Metal Forms Corp. v. Clemans

177 N.E. 517, 39 Ohio App. 324, 10 Ohio Law. Abs. 736, 1931 Ohio App. LEXIS 512
Ohio Court of Appeals·Decided April 2, 1931·Published·Cited by 2 cases

Opinion

Hornbeck, J.

This is a proceeding in error. The parties here hold the same relative positions as in the trial court, and will be referred to in this opinion as plaintiff and defendant.

The action was on a note given by the defendant,. Arthur Clemans, to plaintiff in the sum of $762.16; a second cause of action was set forth in the petition on an account. The second cause of action was disposed of in the trial court without objection or exception.

The second amended answer and cross-petition of defendant set forth a general denial of any amount due on the note, although its execution and delivery were admitted. By way of cross-petition, damages were prayed in the sum of $1,310 for alleged breach of an express warranty of the plaintiff *325 that the equipment — metal forms for the building of concrete tanks and silos, which plaintiff had sold defendant — was fit for the purpose for which it was sold. Several particulars in which it was claimed the warranty was breached were set up in the cross-petition. The sum of $1,010 of the damages claimed represented money paid by the defendant to the plaintiff on the purchase price of the equipment; $300 of the damages were for wages claimed to have been expended in the employment of an expert, at the special instance and request of the plaintiff, to assist in an effort to make the metal forms equipment do the work for which it was sold, which effort, it was asserted, was unsuccessful.

The reply admitted the warranty and defendant’s reliance thereon when he purchased the equipment; denied the breach in any particular, and denied that an expert was employed at its request, or that he could not make the equipment do the work for which it was intended, or that he was paid the sum of $300; avers that the new notei was given in payment for five past-due notes. Denies other allegations of the cross-petition.

Upon these issues the cause was submitted to a jury, which returned a verdict for the defendant and assessed the amount due defendant from the plaintiff in the sum of ‘ $ None. ’ ’

Motion for a new trial was filed and overruled, judgment was entered on the verdict, and from this judgment for costs this proceeding in error is prosecuted.

Many grounds are asserted in the petition in error, but we give consideration to the two which cover the substantial grounds presented in the *326 briefs and in oral argument: First, that the court erred in refusing to instruct a verdict for plaintiff at the conclusion of its case, and at the conclusion of the whole case, .and erred in its general charge touching the law of waiver of a breach of warranty; second, that the verdict is manifestly against the weight of the evidence.

It is claimed by the plaintiff in error that the giving of the note sued upon to take up the notes upon which defendant was in arrears is in and of itself a waiver of any breach of the express warranty covering the equipment.

Ohio, of course, is one of the. states which has adopted the Uniform Sales Act, and cases considering our statutes and acts like ours are the most valuable.

The one case which is most convincing of the law applicable to the situation under consideration, and which deals directly with the Ohio statute, is that of Herband Co. v. Lackawanna Steel Co., (C. C. A.), 280 F., 11. The first four propositions of the syllabus read:

“1. Retention of goods and payment of purchase price, or suffering judgment therefor without defense, and with knowledge of breach of warranty, does not as matter of law bar action for the breach; the question of waiver being at the most one of fact.
“2. Retention of goods and payment of purchase price with knowledge of breach of warranty did not bar an action for the breach, under the Uniform Sales Act of Ohio (Gen. Code. § 8395), in view of Gen. Code, §§ 8429, 8449.
“3. While the extension of time for payment for goods would furnish a good consideration for the *327 waiver of action for breach of warranty, an extension does not as matter of law show snch a waiver, under the Uniform Sales Act of Ohio.
“4. In action for purchase price of steel, wherein defendant counterclaimed for damages for breach of implied warranty of fitness of steel previously purchased and paid for, whether defendant waived its right to damages held for the jury, under the Uniform Sales Act of Ohio.”

This is a well-considered case, the facts of which are sufficiently like those in the instant case to make the decision pertinent. The opinion, at page 13 of 280 F., discusses the Marmet Coal Co. v. People’s Coal Co. case, (C .C. A.), 226 F., 646, which is cited and relied upon, in part, by counsel for plaintiff.

The principle enunciated in Herbrand Co. v. Lackawanna Steel Co., supra, and which we feel controls, seems to be in accord with the weight of authority.

35 Cyc., at page 433, after discussing the subject, says: “But according to the weight of authority, payment, part payment, or the giving of notes for the purchase-price is not a waiver of a breach of warranty unless an intent to waive such breach is proven, especially if made without knowledge of the defects, or if the purchaser is induced by the promise of the seller to remedy the defects.”

And to like effect is 24 Ruling Case Law, page 239: “According to the better view the fact that the buyer pays the price after notice of defects in the goods constituting a breach of the seller’s warranty does not constitute a waiver of the breach so as to preclude him from maintaining an action therefor.”

*328 Williston on Sales (2d Ed.), vol. 2, says at page 1294: “Even if goods are defective and the buyer has legal ground of complaint, * * # subsequent payment for them without objection, knowing (or perhaps having reasonable cause to know) the defects, may, nevertheless, be a manifestation of intention to surrender all claims for damages. If the rule of the Civil law permitting cancellation of mutual claims by the act of ,one party only, were the rule of the Comm on law, payment in full of the price, it would seem, could have no other meaning than a manifestation of an intent to disregard the seller’s breach of contract. But as the Common law does not recognize that the mere existence of cross-claims operates as a partial cancellation, or can be made to do so without action to the court, a conclusive inference does not seem justified. Such payment, however, is unquestionably strong evidence that the goods comply with the contract or order, or that the buyer is willing to accept them as full satisfaction for goods of the description contracted for or ordered, diving a note for the price or renewing such a note, under similar circumstances has the same effect as payment of the price.”

See also 2 Mechem on Sales, paragraph 1836.

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Metal Forms Corp. v. Clemans, 177 N.E. 517, 39 Ohio App. 324, 10 Ohio Law. Abs. 736, 1931 Ohio App. LEXIS 512 (Ohio Ct. App. 1931).

177 N.E. 517 (Metal Forms Corp. v. Clemans) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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Metal Forms Corp v. Clemans
10 Ohio Law. Abs. 736 (Ohio Court of Appeals, 1931)