Leininger v. Sola

314 N.W.2d 39, 33 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 191, 1981 N.D. LEXIS 359
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 22, 1981
DocketCiv. 9991
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 314 N.W.2d 39 (Leininger v. Sola) 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
Leininger v. Sola, 314 N.W.2d 39, 33 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 191, 1981 N.D. LEXIS 359 (N.D. 1981).

Opinions

PAULSON, Justice.

This is an appeal from the District Court of Griggs County denying the appellant’s motion for a new trial. Unless the plaintiff will consent to a remittitur in the amount of $6,792.50 we will grant a new trial.

This case was tried in the District Court of Griggs County on March 24, 1980. The district court awarded judgment for the plaintiff, Roger Leininger, against the defendant, Marvin Sola, in the amount of $29,233. Judgment was entered against the defendant who moved for a new trial, pursuant to Rule 59 of the North Dakota Rules of Civil Procedure. A hearing on the motion was held and the court denied the motion for a new trial on the ground that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the court’s findings at trial.

The facts of this case involve a warranted sale of dairy cattle by Sola to Leininger and the resulting loss to Leininger from the breach of warranty.

The record shows that in late October, 1978, Leininger visited Sola at his farm and asked him about dairy cows that Sola was offering for sale. Leininger testified that he told Sola that he was looking for cows that would be calving in December of 1978 because he intended to get into the milk business at that time. In preparation for the beginning of dairy operations at his [41]*41farm, Leininger remodeled a barn and installed a milking parlor at a total cost of $23,000. Leininger further testified that Sola told him at the October, 1978, meeting that the 23 cows which were for sale would all be calving either in December of that year or in early January of 1979, and that the cows’ bred status had been verified by veterinarian pregnancy testing. Following a second visit to the Sola farm to inspect the animals, Leininger agreed to purchase the cows for a price of $700 per head. Leininger arrived to pick up the cows on December 8, 1978, and spoke again at that time with Sola who, according to Leininger’s testimony, emphasized that the cows would all be calving in December of 1978 or January of 1979, and that this had been verified by veterinarian pregnancy testing. Sola testified at trial that he was aware that Leininger was in the process of beginning a milking operation and Sola maintained that he believed that all of the cows would calve in early 1979. He also testified that he knew that non-pregnant cows would be of no use to Leininger in his proposed dairy operation.

Some 16 cows were transported in the first two loads without incident, but during the final haul of seven cows the trailer slid into a ditch and stood at a downward incline of approximately thirty degrees. The truck and trailer were pulled back onto the road by a passing pickup truck. Inspection of the cows immediately after the incident and at later times showed the animals to have been uninjured by the sliding of the trailer. In addition, there was no indication or testimony that the sliding of the trailer caused any of the purchased cows to abort.

One calf was born in January of 1979; two more were born in February of 1979; and a fourth was born in March of 1979. During March of 1979, Leininger observed that one of the cows was in heat. Leininger testified that after learning this fact he immediately tried to contact Sola for an explanation, and he eventually reached Sola in late April, at which point Sola advised him to have the remaining cows pregnancy tested. In early May, Dr. L. C. Larson, a veterinarian, checked those cows which had not calved and determined that nine of such cows were several months from calving and ten were not pregnant at all. Thus, with nine cows which would not produce milk for several months and ten cows which had not been bred, Leininger sought to limit the financial damages he was experiencing and bought a bull for the unbred cows. Lein-inger and Sola met to discuss the pregnancy test results on June 16, 1979. At that time Sola offered to buy back the ten unbred cows for their original purchase price and to provide Leininger with some hay for feeding them throughout the winter. Leininger, however, refused this offer as wholly inadequate. The next day Sola’s wife telephoned Leininger and informed him that they were going to disregard the settlement demand received from Leininger’s counsel.

In August of 1979, two of the nine cows identified by the veterinarian as having been bred calved and the remaining seven cows calved in September. Dr. Larson testified that the nine cows had to have been bred prior to the December 8, 1978, purchase of the animals because the gestation period for cows ranges from 274 to 291 days. At the time of trial, eight of the ten cows which were open calved and each producing cow was providing salable milk as soon as marketing standards would allow.

The trial court in its memorandum decision stated:1

1. That Sola made express warranties to Leininger that the twenty-three cows would all calve in December of 1978 or January of 1979, and this warranty was part of the basis of the bargain between the parties. Only one of the cows calved within the warranted period.

2. No limitations were imposed upon the remedies available to Leininger in the event of breach at the time the contract was entered into. The single settlement offer made by Sola was rightfully rejected by Leininger and did not become the exclusive limiting remedy for Sola’s breach of warranty.

[42]*423. That Leininger gave proper notice of the nonconforming nature of the cows to Sola within reasonable time of discovering the breach.

4. That Leininger acted reasonably to mitigate the losses realized from the breach of warranty and to effect cover for the nonconforming goods. Keeping the unbred cows and buying a bull to breed them was much cheaper than selling the cows at slaughter value and purchasing bred, late term cows as required by the contract.

5. That Leininger is entitled to actual damages in the amount of $2,380, which represents the difference between the value paid for the ten unbred cows and their slaughter value at the time of purchase.2

6. Prior to contracting with Leininger, Sola knew of the particular requirements of Leininger, namely, that the cows would have to calve shortly after purchase to begin producing milk for his new dairy operation. The complete failure of the cows to be as warranted resulted directly in lost production and income therefrom for Lein-inger.

7. The consequential damages in this case can be reasonably ascertained from the evidence submitted by Leininger as to the number of days of lost production he suffered due to the nonconforming nature of the cows, the average daily milk production lost, and the approximate price of the product during the period of lost production. The resulting calculation results in consequential damages for the months of lost production at $26,853.

The consequential damages were calculated as follows:

A. Two cows began producing milk in February, one month after the warranty, for a loss of two months’ milk production.

B. One cow freshened in March, resulting in a two-month loss of milk production.

C. Two cows freshened in August, seven months after warranty, for 14 months of lost production.

D. Seven cows calved and began milk production in September, eight months late, for a loss of 56 milk production months.

E. The ten unbred cows lost 12 months of milk production each, for a loss of 120 months of lost production.

F.

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Leininger v. Sola
314 N.W.2d 39 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1981)

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Bluebook (online)
314 N.W.2d 39, 33 U.C.C. Rep. Serv. (West) 191, 1981 N.D. LEXIS 359, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leininger-v-sola-nd-1981.