Laufer v. Burghard

146 Misc. 39, 261 N.Y.S. 364, 1932 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1705
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 27, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 146 Misc. 39 (Laufer v. Burghard) 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
Laufer v. Burghard, 146 Misc. 39, 261 N.Y.S. 364, 1932 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1705 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1932).

Opinion

Lytle, J.

In an action in replevin brought in the City Court of Buffalo by the plaintiff, as seller, against the defendant, as buyer, the plaintiff was awarded possession of the goods on account of the defendant’s default under a conditional sales contract, and the court awarded the defendant a money judgment against the plaintiff for a portion of the purchase price paid by the defendant to the plaintiff, prior to the defendant’s default under said contract.

The plaintiff appeals from that portion of the judgment which awards the defendant a money judgment against the plaintiff. The defendant has not appealed from the judgment awarding the plaintiff the possession of the chattels and the defendant’s time to appeal from said judgment has expired.

It appears that the plaintiff, on or about December 5, 1931, sold to the defendant on a conditional sales contract certain articles of furniture for the sum of $515-39, and the plaintiff delivered said articles of merchandise to the defendant upon an agreement for the conditional sale thereof, wherein and whereby it was mutually agreed that the title to said chattels should be and remain in the plaintiff until the full sum of $515.39 had been paid to him by the defendant; that payments of $6 per week were agreed to be made by defendant to plaintiff on account of such purchase price until the whole thereof had been paid, and in case any such weekly payment was not made when the same was payable, plaintiff might retake said chattels from defendant’s possession.

The weekly installments, by mutual agreement, were reduced to $5 a week. The defendant paid on account of the purchase the initial payment of $100 and in subsequent installments the sum of $72.39. The last installment was paid on March 9, 1932, and the defendant defaulted in making subsequent installments, leaving unpaid on account of the purchase price the sum of $343.

On April 14, 1932, the plaintiff demanded of the defendant possession of said merchandise but the defendant refused to give, deliver up or surrender to the plaintiff possession thereof, and on April 18, 1932, the plaintiff commenced an action of replevin in the City Court of Buffalo and retook the property under a requisition in replevin issued out of said court.

The defendant, in her answer, admitted that “ the plaintiff was [41]*41and still is the owner of all the personal property fully stated, described and set out in the affidavit of said plaintiff which affidavit formed a part of the replevin proceeding heretofore taken,” and further admitted that she has paid the sum of $172.39,” and further that the unpaid amount is $343.”

The answer also contains a defense to the effect that by a further agreement, the weekly installments were reduced to three dollars a week and that the plaintiff refused to accept the reduced installments when the same were duly tendered.

The .answer contains a counterclaim in the amount of $500, which included said sum of $172.39 paid by the defendant to the plaintiff on account of the articles of furniture and the balance being for great humiliation suffered by this defendant, discomfort for herself and children and the inability to furnish her home.”

Upon the trial of the action the court below found there was no reduction of the installments to three dollars per week and that the defendant defaulted in making the payments pursuant to the agreement or contract of the parties. The court awarded to the plaintiff possession of the property, thereby recognizing the legal right of the plaintiff to retake the property from the defendant.

Upon this appeal the principal question presented by the determination of the court below is whether the seller of property by conditional sale is liable for any portion of the purchase price paid him, where he retakes possession of the property on default of the buyer, and resells the same in accordance with the statute.

The determination of the court below compels the seller, on retaking of the property on the buyer’s default, to restore to the buyer the amount paid on the purchase price less the reasonable value of the use of the property and damages for deterioration outside of natural wear and tear. The buyer was permitted to recover the payments made, $172.39 less damages, $100, sustained by the seller, amounting to $72.

The determination of the rights of the parties in this action is important on account of the interests of the parties herein and also on account of the magnitude of the business development in this State by means of conditional sales contracts. The sale of chattels on such contracts enables the buyer to enjoy the immediate use and possession of the property. Such contracts secure the sale of property on small payments, either at the time of sale or subsequently, and the title to the goods remains in the seller until payment of the price. The buyer is entitled to the possession and use of the property until default in payment.

To permit the buyer, on his own default, to recover a portion of the purchase price would work a revolution of the business [42]*42methods long established in the merchandising of chattels or goods on credit basis!

The right of the defendant to the judgment awarded to her by the court below cannot be sustained in the absence of statute or special provisions in the contract between the parties.

Under the provisions of the contract between the parties there is no duty or obligation on the part of the seller to repay or to account, to the buyer for the purchase price paid, or any portion thereof, upon the default of the buyer and a retaking by the seller on account of the default.

Under the common law, prior to the enactment of the Uniform Conditional Sales Act, the seller was under no obligation upon the retaking of the goods on buyer’s default to make return of partial payments or any part thereof.

In Haynes v. Hart (42 Barb. 58), decided in 1864, the court said: The law will not allow a party who is wholly in default to recover back money paid in part performance of an executory agreement, who has afterwards broken it, and refused to go on and perform the residue. (Green v. Green, 9 Cowen, 46; Battle v. The Rochester City Bank, 3 Comst. 88.) In the last case cited it was, as in this case, part of the agreement that in case of default by the purchaser in making payments the vendor might at his election rescind the contract. The vendor did rescind for that reason, and it was held by the Court of Appeals that the purchaser could not recover. The plaintiff cannot recover on the ground of his own breach of the agreement; and the contract does not provide for a repayment of the money paid in part performance, in case of a rescission according to the stipulations of the contract. Nor will the law imply a promise in such a case. To allow the plaintiff to recover back the purchase money paid, in case like this, would be to offer an inducement to a purchaser to violate his agreement. It would give him the use of the canal boat for a year without compensation, and put it wholly in his power to perform or not at his pleasure.

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Bluebook (online)
146 Misc. 39, 261 N.Y.S. 364, 1932 N.Y. Misc. LEXIS 1705, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/laufer-v-burghard-nysupct-1932.