Pendergrass v. Fairchild

212 P. 963, 106 Or. 537, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 32
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedFebruary 27, 1923
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 212 P. 963 (Pendergrass v. Fairchild) 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
Pendergrass v. Fairchild, 212 P. 963, 106 Or. 537, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 32 (Or. 1923).

Opinion

BROWN, J. —

Defendant asserts failure of plaintiff to state a cause of action in his complaint, because the allegation reading that the machine—

“was not well made, of good material, and did not do good work and did not properly perform its functions, and was and is not of a fitness sufficient for plaintiff’s needs, and was and is not of a capacity adequate for plaintiff’s needs, and was and is of no value whatever for the purpose of furnishing refrigeration for use in plaintiff’s place of business”

[542]*542fails to aver the time when the ice machine failed to perform its functions.

It will be noted that it is alleged in the complaint that the machine “was and is defective.”

It is asserted by defendant that “is” refers to the time of filing the complaint. That document was filed three days after the expiration of one year, for which the warranty covered. “Was” refers, with equal precision, to any time within the year and three days following the date of the sale.

Now, does it appear that the machine failed to function during the period of time covered by the warranty?

The complaint must be construed in its entirety. Considering that document as a whole, it is a reasonable inference from the allegations contained therein that the defects in the ice machine were in existence during the period of time covered by defendant’s warranty, and that it failed to function during that time.

It will be remembered that this is the first time the defendant has assailed the complaint • on the ground that it fails to state a cause of action. The objection that a pleading fails to state a cause of action may be raised in the appellate court for the first time. This proposition has been so well settled that citation of authority may be regarded as superfluous. However, when a complaint reaches this court without having been demurred to or in any way moved against, every reasonable inference or fair intendment will be resolved in support thereof. This proposition is also so well established that reference to the authorities is unnecessary.

It is primary learning that a party may not recover for breach of a contract without alleging and proving such breach.

[543]*543“There can be no recovery unless plaintiff sets forth a breach by defendant of the contract in suit * * . And it follows that there can be no recovery on a breach not assigned by plaintiff * * . Where there is not an entire failure to state a breach, and the averment is simply uncertain and defective, it has been held that the defect, can be reached only by special demurrer particularly designating the specific point at which it is aimed. A failure to allege a breach cannot be cured by verdict; but if the statement of the breach is merely defective, such defective statement will be good after verdict.” 13 C. J., § 863, pp. 731, 732.

The questions that arise in this case are largely questions of fact, which were properly submitted to the jury, and their determination thereof is binding upon the court. As we have previously stated, Pendergrass, the plaintiff, conducted a grocery store and a retail meat market, while the defendant was the manufacturer and seller of ice machines and refrigerating plants. It appears from the record that the plaintiff was desirous of purchasing, and that defendant, the manufacturer, wished to sell to the plaintiff, the machinery involved in this litigation. Pursuant to certain preliminary negotiations between the parties, the defendant manufactured and installed in plaintiff’s place of business a refrigerating plant. Pendergrass was ignorant of the method of operating the refrigerator, which fact was well known to defendant. Fairchild also knew the business in which Pendergrass was engaged, and the purpose for which the refrigerating plant was to be used by plaintiff. Fairchild was the manufacturer of the machine, and he knew, or should have known, its capacity. He also knew the capacity of a machine required by plaintiff’s ■business. Knowing these facts, he installed the refrigerating plant in the plaintiff’s place of business [544]*544The installation of the machinery was made some time before the conditional sale to Pendergrass. In fact, it was some weeks after the plant had been constructed and installed in plaintiff’s place of business before the conditional sales contract was executed by plaintiff and defendant. "When the contract was made, the sum of $200 was paid defendant by plaintiff, and plaintiff agreed to pay the further sum of $50 per month until the full sum of $900, purchase price, together with interest, was paid. It was understood that the machine was to remain the property of the seller until fully paid for. The contract of sale provided that the seller would, for a period of one year from the date of the execution of the agreement, warrant the ice machine properly to perform its functions. It further provided that he would repair the machine in case of any defect “caused by weakness or defect in the construction or material of said machine.”

We have read the record with care. There is much testimony tending to show that the refrigerator did not properly perform its functions during the period covered by the warranty. If what the plaintiff’s witnesses say is true, the refrigerating plant was not only deficient as such, but, when operated, created a nuisance. Upon the other hand, there is considerable testimony in the record to the effect that the machinery was properly constructed and installed, and that its failure was due to the ignorance, carelessness and negligence of Pendergrass. In truth, the direct conflict in the testimony makes this a case peculiarly within the province of a jury, and the court properly denied defendant’s motion for a nonsuit.

Pendergrass testified that after the machine had been installed, fumes of ammonia began escaping [545]*545therefrom; that he tried to fix it and then called Mr. Fairchild, the defendant herein, to repair the machine; that there never was a time when escaping ammonia fnmes conld not be smelled; that the machine was tightened from time to time; that sometimes Fairchild was personally present, and that at other times he was represented by his employees;.that the machine leaked ammonia gas about as long as it was in his place of business; that upon occasions the leak was very bad; that he called on Fairchild to repair it numerous times, and at other times called the shop when, on many occasions, no one came to his assistance, with the result that he was compelled to employ others who were skilled in repairing ice machinery, but that they failed to mend the machine so as to abate the escape of fumes of ammonia. He testified that he, called Fairchild to repair the machine more than twenty times during the year, but that he failed to fix the machine to plaintiff’s satisfaction; that it was always leaking ammonia somewhere, and at times it failed to cool the cases, thereby resulting in injury to plaintiff’s meats and butter “and everything that was in all the cases * * ; also the front window was fixed up with the same style, and everything in there would all have to be taken out and recleaned up, and you couldn’t put the same stuff back in again for a * * show-window; you would have to use different stuff and work the other off in some kind of a way.”

S. R. Winch testified that he was one of the owners, and the manager, of the property in which the plaintiff’s store was situate.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
212 P. 963, 106 Or. 537, 1923 Ore. LEXIS 32, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pendergrass-v-fairchild-or-1923.