McCown v. Jennings

209 S.W.2d 408, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1023
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedFebruary 20, 1948
DocketNo. 14905.
StatusPublished
Cited by11 cases

This text of 209 S.W.2d 408 (McCown v. Jennings) 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
McCown v. Jennings, 209 S.W.2d 408, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1023 (Tex. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

HALL, Justice.

Appellee, Claude C. Jennings, sued appellant, Fred W. McCown, in a district court of Tarrant County, Texas, for damages alleged to have resulted from a breach of the hereinafter quoted written warranty, given in connection with the sale of a used automobile. The trial was to a jury and from its findings the trial court rendered judgment for the appellee and against the appellant in the sum of $613.50, with interest as six per cent thereon.

Appellant plead a general denial and that the automobile was in good operating condition and remained in good operating condition for the warranty period of thirty days. Appellant alleged, and also contends on this appeal, that appellee’s measure of damage is prescribed by the terms of the warranty contained in his contract and limited thereby to defective or broken parts as set out in paragraph two thereof.

Appellee’s contention in the trial court and on this appeal is that the warranty given by appellant was a general one and that he was therefore entitled to recover the difference between the price paid for the automobile and the actual market value of the automobile found by the jury when purchased.

The pertinent parts of the dealer’s warranty are as follows :

“Dealer’s Warranty
“The used car described below, including any equipment named in Appendix D of Maximum Price Regulation 540, is hereby warranted to be in good operating condition and to remain in such condition under normal use and service for a period of 30 days after delivery, or 1,000 miles, whichever may first occur.
“We, the undersigned, agree, if said car is delivered during the above period' to our place of .business, to make with reasonable promptness any repairs or replacements which may be necessary to its good operating condition in accordance with normal use and service, at a cost to the purchaser named below of not more than 50% of the normal charge for such repairs or replacements. Our normal charge is not in excess of OPA ceilings.
“This warranty does not extend to tires,, tubes, paint, glass, upholstery, or to any repairs or replacements made necessary by misuse, negligence or accident.
“Make of used car, Oldsmobile; Model 66, Body Type 4 dr. Sedan; Serial Number -; Date of Delivery October 18, 1946;. Motor Number G105317; Speedometer Reading 36540. Total Selling Price $973.-99.”

The jury made the following findings from issues submitted:

(1) That the car was not in good operating condition when sold to appellee.

(2) That appellant failed to put said' car in good operating condition.

(3) The market value of the car immediately before it was sold to appellee was-$400.00.

(4) That the market value of the car immediately after it was sold to appellee-was $400.00.

(5) That appellant failed within the thirty day period to put the car in good working condition.

(6) That appellee paid $40.50 for necessary and reasonable repairs on the automobile.

(7) That appellee received nothing for the car when he sold it.

Appellant submits twenty-seven points of error, which we will discuss in groups, as classified by him.

The first group consists of points 1 through 4, they submit the following propositions: That the trial court erred (1) in overruling defendant’s motion for instructed verdict; (2) in overruling defend *411 ant’s motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict; (3) in rendering any judgment for plaintiff because plaintiff sued on the ground of an alleged breach of a written warranty which he did not plead nor prove; and (4) insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the judgment. All of these points are overruled, the necessity of which is exemplified in the remainder of our opinion.

In support of appellant’s contention that he was only obligated under the warranty for repairs and replacements, as provided in the second paragraph, he cites the following cases: Oltmanns Bros. v. Poland, Tex.Civ.App., 142 S.W. 653, writ denied; Holbert v. Sanzenbacher, Tex.Civ.App., 159 S.W. 1054; First Nat. Bank v. Fuller, Tex.Civ.App., 191 S.W. 830, writ refused; Nunn v. Brillhart, 111 Tex. 588, 242 S.W. 459; and Martin v. Sparks Motor Co., 72 Ga.App. 683, 34 S.E.2d 718. For the sake of brevity we will not discuss the holdings in these cases but after reading them we readily see that they do not involve the exact questions which are before us and find they are not controlling in this case.

Appellant’s points 5 and 6 relate, first, to the error of the trial court in applying an improper measure of damages in rendering judgment, and second, the trial court erred in awarding plaintiff more damages than the law allows if there had been a breach of the warranty sued on.

The warranty and the testimony relate that the sale price of the automobile was $973.00, the amount paid by appellee. The jury found the car to be worth only $400.00 at the time of the sale of the automobile (it was not called on to find the value of the car if it had been in the condition as warranted). Appellant’s contention is that since the testimony shows that it would not have cost more than $300.00 or $400.00 to place the car in good condition that he would only be obligated for one-half that amount or $150.00 to $200.00, and therefore the damage awarded was manifestly too large, and further, the jury found the actual value of the automobile was $400.00 but the appellee, in fact, sold the automobile for a price of $610.00 and that if he is liable under the theory on which this case was tried, he should only be liable for the difference between $973.00 that appellee paid for the automobile and $610.00, for which appellee sold it, or $363.00, and the $573.00 awarded by the trial court, in addition to $40.50 for repairs, is erroneous. Appellant further contends that the proper measure of damage was not submitted to the jury, which he contends is the difference between the actual value of the automobile in the condition it was in at the date of the sale and the amount the automobile would have been worth had it been in the condition as warranted, when in truth and in fact the court found as a measure of damage the difference between the sale price of the automobile to appellee and the actual value of the car, which the jury found to be $400.00. He cites the case of Sherwin-Williams Co. v. Offenhauser, Tex.Civ.App., 42 S.W.2d 859, writ refused, to support his contention. There are two lines of authorities in this state, one supporting each class of measure of damages; those supporting the measure to be the difference between the contract price and the actual value of the property as delivered include: Gutta-Percha & Rubber Mfg. Co. v. City of Cleburne, 102 Tex. 36, 112 S.W. 1047; Alba-Malakoff Lignite Co. v. Hercules Powder Co., Tex.Com.App., 235 S.W. 547, opinion by Commission of Appeals approved by the Supreme Court; American Laundry Machinery Mfg. Co. v. Belcher, Tex.Civ.App., 152 S.W. 853; McMurtry Motor Co. v. Maresh, Tex.Civ.App., 84 S.W.2d 491; Liquid Carbonic Co. v. Migurski, Tex.Civ.App., 229 S.W. 661; Nunn v. Brillhart, 111 Tex. 588, 242 S.W.

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Bluebook (online)
209 S.W.2d 408, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1023, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mccown-v-jennings-texapp-1948.