Lattin v. Davis

1 Hill & Den. 9
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 1, 1842
StatusPublished

This text of 1 Hill & Den. 9 (Lattin v. Davis) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lattin v. Davis, 1 Hill & Den. 9 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1842).

Opinion

Bronson, J.

The defendant agreed to sell good in-grafted winter fruit,” and the only proof tending to show a breach of the contract was the fact that some of the apples were in an unsound condition when they arrived in Canada. [12]*12The jury must have believed that there was some want of care or skill in gathering and putting up the apples. The action was assumpsit, alleging a breach of the warranty. There was no count in the declaration under which the plaintiff could have claimed to recover on the ground of fraud, nor was there any pretence on the trial that there had been any fraud on the part of the defendant. The plaintiff paid five shillings per barrel for the apples, and he has recovered damages at the rate of nearly nine shillings per barrel, and the question is, whether the court below laid down the proper rule of damages for the guidance of the jury. I think they did not.

The defendant agreed to sell apples of a particular kind and quality, to be delivered on his farm in Barre. . He knew that the apples were purchased for the Canada market; but he did not agree to deliver them in Canada, nor did he make any contract whatever in relation to that market. If there was any defect in the fruit, the plaintiff was entitled to recover the difference in value between a sound and the unsound article at the place of delivery. If in any event he could recover more, it could only be allowed by way of indemnity, and not on the ground of a loss of profits.

When there is a total failure on the part of the vendor to perform a contract for the sale of goods, the rule of damages is, the difference between the contract price and the market value of the article at the place where it should have been delivered. If the value of the goods at other places in the same neighborhood may be shown, it can only be done for the purpose of ascertaining the true value at the place of delivery. That is the controling fact. (Gregory v. McDowel, 8 Wend., 435.) If the contract has been performed so far as relates to the delivery of the goods, and by reason of some defect they do not correspond with the contract, the primary rule of damages is the difference between the price paid, or the value of ,such goods as were bargained for, and the value of the defective article which was delivered; and in this case, also, the inquiry is, what was the value of the goods at the place of. delivery. But where the vendee has actually sustained other damage, which is the direct and [13]*13immediate consequence of the defect in the goods, it seems that such damage may be recovered from the vendor. See Long on Sales, 478-9, ed. of ’39. In Lewis v. Peake, 7 Taunt., 153, the defendant sold a horse to the plaintiff with a warranty of soundness, and the plaintiff, confiding in the defendant’s warranty, re-sold the horse with warranty to Dowling. The horse proving unsound, Dowling sued the plaintiff and recovered damages and costs. The defendant had notice of that action and the option of defending it, but he did nothing. In an action against the defendant on his contract of warranty, the plaintiff was allowed to recover the costs as well as the damages which he had been compelled to pay to Dowling. The same principle was asserted in Mainwaring v. Brandon, 8 Taunt., 202. In Borradaile v. Brunton, 8 Taunt., 535, the defendant sold a chain cable to the plaintiff) and warranted it sufficient to hold the anchor. The anchor having been lost in consequence of the insufficiency of the cable, the plaintiff was allowed to recover the value of the anchor, as well as the price of-the cable. In Neale v. Wyllie, 3 Barn. & Cress., 533, the plaintiff, who as tenant of certain premises had covenanted to repair, underlet the property to the defendant, taking a like covenant. The defendant suffered the premises to be out of repair, and left them in that condition, in consequence of which the plaintiff was compelled to pay damages and costs in an action brought against him by the original lessor. It was held that the plaintiff was entitled to recover those damages and costs, anu the costs of the defence, in an action upon the defendant’s covenant. Without stopping to inquire whether all of these cases stand on a solid foundation, it is sufficient for the present occasion to remark, that in no instance was the plaintiff allowed to recover any thing more than the damages which he had actually sustained. He was allowed nothing for the profits which he might have realized if the contract had been fully performed. Such damages are never allowed, unless they have been specially provided for in the contract. (Blanchard v. Ely, 21 Wend., 342.) I find no such provision in this case.

Although the defendant made no contract concerning a [14]*14foreign market, he knew the apples were to be sent to Canada, and that the plaintiff would have no opportunity to inspect the fruit until it reached the place of destination. Under these circumstances the plaintiff may, perhaps, be entitled to such damages as he has actually sustained in consequence of the improper manner of gathering and putting up the apples, although the damages should exceed the difference in value between a sound and the unsoúnd article at the place of delivery. If, for example, the apples had been wholly lost in consequence of the fault, of the vendor, the vendee might recover the expenses of transportation to the contemplated market, in addition to the price paid for the fruit. But he could in no event go beyond that, and recover any thing on the ground of a loss of profits. The court below evidently took a different view of the question, and most of the sum which the plaintiff has recovered stands on the ground of a loss of profits. The apples cost five shillings per barrel, and the expense of transportation was four "shillings and four pence — making in all nine shillings and four pence. What the apples sold for in Canada does not appear, hut according to the lowest estimate of the plaintiff’s witnesses they were worth six shillings a barrel. The actual loss, therefore, did not exceed three shillings and four pence, and yet the plaintiff has recovered at the rate of nearly nine shillings per barrel. The evidence of the value of merchantable fruit in Canada was neither offered nor received for the purpose of ascertaining the value at Barre — the place of delivery; but it was evidently offered and admitted for the purpose of giving the plaiqtiff such profits as ho might have made if there had been no defect in the apples. It is very questionable whether the evidence was admissible in any point of view ; but clearly it should not have been admitted as forming in itself the basis for estimating damages.

As the judgment must be reversed on this ground, I have not examined the other questions.

Nelson, C. J., concurred.

Cowen, J.

The contract by Lattin with Davis, as proved [15]*15by Tousley, was, that the apples were to be grafted cultivated fruit; and that they were to be put up for the Canadian market. Upon this evidence, the court below held the contract to be a warranty that the fruit should not only be grafted and cultivated, but moreover adapted to the Canadian market, and decided that the true measure of damages must be the difference between the real value of the apples as they proved to be, and the price of good merchantable fruit in the Canada market, deducting the price of transporting the same there.

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Related

Thornton v. Wynn
25 U.S. 183 (Supreme Court, 1827)
Gregory v. McDowel
8 Wend. 435 (New York Supreme Court, 1832)
Driggs v. Dwight
17 Wend. 71 (New York Supreme Court, 1837)
Blanchard v. Ely
21 Wend. 342 (New York Supreme Court, 1839)
Lightburn v. Cooper
31 Ky. 273 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1833)

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Bluebook (online)
1 Hill & Den. 9, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lattin-v-davis-nysupct-1842.