Kardis v. Barrere

136 So. 135, 17 La. App. 433, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 237
CourtLouisiana Court of Appeal
DecidedJuly 1, 1931
DocketNo. 13,879
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 136 So. 135 (Kardis v. Barrere) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Louisiana Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kardis v. Barrere, 136 So. 135, 17 La. App. 433, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 237 (La. Ct. App. 1931).

Opinion

DUNBAR, Judge ad hoc.

Plaintiff seeks to recover the purchase price of two certain ice cream boxes sold by him to the defendant, described in 'an advertisement which brought about the sale as “two frigidaire ice cream cabinets,’’ and described in the notarial act of sale as “two certain [434]*434ice cream frigidaire boxes, containing eight holes. White enameled.”

The defendant in his answer alleges a repudiation and rescission of the sale, and denies liability for the purchase price on three separate grounds, although the three defenses, are not clearly and logically separated in the answer and evidence, to-wit:

(a) That there was an express verbal understanding between the defendant and plaintiff at the time of the purchase and delivery of the property, and also at the time of the execution of the act of sale, that the defendant, as purchaser, would not be required to pay either the original cash portion of the agreed purchase price, which the act of sale recited had been paid, or the notes representing the balance of the purchase price, if, after trial of the boxes in defendant’s place of business, the two ice cream boxes did not develop a temperature of twenty degrees below zero, Fahrenheit;

(b) That the boxes leaked and were unfit for the purposes for which they were purchased; and

(c) That plaintiff represented in his advertisement, and agreed in the act of sale that the boxes sold were “Frigidaire boxes” and that defendant intended to buy and assumed that he was buying a well-known and widely advertised product, to-wit, “Frigidaire boxes,” manufactured by the Frigidaire Company, and that as a matter of fact the boxes were “Russ boxes,” manufactured and sold by another company, and that only the compressors and coils-were manufactured by the Frigidaire Company.

The evidence is- conflicting with regard to the first two defenses referred to above, and we are inclined to agree with the finding of the learned judge of the district court in -this connection, who heard the witnesses and stated that on the whole he did not feel the burden of proof had been sufficiently sustained by the defendant.

The facts- in relation to defendant’s third defense, however, are supported by the evidence and testimony of both the plaintiff and defendant. When defendant saw plaintiff’s advertisement in the paper, offering Frigidaire boxes for sale, he called at plaintiff’s place of business and agreed to purchase the boxes, and the boxes were delivered by plaintiff to defendant. In a few days thereafter, the act of sale was passed, and the two boxes were described by -the plaintiff in the act of sale as “two certain ice cream frigidaire boxes, containing eight holes. White enameled.” Defendant testified that prior to the purchase of the two boxes involved in this case, he had purchased and had been using for some time in his business “Servel” ice boxes; that he had had difficulties with them, and had finally, by purchasing a new compressor, gotten these boxes to work satisfactorily; that he decided, however, that he would not buy any more “Servel” boxes and that when he needed additional boxes he had decided that he would purchase “Frigidaire” boxes, manufactured by the Frigidaire Company. In this connection, defendant testified that he had a high opinion of “Frigidaire” ice cream boxes manufactured by the. Frigidaire Company, that he knew of this well-known and widely advertised product and determined that he would not have any other kind of boxes in his place, and that -therefore, in the present case, he intended to purchase boxes manufactured by the Frigidaire Company, and would not have agreed to purchase or to have accepted delivery of the boxes if he had known that they were not “Frigidaire” boxes manufactured by the Frigi[435]*435daire corporation. Defendant stated that, although he knew of the reputation and standing of “Frigidaire” boxek manufactured by the Frigidaire Company, he was not sufficiently familiar with the physical appearance of the different boxes manufactured by the different companies to recognize boxes manufactured by Frigidaire Company when he saw them, and for this reason did not know that the two boxes he had purchased were not “Frigidaire” boxes until an employee of the Frigidaire Company, after examining the boxes, informed him as to this fact.

There was no fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation in connection with the transaction, because the evidence shows that both the plaintiff, - as seller, and the defendant, as purchaser, understood and assumed that the two boxes were “Frigidaire boxes” manufactured by the Frigidaire Company. Evidently neither the plaintiff nor the defendant could. recognize a Frigidaire box when they saw one, because the plaintiff testified that he represented the two boxes as Frigidaire boxes in the advertisements and the act of sale, because “he bought them for Frigidaire boxes.” Plaintiff’s statement, therefore, in the advertisements, and his representation and description in the bill of sale, were evidently innocently made.

The testimony shows that, although the plaintiff and defendant assumed that the boxes were Frigidaire boxes, manufactured by the Frigidaire Company, the two boxes' were actually “Russ” boxes, although the compressors and coils attached to the boxes were manufactured by the Frigidaire Company. This fact was accidentally discovered for the first time by defendant several weeks after the boxes had been delivered, when he called in the sales manager of the Frigidaire Company to examine the boxes as a result of the dispute between plaintiff and defendant as to whether the boxes leaked and as to whether they would develop a low enough temperature for use in defendant’s business. Defendant testified that, upon discovering that the boxes were not Frigidaire boxes, he notified the plaintiff to take back the boxes and refused to pay the purchase price.

We are compelled, in the absence of any facts or circumstances to the contrary, to accept defendant’s statement that he intended to buy, and assumed that he was buying two Frigidaire boxes manufactured by the Frigidaire Company, and that he would not knowingly have agreed to buy or accept any other product or boxes manufactured by any other company, and defendant’s assumption that he was buying and accepting Frigidaire boxes seems to have been an essential and dominating factor in inducing him to purchase the boxes. The plaintiff’s advertisement and the description in the act of sale are clear and unqualified, and evidence an express promise and warranty to sell and” deliver two Frigidaire boxes. The fact that plaintiff assumed that the two boxes he was selling were Frigidaire boxes, complete in all respects as such, is immaterial. The plaintiff did not fulfill his promise and representation that the two boxes were Frigidaire boxes. The defendant, when he discovered that the boxes which had been sold and delivered to him were not the kind and character of boxes he intended to buy, hnd which he reasonably assumed he was buying, had a right to rescind the contract of sale and refuse to pay for the boxes, because the promise and, representation as to the character and quality of the boxes was the moving and dominating factor in inducing the defendant to agree to purchase and accept the property.

Although there is considerable conflict in the jurisprudence at common law, the [436]*436weight, of authority and the opinion of eminent legal scholars, are in support of the conclusion we have reached in this case.

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Bluebook (online)
136 So. 135, 17 La. App. 433, 1931 La. App. LEXIS 237, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kardis-v-barrere-lactapp-1931.