wanted? A. No sir, I would not have bought it.
“Q. State whether or not you relied upon his judgment regarding the matter and relied upon the statements he made when you bought it? A. Yes sir, he said it was in good shape when I bought it, and I asked him if it didn’t work if he would make it good and he said ‘Yes,’ he would fix it.
[444]*444“Q. After lie assured you that it would do the work you wanted it to do did you buy it? A. I bargained to buy it, I guess that is what you would say.
“Q. Did you execute a note for the payment of the tractor and the disc, cultivator and plow? A. You mean did I sign a note for it?
“Q. Yes. A. Yes sir.
“Q. Do you recall the amount of the note? A. Well, the tractor was six hundred dollars and the interest and all was six hundred and fifty-four dollars.”

The defendant contended, First, that he did not sell the tractor to the complainant, but that he merely accommodated him by getting him financed at the Bank, and, Second, that he did not make any warranty of any kind concerning the fitness and usefulness of the tractor, and, in substance, that the complainant bought the tractor “as is.”

The case was tried upon depositions, and the Chancellor found in favor of the complainant, both on the issue of the warranty and the defense of no privity of contract, and granted the complainant’s prayer for a rescission of the contract of sale and granted the complainant a judgment against the defendant for the amount of the balance due and owing on said note. Of course, he adjudged the tractor and equipment to belong to the defendant, Joe Wright.

The defendant, Wright, has appealed from the decree of the Chancellor and insists in this Court that both the defense of no warranty and the defense of no privity of

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Related

The White Co. v. Bacherig
9 Tenn. App. 501 (Court of Appeals of Tennessee, 1928)

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Bluebook (online)
296 S.W.2d 367, 41 Tenn. App. 439, 1955 Tenn. App. LEXIS 63, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/henson-v-wright-tennctapp-1955.