McCown v. Jennings

209 S.W.2d 408, 1948 Tex. App. LEXIS 1023
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided February 20, 1948·No. No. 14905.·Published·Cited by 11 cases

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.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

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

209 S.W.2d 408 (McCown v. Jennings) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Arkoma Basin Exploration Co. v. FMF Associates 1990-A, Ltd.
118 S.W.3d 445 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 2003)
Smith v. Kinslow
598 S.W.2d 910 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1980)
Texas Construction Rentals, Inc. v. Harrison
410 S.W.2d 482 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1966)
Colwell v. Ware
395 S.W.2d 394 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1965)
Ford Motor Company v. Puskar
394 S.W.2d 1 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1965)
American Coach Company v. Hopkins
355 S.W.2d 83 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1962)
Gonzales Motor Co. v. Buhidar
348 S.W.2d 376 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1961)
Estate of E. Northcutt, in Re
340 S.W.2d 510 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1960)
Griswold v. Tucker
216 S.W.2d 276 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1948)
Whitten v. Dethloff
214 S.W.2d 480 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1948)