Mills Novelty Co. v. Spurdis

29 S.W.2d 893, 1930 Tex. App. LEXIS 664
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 5, 1930
DocketNo. 1942.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 29 S.W.2d 893 (Mills Novelty Co. v. Spurdis) 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
Mills Novelty Co. v. Spurdis, 29 S.W.2d 893, 1930 Tex. App. LEXIS 664 (Tex. Ct. App. 1930).

Opinion

O’QUINN, J.

Mills Novelty Company was plaintiff below. .Nick Spurdis was the defendant. We shall refer to them as such.

Plaintiff sued defendant to recover $748 alleged to be the balance due upon a note, together with interest and 15 per cent, attorney’s fees.

Defendant answered by general demurrer, some special exceptions, general denial, and by cross-action pleaded over against plaintiff alleging that the contract out of which the note in question arose was procured by false and fraudulent representations made by the agent of plaintiff to defendant, but for which defendant would not have executed the contract or said note; that at the time of the execution of the contract made the basis of the suit there was, as a part of said contract, an oral agreement between plaintiff and defendant in which plaintiff agreed to do certain alleged things, which said oral agreement was an inducement to defendant to execute the written contract and note, and without which he would not have executed the contract or the note; that" plaintiff had failed and refused to do the things stipulated in the oral agreement by -reason of which the consideration for the execution of said written contract and note had wholly failed; that the musical instrument purchased by defendant from plaintiff, in consideration for which the said note was executed, was from the first wholly worthless, because of which he had been damaged in the sum of $1,252, the amount he had paid on said note. He further pleaded that because of the fraud and deceit practiced upon him by plaintiff in pro *894 curing tlie execution by him of the contract and the note sued on, and plaintiffs refusal •to carry out the terms of the contemporaneous oral agreement, consideration for the contract and the note'had wholly failed, and that he had the right “to rescind the contract and ask the return of his money paid under said contract which he here and now does,” and “that, therefore, said note and contract, if any, should be cancelled and defendant should be allowed to recover the money paid on said contract,” and prayed that plaintiff take nothing by its suit and that he recover the $1,252 he had paid on said note.

By supplemental petition, plaintiff excepted^ to the" various allegations of defendant in his" cross-action, denied same, and specially answered that defendant was not entitled to a rescission of the contract and cancellation of the note because after discovering the alleged fraud he had retained possession of the instrument in question and had continued to use and profit thereby, and prayed for relief as in its original petition. To this defendant replied by general demurrer, general denial, and prayed for relief as in his original answer.

The cause was tried to a jury upon special issues, upon their answers to which judgment was rendered for defendant on his cross-ac-' tion in the sum of $1,252. This appeal is from • that judgment.

Plaintiff was a manufacturer of coin-operated and ‘electrically controlled musical instruments known as “violano virtuosa and magnetic expression pianos.” Defendant was the owner and operator of the Manhattan Café in Beaumont, Jefferson county, Tex. G. M. Hardwick was an agent and salesman of plaintiff. Hardwick solicited and obtained an order and written contract of purchase from Spurdis for one grand model violano virtuoso, in which Spurdis agreed to pay $2,000 for the instrument, $300 cash, and a note for $1,700 payable in monthly installments of $68 each. The order was in the form of a chattel mortgage, and upon the execution of same it was promptly filed for record in the office of the county clerk of Jefferson county. The written contract contained this clause: “No agreement, representation or claim of any kind shall be binding or of any force unless herein contained.” The instrument was shipped to and received by. Spurdis and installed for use on March 14, 1925. He paid the $300 cash, and executed and delivered to plaintiff the note for $1,-700. At the time of the filing of this suit, he had paid fourteen installments, leaving a balance of $748 unpaid on said note.

Among the defenses against liability for the balance of the note, defendant pleaded that at the time of the execution of the written contract plaintiff’s agent and salesman, Hardwick, orally agreed with defendant that if he would purchase the instrument in question plaintiff would not sell any such instrument to any other person within three blocks of defendant’s place of business; that plaintiff would give free service to maintain and keep in proper repair and usable condition said instrument for a period of twenty-five months from the date of the delivery and installing of said instrument; and that said .instrument was and would be a new and unused instrument perfect in all respects. He further pleaded that plaintiff failed and refused to carry out said oral collateral agreement and undertakings, in that it sold several such instruments to persons within the stipulated distance of defendant’s place of business; and refused to give free service in maintaining and repairing and keeping in a usable condition the said instrument, but that defendant had to and did spend the sum of $275 in an effort to make and keep said instrument operative, but that said efforts were of no avail for the reason that said instrument was an old, worn-out, secondhand instrument and was never of any service, but was in fact a detriment and loss to his business, wherefore the consideration for same had wholly failed. He further pleaded that the promises and undertakings made and agreed to by plaintiff in said oral collateral agreement were fraudulently made for the purpose of inducing defendant to enter into said contract of purchase, plaintiff never intending to carry out same, and that he relied upon said promises and was thereby induced to, and because of same did, make said contract, and that but for said fraudulent representations he would not have executed said contract, because of all of which he had the right to rescind said contract and ask the return of his money paid under said contract, “that, therefore, said note and contract should be cancelled and defendant should be allowed to recover the money paid on said contract,” and prayed that plaintiff take nothing by its suit and that he recover the $1,252 he had paid on the note.

Plaintiff’s first, second, third, and nineteenth propositions complain that the court erred in permitting proof of the oral agreement pleaded by defendant for the reasons that same was an attempt to vary the terms of a written contract, which was complete within itself, and was an attempt to ingraft in and upon said written contract terms and provisions not therein contained, and contrary to a special provision in said contract that no agreement or representation should be binding or of any force unless contained in said written contract. However, as there is no statement under either of these propositions, or any argument or citations of authority following same, under the rules they are waived and will not be considered.

Plaintiff assigns as error the judgment based upon the findings of the jury canceling the mortgage contract and the note executed *895 by defendant in part payment for the musical Instrument in question, and awarding to defendant the recovery of the amount paid by him on said contract, $1,252.

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

Related

Anderson v. Pioneer Bldg. & Loan Ass'n
163 S.W.2d 421 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1942)
Wilkins v. Abercrombie
162 S.W.2d 445 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1942)
Bailey v. State
109 S.W.2d 1075 (Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas, 1937)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
29 S.W.2d 893, 1930 Tex. App. LEXIS 664, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mills-novelty-co-v-spurdis-texapp-1930.