Hooven & Allison Co. v. Wirtz

107 N.W. 1078, 15 N.D. 477, 1906 N.D. LEXIS 47
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedMay 18, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 107 N.W. 1078 (Hooven & Allison Co. v. Wirtz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hooven & Allison Co. v. Wirtz, 107 N.W. 1078, 15 N.D. 477, 1906 N.D. LEXIS 47 (N.D. 1906).

Opinion

Young, J.

The plaintiff brought this action to recover upon a promissory note for $9,850, executed by the defendants on July 20, 1904, and due 100 days thereafter. The defendants’ answer admits the execution of the note and that it is not paid. The answer after alleging, “that the only consideration for the note sued on herein, was certain binding twine of plaintiff’s manufacture, which was ordered and purchased of plaintiff by defendants,” alleges by way of defense and counterclaim in substance (1) that the twine so ordered and purchased was manufactured by plaintiff and was sold by it as its own manufacture; that it was not accessible to the defendants for examination; that to induce the defendants to give the order and make the purchase, the plaintiff warranted the twine to be good merchantable binding twine, suitable for use in harvesters, warranting that the same was equal in quality to McCormick, Deering or Plymouth twine, and to the best in the market; that to plaintiff’s knowledge, defendants relied upon said warranty, and tipon the warranties implied by law; that said twine was found upon examination and use to be of inferior quality, knotty, lumpy, of uneven size, rotten, made - of inferior and improper material, a large part not good merchantable twine, and not fit for use in harvesters; * * * that if it had been as represented, it would have been worth $9,850, the amount of the note, but as furnished, it was worth no more than $4,850, or $5,000 less than the agreed purchase price; (2) that after giving the order for the twine, defendants countermanded the order, and that thereafter in order to induce the defendants to purchase and accept the twine, plaintiff warranted the quality of the twine, the warranty being substantially that above alleged, and that defendant relied upon the warranty so made; (3) realleges the making of the foregoing warranties, and alleges “that the statements and representations aforesaid were untrue, and were known by plaintiff to be untrue when made, and that defendants have been damaged by the deceit in the sum of $5,000, the difference between the actual value of the twine and the contract price.” At the close of the testi[480]*480mony, a verdict was directed for plaintiff for $10,388, the full amount of the note and interest, less $50, which apparently was allowed as damages. Defendants have appealed from the judgment, and in a statement of case, specify a large number of errors of law occurring at the trial, as ground for reversal.

The errors assigned and argued in appellant’s brief relate to the exclusion of testimony offered to sustain the allegations of their answer and to the direction of the verdict. Before considering these questions, it is necessary to state some preliminary facts.

The record shows that on July 8, 1904, the defendants, at the solicitation of one W. A. Mace, a traveling salesman for plaintiff, gave a written order for the twine in question, which, with the alleged approval of plaintiff endorsed thereon, is in words and figures as follows: “Order for Binder Twine, July 8th, 1904. The Hooven & Allison Co., Xenia, Ohio — Gentlemen: Please enter our order for binder twine as follows: 50,000 lbs. Standard, 9% cts. per lb.; 50,000 Standard Manila, 10% cts. per lb, f. o. b. Minneapolis. Shipment at your option any time between at once and 1904. Terms: Approved note to be given .promptly on receipt of twine, due Nov. 1st, 1904. No agreement, condition, or stipulation, verbal or otherwise, save those mentioned in this order will be recognized unless approved or accepted in writing by the Hooven & Allison Co. Wirtz Bros., Leeds, N. D. W. A. Mace, Salesman. Approved: The Hooven & Allison Co., by S. C. Bennett. 7-11-04. * * * (This order subject to the approval of the Hooven & Allison Company and when accepted will be filled unless prevented by labor strikes, fire, unavoidable accident to mill machinery, or delays of transportation.)”

The note in suit was executed and delivered to W. A. Mace for plaintiff, at Leeds, on July 20, 1904. One carload of the twine was then standing on the track at Leeds, but no part of it had been unloaded or delivered; neither had it been examined by the defendants. At the trial, upon objection of plaintiff’s counsel, all testimony offered by the defendant to prove that plaintiff’s salesman, Mace, at the time he procured the order on July 8, 1904, orally warranted the quality of the twine as alleged in the answer, was excluded and the numerous rulings rejecting this testimony are assigned as error. In our opinion the court did not err in excluding this testimony. Its purpose was to show that the sale effected by the written order above set out, if it was in fact made under [481]*481that order, and this defendants deny, was accompanied by an oral warranty as to the quality of the twine, by Mace. To permit the defendants to prove and rely upon the alleged oral agreement) thus made, would violate the express condition in the written contract, that “no agreement, condition or stipulation, verbal or otherwise, * * * will be recognized unless approved or accepted in writing by the Hooven & Allison Company” and would impose upon the plaintiff an agreement, an express warranty made without authority and as to which the parties had stipulated the plaintiff should not be bound unless approved or accepted by it in writing. The language of the order is that “no agreement, condition or stipulation, verbal or otherwise, * * * will be recognized. * * *” That language is not ambiguous. It is an explicit affirmation that the plaintiff will not be bound either by verbal or written agreements and these include express warranties, unless they are approved in writing. It is not claimed that the alleged oral warranty of July 8, 1904, was approved. The excluded testimony contradicted the written order, and did not tend to establish a valid warranty and was, therefore, properly excluded.

Error is also assigned upon the court's rulings excluding the testimony offered to sustain the allegations of the answer, setting up an implied warranty, and the breach thereof. Counsel for defendants repeatedly offered to prove (1) that the twine for which the note was given was of plaintiff's manufacture; (2) that it had latent defects resulting from the process of manufacture, which were not disclosed to the defendants, and (3) that when it was sold to the defendants, it was not accessible for examination by defendants. We are agreed that the exclusion of this testimony was fatal error. The defendants’ offers of proof brought the sale within the terms of sections 3976 and 3978, Rev. Codes 1899'. which read as follows:

Sec. 3976. “One who sells or agrees to sell an article of his own manufacture, thereby warrants it to be free for any latent defect not disclosed to the buyer, arising from the process of manufacture, and also that neither he nor his agent in such manufacture, has knowingly used improper materials therein.”

Sec. 3978. “One who sells or agrees to sell merchandise inaccessible to the examination of the buyer, thereby warrants that: it is sound and merchantable.”

[482]*482The testimony offered to establish the implied warranties which are declared in the above sections, was apparently excluded .upon the ground that it contradicted the terms of the written order. This was error. There is no conflict between the order and the implied warranties.

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

Related

Henningsen v. Bloomfield Motors, Inc.
161 A.2d 69 (Supreme Court of New Jersey, 1960)
Buchanan v. Dugan
82 A.2d 911 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1951)
Rockwood & Co. v. Parrott & Co.
19 P.2d 423 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1933)
Hamman v. Advance-Rumely Thresher Co.
238 N.W. 700 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1931)
Kramer v. K. O. Lee & Son Co.
237 N.W. 166 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1931)
Bekkevold v. Potts
216 N.W. 790 (Supreme Court of Minnesota, 1927)
Minneapolis Steel & MacHinery Co. v. Casey Land Agency
201 N.W. 172 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1924)
John A. Roebling's Sons Co. v. Southern Power Co.
89 S.E. 1075 (Supreme Court of Georgia, 1916)
Gas Traction Co. v. Stenger
159 N.W. 32 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1916)
Comptograph Co. v. Citizens Bank
155 N.W. 680 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1915)
Winton Motor Carriage Co. v. Blomberg
147 P. 21 (Washington Supreme Court, 1915)
Sorg v. Brost
150 N.W. 455 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1914)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 N.W. 1078, 15 N.D. 477, 1906 N.D. LEXIS 47, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hooven-allison-co-v-wirtz-nd-1906.