Page v. Ford

12 Ind. 46
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedMay 24, 1859
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 12 Ind. 46 (Page v. Ford) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Page v. Ford, 12 Ind. 46 (Ind. 1859).

Opinion

Hanna, J.

Page, as assignee of one Armstrong, brought suit on notes, and to foreclose a mortgage, &c. The complaint was in the usual form.

The defendants answered, and set up a counterclaim, admitting the execution of the notes and mortgage; that the same were held by Page, as assignee, and had not been paid, but averring that they were given to secure the payment of the balance of the price of a steam engine and boiler, which, by agreement, Armstrong, Drake Co. manufactured for the defendants, to be used in a saw-mill of defendants, of which the makers had knowledge, and made them expressly for that purpose; that the payee was one of the firm of Armstrong, Drake Sf Co.; that said boiler was worthless, in consequence of defects in materials and workmanship; that soon after it was set up, owing wholly to said defects, it burst, &c., by which it was destroyed, [48]*48and damaged the defendants by injury to the mill, &c.; that the price paid was a fair price for a good article for that purpose, &c.; that defendants had no knowledge of the defects, &c.; that the value of the other machinery was less, after the bursting, than the sum already paid. Prayer that the damages, &c., may be allowed, &c.

The plaintiff demurred to that portion of the answer and counter-claim which attempted to set up damages, the result of injury to the mill-house, &c.

The demurrer was overruled, which presents the first question to be considered, under the points made by counsel.

In Levy, v. Langridge 2 Mees. and Wels. 519, 4 id. 337, the defendant had sold to the plaintiff’s father a gun, for the use of himself and his son, falsely and fraudulently representing the gun to be manufactured by a certain person, and to be well made. The representations were untrue. The gun burst in the hands of the plaintiff, and the defendant was held liable for the damage thereby occasioned to the plaintiff.

In Batterman v. Pierce, “ The plaintiff sold his wood at auction, and, as an inducement to obtain a better price, he stipulated with the bidders that they should have two winters and one summer to get away the wood, and that, in the meantime, he would insure them against the consequences of setting fire to his adjoining fallow grounds. Upon these terms the purchase was made by the defendant.” A note was given, in the usual form, for the price of the wood, and in a suit on that note, the defendant was permitted to set up, by way of recoupment, the damages resulting from the destruction of the wood by fire, in burning off the fallow ground. 2 Sandf. (S. C.) 120.

In Thomas v. Winchester, 2 Seld. 397, it was held by t he Court of Appeals of New York] that a dealer in drugs and medicines who should carelessly label a deadly poison ás a harmless medicine, and send it, so labeled, into market, is liable to all persons who, without fault, are injured by using it, &c. It will be observed that the measure of damages was not the difference in the value of the article sold [49]*49and that which it purported to be, but the plaintiff recovered damages “for the personal injury and suffering” thereby caused. In the same case, the counsel for the defendant contended that, as the medicine had passed through several hands before it was administered, therefore, if the defendant could be made liable, then, if a smith shoes a horse for A., A. Sells the horse to B., and so on through several hands, and the horse, while in the use of JD., should fall and injure him, in consequence of gross negligence in the shoeing, JD. could sue the smith and recover. The Court, in the opinion, in response to this, say, that “ although the injury to the rider may have happened in consequence of the negligence of the smith, the latter was not, by his contract, or. by any consideration of public policy or safety, to respond for his breach of duty to any one except the person he contracted with.” Thus, impliedly, it appears to us, holding that, to the person with whom he contracted, there would be, under such circumstances, a liability. Id. 408.

Several cases are put in Sedgwick on Damages, somewhat similar to the one at bar in principle, to-wit:

If a house should be let for a term of years, and when the term was half expired, the lessee should be evicted by the true owner, the lessor is liable for the damages resulting from the expense of moving, and the rise of the rent of- similar tenements, but not for- an injury to a business established in the house by the lessee,. &c., because this is damage that could not have been contemplated at the time of the contract; but if the building had been let for the express object of carrying on a particular business, then the injuries which otherwise would be too remote, become direct, &c. If a carpenter sell timber for the express purpose of propping up a house, and by reason of the timber being defective, the building should fall and be destroyed, he will be held liable, not only for the difference between the price 'of good timber and that sold, but also for all damage done the building, pp. 58, 59.

Of the same character, is the case of Borradaile v. Brun[50]*50ton, 8 Taunt. 535, which was an action on a warranty of a cable for a certain time. It was alleged that within the time the cable broke, and the anchor to which it was fastened was thereby lost. It was held that a verdict for the value of the cable and anchor was correct.

So, in Dewint v. Wiltsie, 9 Wend. 325, the plaintiff was the owner of a ferry, at which was a tavern stand which he also owned. He leased the ferry, the lessee covenanting to keep it in good order, which he failed to do, but discontinued it and removed it to his own wharf, in consequence of which the tavern was injured in its business, so that, although the plaintiff had formerly let it at 300 dollars, he could not let it at all. Upon a suit on the covenant in the ferry lease, it was held that the plaintiff was entitled to recover his actual damage in the loss of rent, as the natural consequence of the breach of the covenant.

So in White v. Mosely, 8 Pick. 356, which was an action of trespass for breaking a mill-dam, the Court held, that not only the amount necessary'to repair the dam, but also the damages caused by interruption to the use of the mill, and the diminution of the plaintiff’s profits on that account, were well included in the amount of the damages. Driggs v. Dwight, 17 Wend. 71.—4 Barb. 261.—6 id. 423.-2 Cush. 46.—Brown v. Edgington, 2 M. and Gr. 279. In the case last cited, the plaintiff, who was a dealer in wine, &c., ordered of the defendant, who was a dealer in ropes, &c. (but who held himself out as a manufacturer and dealer), a rope for a crane, to raise and lower casks of wine, &c. The defendant sent his foreman, who took the measure and dimensions of the crane and the rope, &c., and was informed it .was wanted to raise pipes, casks, &c., from the cellar, and let them down into the street. The defendant procured another person to make the rope, without informing him what it was for. The servant of the defendant fitted the rope to the crane on the 5th of September, 1837. On the 20th of February, 1839, in removing a pipe of port wine from the warehouse to a cart, the rope broke, and the cask falling into the street the wine was lost.

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Bluebook (online)
12 Ind. 46, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/page-v-ford-ind-1859.