Parrish v. Kotthoff

274 P. 1108, 128 Or. 529, 1929 Ore. LEXIS 56
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 10, 1929
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 274 P. 1108 (Parrish v. Kotthoff) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Parrish v. Kotthoff, 274 P. 1108, 128 Or. 529, 1929 Ore. LEXIS 56 (Or. 1929).

Opinion

RAND, J.

This is an action to recover damages for breach of contract. Plaintiff is a farmer whose principal business consists of buying, raising and fattening sheep for the market. Defendant operates a feed and seed store in the town of Jefferson. Rosen rye is a species of rye which, when sowed, forms stools and is much more valuable for pasturage purposes than common rye which grows only with a single stalk. The testimony tends to show that the difference between the seed grown from Rosen rye and that grown from other varieties of rye can be determined only by experts.

Plaintiff, desiring to purchase a quantity of Rosen rye to sow for pasturage purposes, went to defendant’s store to purchase the same and informed defendant of the purpose for which he was ordering it. He was informed by defendant that he did not have it in stock but would obtain it for him. Thereupon, on plaintiff’s offer to purchase the same, defendant ordered the quantity desired by plaintiff from the Portland Seed Company of Portland, Oregon, and, upon its receipt, sold and delivered the same in sacks to plaintiff who sowed the same upon rented premises after preparing the land for sowing. At the time of sale and delivery, both plaintiff and defendant believed that the seed was Rosen rye and the mistake was not discovered until after the crop had partially matured, when it was found that the seed sown was common rye and not Rosen rye. As soon as plaintiff ascertained that fact, he gave notice thereof to defendant and shortly thereafter commenced this action, seeking to recover as special damages the amounts *532 paid as rental for the land, the cost of the seed and the expense of preparing the land for sowing and as general damages the loss resulting to plaintiff’s sheep from not having sufficient and proper pasturage for feeding and fattening them. The trial resulted in a verdict and judgment for defendant from which plaintiff has appealed.

Plaintiff assigns as error the admission in evidence, over plaintiff’s objection, of testimony of defendant to the effect that at the time of the sale defendant did not know that the seed sold waá not Eosen rye and believed that it was Eosen rye, and an instruction given by the court to the effect that plaintiff could not recover in the action unless the jury believed from the evidence that plaintiff, in buying the seed, was relying on defendant’s judgment that the seed was Eosen rye.

1-3. The question of plaintiff’s reliance upon defendant’s judgment was not in the case and it was error for the court to instruct the jury that plaintiff could not recover unless he bought the seed in reliance upon defendant’s judgment. Where specified goods are sold in compliance with an order describing the goods and the seller furnishes them, he is held to warrant that the goods are of the kind asked for. In such case it is a substantive part of the contract that the goods shall be of the kind ordered. That is one of the terms of the contract without the fulfillment of which the contract cannot be performed. This rule is not changed by the Uniform Sales Act and is in addition to the implied warranty that the goods shall be fit for the particular purpose to which they are to be applied when that purpose is known to the vendor. Eosen rye is a well known article of trade and it was wholly immaterial in selling it, so far as *533 defendant’s liability is concerned, whether he knew at the time of the sale that the article sold was or was not Eosen rye. Having undertaken to sell plaintiff Eosen rye, defendant’s obligation could not be performed without furnishing rye which answered that description. Without plaintiff’s consent, defendant could no more substitute another kind of rye for Eosen rye than he could substitute barley or some other kind of grain for rye. He was bound to furnish Eosen rye for that was one of the terms of his contract. In accepting the goods tendered as fulfillment of the contract plaintiff, not being able to determine from an inspection that the seed was not of the kind ordered, relied and had a right to rely upon the description of the goods ordered: Morse v. Union Stock-Yard Co., 21 Or. 289 (28 Pac. 2, 14 L. R. A. 157); Wolcott v. Mount, 36 N. J. Law 262 (13 Am. Rep. 438); White v. Miller, 71 N. Y. 118 (27 Am. Rep. 13); Id., 78 N. Y. 393 (34 Am. Rep. 544); Hoffman v. Dixon, 105 Wis. 315 (81 N. W. 491, 76 Am. St. Rep. 916); Edgar v. Breck, 172 Mass. 581 (52 N. E. 1083); Ward v. Walker, 44 N. D. 598 (176 N. W. 129); De Loach Mill Co. v. Tutweiler Coal Co., 2 Ga. App. 493 (58 S. E. 790); Allan v. Lake, 18 Q. B. 560; Johnson v. Foley Mill, and Elevator Co., 147 Minn. 34 (179 N. W. 488, 16 A. L. R. 856); 1 Williston on Sales (2 ed.), § 183.

Section 8175, Or. L., which is Section 12 of the Uniform Sales Act, Laws 1919, Chapter 91, provides:

“Any affirmation of fact or any promise by the seller relating to the goods is an express warranty if the natural tendency of such affirmation or promise is to induce the buyer to purchase the goods, and if the buyer purchases the goods relying thereon. No affirmation of the value of the goods, nor any statement *534 purporting to be a statement of tbe seller’s opinion only shall be construed as a warranty.”

Section 8177, Or. L., wbicb is Section 14 of said act, provides:

“Where there is a contract to sell or a sale of goods by description, there is an implied warranty that the goods shall correspond with the description, and if the contract or sale be by sample, as well as by description, it is not sufficient that the bulk of the goods corresponds with the sample if the goods do not also correspond with the description.”

In treating the first of the two sections above referred to, Professor Williston, in 1 Williston on Sales (2 ed.), Section 194, says:

“ * * The terms ‘express’ warranty is used in different senses. Sometimes the words are regarded as meaning only such promises as contain the word ‘warrant’; sometimes all promises concerning the existing condition of the goods are so called. Frequently, however, in modern times, the term is treated as including all cases where the seller’s warranty is derived from express language, no matter whether the language is in form a promise or a representation. This usage is observed in the Sales Act and in this book. The term ‘implied warranty’ is reserved for cases where the law attaches an obligation to the seller which is not expressed in any form.”

The same author, in Section 205, says:

“ * * The law, however, is now convincingly settled that descriptive statements do constitute a warranty, whether the seller makes them or whether the buyer in ordering goods makes them and the seller furnishes goods in response to such order; * * .”

In construing Section 14 of the Sales Act, the same author, in Section 223a, says:

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

Related

Western Feed Co. v. Heidloff
370 P.2d 612 (Oregon Supreme Court, 1962)
Blackburn v. Carlson Seed Company
321 S.W.2d 520 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1959)
Sexauer & Son v. Watertown Cooperative Elevator Ass'n
79 N.W.2d 220 (South Dakota Supreme Court, 1956)
Webster v. Klassen
241 P.2d 302 (California Court of Appeal, 1952)
Henderson v. Berce
50 A.2d 45 (Supreme Judicial Court of Maine, 1946)
Sokoloski v. Splann
40 N.E.2d 874 (Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, 1942)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
274 P. 1108, 128 Or. 529, 1929 Ore. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/parrish-v-kotthoff-or-1929.