Penn American Plate Glass Co. v. De La Vergne Machine Co.

106 N.E. 722, 58 Ind. App. 333, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 188
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedNovember 20, 1914
DocketNo. 8,272
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 106 N.E. 722 (Penn American Plate Glass Co. v. De La Vergne Machine Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Penn American Plate Glass Co. v. De La Vergne Machine Co., 106 N.E. 722, 58 Ind. App. 333, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 188 (Ind. Ct. App. 1914).

Opinion

Shea, J.

Action by appellee, a corporation, against appellant, a corporation, on account of goods sold and delivered. The complaint is in two paragraphs. The first alleged that appellant was indebted to appellee on an account for one motor cylinder complete, of the value of $1,626, sold and delivered by appellee to appellant, at appellant’s special instance and request; that $500 had been paid on said account, leaving due and unpaid $1,126. The second paragraph was upon an account for two o. h. s. 'nuts for piston rod, of the value of $81.15, due .and unpaid. Appellant filed an answer in three paragraphs. The first, a general denial, was afterward withdrawn.

It is insisted that-the second paragraph of answer and set-off contains two theories, one based upon ah express warranty, the other upon an implied warranty. A motion to strike out many of the allegations with respect to the implied warranty was sustained. The contract and specifications attached and marked “exhibit A” were also stricken out. It is the contention of appellant that the second paragraph of answer was drawn upon the theory of an implied warranty, and a breach thereof, and that the effect of sustaining appellee’s motion to strike out was to emasculate and destroy the pleading. A motion to strike from the third paragraph of answer and set-off all the allegations [335]*335with respect to damages to the factory and other machinery was sustained, leaving therein the theory of implied warranty. After the motion to strike out was sustained, demurrers were addressed to each paragraph of answer and sustained by the court, to which exceptions were duly taken. The cause was submitted to the court for trial. Finding and judgment for appellee on the first paragraph of complaint for $1,419.88 and on the second paragraph for $103.91.

It is very earnestly insisted that the motion to strike out parts of the second and third paragraphs of answer is not properly in the record, and can not therefore be considered by this court. In view of the conclusion we have reached, this question need not be considered.

The controlling and important question presented by this record is as to whether implied warranties may be read into a written contract where there are certain express warranties contained in said instrument. It is urged in behalf of appellant that implied warranties must be read into a written contract such as this, upon all points not covered by the express warranties. It is argued that this is especially applicable to eases of this character. The record discloses that appellee was engaged in the manufacture of gas engines; that appellant operated a plate glass factory in the city of Alexandria, Indiana; that appellant needed for use in its business three 600 horsepower gas engines, which were ordered from appellee to be manufactured for the particular uses of appellant in its business of manufacturing plate glass.

It is insisted that the manufacture of a machine for a specific purpose, by a company such as appellee, which holds itself out to the buyer of the machine as having the skill and ability to manufacture said machine for said purposes, warrants it to do the work for which it was made. The buyer must of necessity leave to the manufacturer the selection of the design and the process of manufacture. The buyer has no opportunity to inspect or test such machine, [336]*336but must rely upon the skill of the manufacturer. Under such circumstances, when the manufacturer designs and undertakes to make and deliver to the buyer such a machine as the buyer requires for his known purposes, then, and in such case, the law implies and will read into the contract a warranty that such machine shall be free from defects, latent and otherwise, in the design or plan, and that it shall be reasonably fit for the use contemplated. It is further urged that the express warranty in this case does not cover the general design or plan of the engines so purchased. The guarantees are as follows: “ (1) ¥e will construct the said engines in all their parts in a thorough and workmanlike manner; (2) using none but the best materials; (3) and under the stipulated conditions will guarantee that the said engines will perform the work herein specified if properly handled; (4) and will replace any part of said engines which may prove defective, either in material or workmanship for one year from their completion; (5) that each of the engines * * * will produce 600 effective horsepower with a consumption of fuel in the form of natural gas having beat value of about 900 B. T. U. per cubic foot, not exceeding 10,000 B. T. U. per horsepower per hour, when running at 100 revolutions per minute. ’ ’

It is insisted that none of these warranties meet the question of the inherent inadaptability of the engines to the uses for which they were ordered, made and attempted to be used. It is charged in each paragraph of the answer, that the flywheel, instead of weighing 26,000 pounds as the specifications designated, in fact. weighed 73,000 pounds; that its weight was excessive as compared with the other parts of said engine, especially for the shaft upon which it revolved; that after its use for the period of time stated, the shaft 'became crystallized and broke, causing the damage stated, all because of the faulty plan or design of said engine and flywheel as above stated.

[337]*3371. [336]*336Appellee argues very earnestly that, in view of the fact [337]*337that the above guarantees ‘ were contained in the written contract, there could be no implied warranty covering any other or different defects which might appear in the plan, design or principle upon which the machine was constructed, and that the warranties contained in the written contract covered a period of one year only, because of the statement in said warranties that appellee would replace any part of said engines proving defective within one year from their completion. The defects in the engines in question were not complained of until a period of four and one-half years had elapsed. There are some Indiana cases which contain statements which, if given their full import, sustain appellee’s contention. It is .argued that the detailed description of the machines to be constructed precludes the idea of an implied warranty of the plan or design. In the case of Conant v. National State Bank (1889), 121 Ind. 323, 327, 22 N. E. 250, cited and relied on by appellee, the court said: “A description of .a thing is not of itself a warranty of what it will accomplish”. If, therefore, the description of the machine set out in the contract under consideration is not a warranty of “what it will accomplish”, it will not cover the implied warranty that the machine is so planned and designed to do the work for which it was intended.

While there are some expressions in the case of Conant v. National State Bank, supra, which, if taken from their context would seem to support appellee’s theory, when considered with all the facts, they are not in conflict with the principle that warranties not covered by the express terms of the contract are implied in cases such as the present. The principal point decided by the case of Conant v. National State Bank, supra, is that parol proof can not be heard to vary the express terms of the contract. This doctrine is beyond dispute in this jurisdiction, but it has no application to the present ease. In the case of McCormick [338]*338v. Yoeman (1901), 26 Ind. App.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
106 N.E. 722, 58 Ind. App. 333, 1914 Ind. App. LEXIS 188, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/penn-american-plate-glass-co-v-de-la-vergne-machine-co-indctapp-1914.