Independent Shope Brick Co. v. Dugger

281 S.W. 600
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJanuary 21, 1926
DocketNo. 284. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 281 S.W. 600 (Independent Shope Brick Co. v. Dugger) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Independent Shope Brick Co. v. Dugger, 281 S.W. 600 (Tex. Ct. App. 1926).

Opinion

GALLAGHER, C. J.

This is a suit instituted by W. L. Dugger, appellee herein, to recover of Independent Shope Brick Company, ap *601 pellant herein, damages alleged to have been suffered by reason of tbe failure of certain building brick to conform to tbe warranty of quality made in tbe sale of tbe same to bim. Tbe parties will be designated as in tbe trial court. There was a trial before a jury. Tbe case was submitted on special issues and a verdict thereon duly returned. Tbe court entered judgment on such verdict in favor of plaintiff against the defendant for tbe sum of $8,000, from which judgment defendant prosecutes this appeal.

Plaintiff, through certain contractors, was engaged in erecting a brick dwelling bouse in tbe city of Waco, to be used and occupied by bim and bis family as a residence. While work on tbe foundation was in progress, an agent of tbe defendant approached bim and induced bim to purchase for the outside wall a face brick manufactured by it. To induce plaintiff to purchase said brick, said agent warranted that said brick was waterproof; that is, that tbe face of tbe brick was absolutely waterproof, and that tbe body of tbe brick would absorb moisture enough, and only enough, to make a perfect mortar bond, and that a wall constructed of such brick would be the same as if it were solid concrete. Plaintiff explained to defendant’s agent that be intended to construct an outer wall 4 inches thick of face brick and an inner wall 4 inches thick of common brick, with a 2-inch space for ventilation between such walls, and that be intended to tie said walls together with metal ties at proper intervals. Defendant’s agent then informed plaintiff that defendant manufactured a special brick 10 inches long for use in such cases instead of metal ties, and that such brick was much better for such purpose. Said agent also guaranteed that said special brick would not conduct water to the inside of the house. Plaintiff relied on said warranties and purchased from defendant face brick for the outside walls of said building and said special brick for use in tying the outside and inner walls together, and the same were so used.

Plaintiff alleged that said brick so purchased were not waterproof, but that they, on the contrary, absorbed large quantities of water, and conducted the same through the inner wall into said house, and that such water, so conducted into said house, caused material damage to the same and destroyed the market value thereof and materially lessened its intrinsic value. He submitted evidence tending to sustain said allegations.

The defendant denied said allegations, and pleaded that, if said building was injured by dampness or water inside thereof, as alleged by plaintiff, such condition was not caused by any defect in its brick used in the construction of the walls thereof, but was caused by the use of defective mortar, by the improper laying of such mortar, and by lack of proper ventilation in such walls. Defendant further alleged that the dampness on the inside of said house so complained of could be remedied or prevented by properly pointing up the mortar joints and placing ventilators in said walls. Defendant submitted evidence tending to sustain its allegations.

The jury, in response to issues submitted to them, found that said brick absorbed large and .unusual quantities of water, and carried the same to the inner walls of said house. The jury further found that the mortar used was not defective; that it was properly laid; that there was no lack of proper ventilation in said walls; and that the condition complained of could not be remedied by pointing the mortar joints or placing ventilators in the walls.

Plaintiff alleged that, if said brick had been of the quality warranted, his building when completed would have been of the reasonable market value of $13,000, but that by reason of the defects in said brick said building had no market value when completed, and had an intrinsic value of only $5,000, and that he had suffered damage in the sum of $8,000. He also alleged) that to replace said defective brick with other brick of the quality warranted would require tearing said house down and rebuilding the same, and would cost far more than the damages so claimed by him. He submitted evidence tending to sustain said allegations. No other measure of damages was tendered by him. Defendant pleaded that there were numerous preparations made for the purpose of preventing dampness and water from penetrating through the walls of brick buildings to the inside of the same, that the proper application of such preparation would prevent such penetration, and that all the injury and damage complained of by plaintiff could be prevented thereby at an expense not exceeding $250.

The jury, in answer to issues submitted by' the court, found that plaintiff’s house, when completed, would have had a market value, exclusive of the land on which it was situated, of $13,000, if said brick had not conveyed water to the inner walls, that, as completed, it had no market value, and that its intrinsic value, exclusive of the land on which it was situated, was $5,000. The jury further found, in answer to a special issue submitted by the court at the request of the defendant, that plaintiff could not have repaired said house so as to prevent dampness from penetrating to the inner walls thereof without material damage to the building.

Defendant objected to the issues submitted as a basis for the measurement of plaintiff’s damages, in due time and in proper manner. Based on such objections, it here contends that the proper measure of plaintiff’s damages is the difference between the market value of the entire premises as they would have. *602 been if said brick bad been of tbe quality warranted and tbe market yalue of tbe entire premises with .tbe bouse tbereon as actually constructed, using said defective brick; or that tbe true measure of damages is tbe difference between tbe market yalue of tbe brick furnished by defendant and tbe value of sucb brick if they bad been as warranted, with special damages in sucb additional sum as might be necessarily expended .in remedying tbe defective condition of tbe building.

Tbe purchase price of the brick furnished by defendant is not involved in this case, and we may reasonably presume that sucb price bad been paid before this controversy arose. When appellant’s agent opened negotiations for tbe sale of said brick, be was on tbe lots where tbe building; was to be erected and where tbe foundation therefor was being prepared. He was there shown tbe plans and specifications, and necessarily knew tbe kind and character of building to be erected and its location. Defendant was not only charged with sucb knowledge, but also with notice of tbe probable consequences if tbe brick furnished should not possess tbe qualities warranted. So far as tbe cost of said brick is concerned, it is merged in tbe consequential damages recovered, which damages doubtless exceed tbe entire cost of sucb brick. Consequential damages may be recovered on a breach of warranty in tbe sale of personal property, whether sucb warranty be express or implied. Jones v. George, 61 Tex. 345, 48 Am. Rep. 280 et seq.; Aultman, Taylor & Co. v. Hefner, 2 S. W. 861, 67 Tex. 54, 59; Murray v. Putman, 130 S. W. 631, 633, 61 Tex. Civ. App. 517; D. M. Osborne & Co. v. Poindexter (Tex. Civ. App.) 34 S. W. 299, 301; Danner v. Fort Worth Implement Co., 45 S. W. 856, 18 Tex. Civ. App. 621; Gascoigne v. Carey Brick Co., 104 N. E. 734, 217 Mass.

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Bluebook (online)
281 S.W. 600, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/independent-shope-brick-co-v-dugger-texapp-1926.