Murray Co. v. Morgan

280 F. 499, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 1817
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit
DecidedFebruary 7, 1922
DocketNo. 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 280 F. 499 (Murray Co. v. Morgan) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Murray Co. v. Morgan, 280 F. 499, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 1817 (4th Cir. 1922).

Opinion

WOODS, Circuit Judge.

In this action on four notes, aggrégating $10,297.97 and interest, the validity of which was admitted, the jury found a verdict for only $4,985.18. The notes were given for balance of the purchase price of machinery for a ginning plant — two for the balance on the engine and two for the balance on the gins and attachments. Separate contracts were made for the engine and the gins, but they were practically cotemporaneous and one transaction. The warranty, identical in both papers, was as follows:

“Said machinery is warranted to be of good material, and to perform well, if properly operated by competent persons. Upon starting, if the purchaser at any time within 10 days is unable to make same operate well, telegraph or written notice stating wherein it fails to conform to the warranty is to be given by the purchaser to the Murray Company, at Atlanta, Ga. (and not verbally to any of its traveling men), and reasonable time shall be given the Murray Company to remedy the defect, the purchaser rendering all necessary and friendly assistance-; and, in case trouble be caused from a clearly defined originál defect in the machinery itself, the Murray Company reserves the right to replace any defective part or parts, without charge, but such defective part or parts shall not condemn the machine to which it belongs. If on trial the machine cannot be made to fulfill the warranty, and the fault is in the machine itself, the amount of the purchase price of same is to be credited on the notes pro rata, or the money paid thereon refunded pro rata; the purchaser in such case not to have nor make any .claim for damages of any nature or character whatsoever against the Murray Company by reason of the failure of said machine to fulfill the warranty, but the pro rata diminution of purchase price aforesaid to be the sole and only element of damage for breach of this warranty. Failure of any article named herein to comply with this aforesaid warranty shall in no way affect this contract, nor the notes and chattel mortgage and trust deed given in accordance therewith as to the other articles named therein. Failure to make such trial, or to give such notice, shall be conclusive evidence of the fulfillment of the warranty. If the Murray Company shall, at the request of the purchaser, render assistance of any kind in operating said machine, or any part thereof, or in remedying any defects at any time, said assistance shall in no ease be deemed an acknowledgment on its part of a breach by it of this warranty, or a waiver [501]*501of, or excuso for, any failure of the purchaser to fully keep and perform the conditions of this warranty.”

The defendants set up as a defense breach of warranty, and as a counterclaim alleged false and fraudulent representation:

“That, the Murray Company had installed in Anderson county, S. C., and in neighboring counties a number of ginnery systems or outfits similar to that offered defendants and that all of said outfits were performing well, had always performed well and were giving perfect satisfaction to the purchasers.”

[1] We think the demurrer to the counterclaim was properly overruled. When growing out of the same transaction, deceit and breach of warranty are not inconsistent causes of action, and may be joined. The gist of the action in such case is usually the breach of the warranty. But obviously cases may arise where the damages from the deceit may be greater than from the breach of the express warranty. Shippen v. Bowen, 122 U. S. 575, 578, 7 Sup. Ct. 1283, 30 L. Ed. 1172; Schuchardt v. Allen, 1 Wall. 359, 368, 17 L. Ed. 642; Kimber v. Young, 137 Fed. 744, 747, 70 C. C. A. 178. It follows that the defendants may join the defense of breach of warranty with counterclaim for deceit. Dushane v. Benedict, 120 U. S. 630, 7 Sup. Ct. 696, 30 L. Ed. 810; Railroad v. Smith, 21 Wall. 261, 22 L. Ed. 513. Since the counterclaim for deceit was before the court testimony in support of it was properly admitted.

But the defendants did not claim rescission, and the alleged deceit as to the unsatisfactory work of other like machinery was of no consequence if the machinery sold the defendants met the warranty. Under the evidence the counterclaim for deceit faded away, leaving as tlie material issue the claim for damages for breach of warranty. The District Judge, therefore, properly limited the defendants’ recovery to damages for breach of the warranty.

The plaintiff asked for a directed verdict for the full amount claimed because the defendants had not met the two conditions required by the contract to make the warranty available: First, they had not in the notices given stated wherein the machinery failed to conform to the warranty; and, second, they had not given notice of the defect alleged every 10 days while the machinery was in use.

[2] The machinery was warranted in general terms “to be of good material and to perform well if properly operated by competent person::.” The contract required the notice of the purchaser to state “wherein it fails to conform to the warranty.” Notice that the machinery did not perform well was notice wherein it did not conform to the warranty that it would perform well. The contract, did not require that the purchaser should ascertain and notify the seller why the machinery did not conform to the warranty. The case in this respect is distinguished from the cases cited by plaintiff’s counsel, holding that where the contract required notice “wherein the machine was faulty,” or “of the specific defect,” or like requirement, a notice that the machinery was not working satisfactorily was insufficient. 50 L. R. A. (N. S.) note, p. 788.

[3, 4] The contract provision, that “use for any 10 days without notice shall be conclusive evidence of the fulfillment of the warranty,” [502]*502was valid. Case Threshing Machine Co. v. Dyches, 108 S. C. 412, 418, 94 S. E. 1051; International Harvester Co. v. Law, 105 S. C. 520, 90 S. E. 186. But this does not mean that, after one notice is given by the purchaser and acknowledged by the seller, the purchaser must continue to bombard the seller with a new notice to the same effect every 10 days. Construing this provision in connection with that which allows the seller reasonable time after notice to remedy the defect, the-fair construction is that the purchaser cannot use the machinery any-10 days without giving notice that it fails to perform well; but after he has given the notice the seller, as the contract provides, has a reasonable time to respond, and no further notice is required within that time. Surely no additional notice is required after the seller has responded to the notice and undertaken to make good the warranty in compliance with the purchaser’s notice or demand for his legal right under the contract.

[5] Bñt it is said that, under another provision of the warranty,. nothing that the seller does in response to the notice can relieve the purchasers from the obligation to repeat the notice every 10 days, although the seller may be engaged at the very time in the effort to make the machinery perform well in response to a notice already given. The provision relied on is the following:

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Related

Murray Co. v. Ashley
280 F. 504 (Fourth Circuit, 1922)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
280 F. 499, 1922 U.S. App. LEXIS 1817, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/murray-co-v-morgan-ca4-1922.