Hoisting Engine Sales Co. v. . Hart

142 N.E. 342, 237 N.Y. 30, 31 A.L.R. 536, 1923 N.Y. LEXIS 681
CourtNew York Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 20, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by39 cases

This text of 142 N.E. 342 (Hoisting Engine Sales Co. v. . Hart) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoisting Engine Sales Co. v. . Hart, 142 N.E. 342, 237 N.Y. 30, 31 A.L.R. 536, 1923 N.Y. LEXIS 681 (N.Y. 1923).

Opinion

Crane, J.

The plaintiff and the defendant entered into an agreement of which the material part is as follows:

*33 “ Lease
* The Hoisting Engine Sales Co., Inc., Lessor, hereby leases to John J. Hart, lessee, the following equipment subject to the following terms:
One 40' boom, all steel Shannon Traveller with an 8 1 /2 x 10 D. C. D. D. Lambert Hoist with swinger and counterweight drum.
“ Delivery to be made at Nutley, N. J.
Return delivery to be made to our yard at Long Island City with trucking charges prepaid to above yard or to an equal distance elsewhere if so directed. Lessee agrees to return equipment in as good condition as when received less wear incident to normal service in the hands of a competent operator.
Equipment to be used by the lessee on his contract at Singac, N. J.”

After the defendant had installed the traveler and hoist it broke down completely and failed to do the work for which it was hired. The defendant had a subcontract with the Brady Company in the state of New Jersey to excavate a trench and lay about ten miles of water pipe. The pipes were made of steel, thirty feet long and seventy-two inches in diameter and weighed about four and one-half tons each. With the derrick the defendant intended to operate an orange peel bucket to do the digging and also intended to use the same machine to put the pipe in the trench. The hoist could not be operated as it was designed to work and the boom- broke when attempting to lift one of the pipes. That the machinery was unfit for the purpose for which it was hired has been determined by the jury and the unanimous affirmance of its verdict by the Appellate Division concludes us from examining the question.

The defendant having returned the traveler and hoist, this action was commenced to recover the rental reserved in the lease. The defendant counterclaimed by setting *34 up a breach of warranty and demanding the damages sustained in consequence thereof. From a judgment recovered by the defendant the plaintiff has appealed presenting what it claims to have been errors in the admission of evidence. to vary the terms of the writing as given above.

The position the plaintiff takes is this. The writing contains no express warranty that the traveler and hoist will do the defendant’s work; there is no implied warranty so there was no warranty at all. Therefore, if this be true, it was error to permit the defendant to give in evidence the conversation with the plaintiff’s president, preceding the execution of the lease, wherein he was told the nature of the defendant’s contract and the kind of machinery required. This, says the plaintiff, added an express oral warranty to the written lease, as no implied warranty arose out of the transaction.

■ When John J. Hart, the defendant, was on the stand he was asked: Q. What was the general nature of that contract? A. It was laying a pipe line. Q. Well about how long a pipe line, and what kind of pipe? A. It was a steel pipe, 72 inches in height, 30 feet long, and about 10 miles of work. Q. Do you know Mr. Cist, the president of the plaintiff company? A. I do. Q. Did you have a conversation with Mr. Cist in regard to your contract over in New Jersey? A. I did in Mr. Cist’s office. Q. Now state what you said to Mr. Cist and what Mr. Cist said to you? A. I told Mr. Cist what I wanted. I said ‘ have you got a traveling derrick, I want to use an orange peel on it to do the digging;’ I also wanted to use the same machine to put in pipe; he said, ‘ I have got a rig that you can use, in fact it is over in Jersey now.’ I said ' what kind of a machine is it,’ and he said ' it is a Lambert engine, 8 1 ¡2 by 16, with a swinger on it, and it is a Shannon traveler.’ I says 1 what kind do you call a Shannon traveler ’ and he said ‘ it is a machine good for ten tons.’ ”

*35 This testimony was received over objection and exception.

In the first place we must note that the' written lease refers to a purpose for which this traveler and hoist were to be used. “ Equipment to be used by the lessee on his contract at Singac, N. J.” These are the written ^ words. What do they signify without any oral testimony to explain them? First, they signify .that, the plaintiff knew that the defendant had a contract to do work at Singac, New Jersey. Second, they make clear that the plaintiff also knew that the equipment it was leasing to the defendant was to be used on that work. Third, that from the nature of the quipment the plaintiff knew that the work was to be the hoisting of dirt and materials. Where the writing is sufficiently specific to state all these things, I do not consider it a departure from the instrument to show a little more in detail what the defendant’s contract was and that the plaintiff knew all about it." The plaintiff in writing says: I know that you want my hoisting machine for use on your contract in Signac, New Jersey.” Does this not reasonably imply that it also knew the nature of that contract and generally the kind of work it called for? It does not vary the terms of the written instrument to show , by parol that the plaintiff-knew what it was writing about when it referred to the defendant’s contract.

This case was not tried on the theory of an express warranty, so let us proceed to consider the implied warranty if any. If there be an implied warranty in the hiring of machinery for a special purpose, that it is and will be fit for such use, or at least will work, then the warranty may be proved or implied even though the hiring was by written agreement, containing no warranty. “ All implied warranties, therefore, from their, "nature, may attach to a written as well as an unwritten contract of sale.” (Carleton v. Lombard, Ayres & Co., 149 N. Y. 137, 146.) Thus there is an *36 implied warranty in manufactured goods sold by the maker that they are free from any latent defect growing out of process of manufacture (Hoe v. Sanborn, 21 N. Y. 552; Carleton v. Lombard, Ayres & Co., supra); also in the sale of seeds by the grower there is an implied warranty that they are free from any latent defect arising from improper cultivation. (White v. Miller, 71 N. Y. 118.) In the sale by a retail dealer of articles of food for immediate use there is an implied warranty that they are fit for human consumption. (Race v. Krum, 222 N. Y. 410; Rinaldi v. Mohican Co., 225 N. Y. 70.) That the sale of any of these things was in writing, expressing no warranty, would not prevent the warranty by implication from attaching. By analogy there is an implied warranty in the hiring or bailment of certain kinds of property. In the hiring of a horse there is an implied warranty that he is fit for the purpose for which he was taken (Fowler

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Bluebook (online)
142 N.E. 342, 237 N.Y. 30, 31 A.L.R. 536, 1923 N.Y. LEXIS 681, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoisting-engine-sales-co-v-hart-ny-1923.