Pope v. Clendennen

257 S.W. 335
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedDecember 5, 1923
DocketNo. 6705.
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 257 S.W. 335 (Pope v. Clendennen) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pope v. Clendennen, 257 S.W. 335 (Tex. Ct. App. 1923).

Opinion

BAHGH, J.

Appellant sued appellee on October 27, 1922, in the county court of Burnet county,. Tex., on a promissory note for ■ $575, dated November 2, 1920, due October 15, 1921, and sought foreclosure of a chattel mortgage on certain personal property given to secure this note. -Appellee admitted executing the noté, and alleged that it was given in connection with a contract to rent 140 acres of land from appellant, and in payment for two horses at an agreed value of $400, and for one set of harness, one cultivator, one planter, and one sulky plow, all bought from appellant at the time. He pleaded failure of consideration, in that the horses were bailey and utterly worthless, that he had tendered the horses back to appellant within two weeks after he purchased same, and that appellant had declined to receive them. He also pleaded fraudulent representations of appellant as to the age, character, and value of said horses, alleging that appellant knew them to be balky and worthless when he sold them to appellee, and asked for recission of contract and cancellation of note and mortgage. Ap-pellee also set up a cross-action against appellant for damages for (a) failure to furnish appellee 40 acres of the land he agreed to furnish; (b) an expense to appellee of $10 per month for 18 months for keeping the horses, after he had tendered them back to appellant; and (c) $1.40 for the use of certain moneys belonging to appellee which had been garnished by appellant. The ease was submitted to the jury on special issues. The questions asked and their answers thereto were as follows:

“Question No. 1: At the time of the sale of the horses under consideration, and at the time of the execution of the note and mortgage sued on, did the plaintiff, J. H. Pope, represent that said horses- were seven and nine years old; and that they were good and true pullers; that they were not balky; and that they were good and serviceable farm horses? Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 2: If you answer question No. 1 in the affirmative, then answer the following question: Were said horses at the time of the sale thereof to' the defendant as represented by plaintiff? Answer: No.
“Question No. 3: If you answer question No. 2 in the negative, then answer the following question: Did the defendant rely on the representation made to him by the plaintiff, and was he induced to execute the note and mortgage by such representation on the part of plaintiff? Answer: Yes.
*336 “Question No. 4: If you answer question No. 2 in the negative, then answer the following question: Did the defendant tender back -to' the plaintiff the property for which said note . was given, upon learning that the horses were not as warranted, and demand a Rescission of the contract, and cancellation of the note and mortgage? Answer: Yes.
“Question No. 5: If you have answered ques-. tion No. 4 in the affirmative, you will answer the following question: What was the reasonable costs of keeping said horses from the time of the delivery thereof to the defendant until delivered back to the plaintiff? Answer: $180.”

Based upon these firidings, the court rendered judgment that the paintiff take nothing, and that the defendant have judgment against him' on his cross-action for $180, costs, etc. Erom this judgment the plaintiff appeals.

Opinion.

The first grounds of error charged to the trial court by. appellant require a determination as .to whether there was a sufficient tender by appellee to authorize a rescission of the contract, and cancellation of-the note and mortgage. The only allegation of tender by. the defendant on which he claims rescission and cancellation is as follows:

“About two weeks from November 3, 1920, the defendant offered to return said two horses to the plaintiff, who then refused to receive same.”

Defendant' ‘neither pleaded nor testified that he had ever tendered any of the tools or harness which constituted a consideration for thd execution of the note to the extent of $175. On the contrary, he kept the tools and harness, and used them. The plaintiff duly excepted to the pleadings for failure to allege a tender of all the property for which the note was given, objected to the proof thereon, and asked that the question of whether a tender of all the property or only a part had been made by appellee, be submitted to the jury. The trial court overruled all these, and oh this issue submitted only question No. 4 above set out. This was clearly - error. The right to rescind a contract must be exercised as to the contract in toto. A party cannot retain the benefits and reject the burdens of his own contract. He must rescind the whole or none, and to entitle him to rescind, even where fraud or breach of warranty is admitted, he must make a legal tender, or show good cause for his failure to -do so, of all the property, unless same is worthless. To entitle him to rescission, he must both plead and prove this -fact. There is no dispute but that the defendant failed to do either in this ease. Plaintiff’s exceptions to defendant’s answer should have been sustained. 6 R. C. L. § 318; Bolt v. State Savings Bank (Tex. Civ. App.) 179 S. W. 1119; Sinnamon v. Moore, 161 Mo. App. 168, 142 S. W. 495; Flint v. Newton (Tex. Civ. App.) 136 S. W. 821; Nass v. Chadwick, 70 Tex. 157, 7 S. W. 828.

We are of the opinion, however, that the defendant, according to his own testimony, completely waived his right, if he ever had any, to rescind his contract by keeping and using the property after he discovered its defects. He does not contend that there was anything wrong with the tools or harness, and admits that he retained and used them for two years after he purchased same. As to the horses, his testimony is as follows:

“The next time I saw Mr. Pope, which was about two weeks after we traded, I told him the horses - had balked with me, and I offered them back to him. He said he would not take them back, but told me to keep them, and he would do what was right about it. I kept the horses and worked them. They balked with me several times when I tried to work them to a wagon. I worked those horses to the plow so long as I lived on the Pope place. I worked them to the wagon several times, but they balked. I was feeding those horses and, of course, I worked them. I did not work them all of the time.”

By thus retaining and using the property for the purposes for which he purchased it for a period of nearly two years after he had discovered its defects, and after his alleged tender of only a part of same back to the appellant, he waived all right to rescind his contract, and this matter should not have been submitted to the jury at all. Hallwood Cash Register Co. v. Berry, 35 Tex. Civ. App. 554, 80 S. W. 857; Winters v. Coward (Tex. Civ. App.) 174 S. W. 940.

There' remains then only the appellee's plea of failure of consideration and his cross-action. There seems to be no contention as to the value of the harness and tools bought by the defendant. Since the case must be reversed for errors pointed out, the question of value of the horses will 'doubtless arise on another trial. Though the defendant testified that they were worthless, he admits that he used them repeatedly, and there is ample other testimony to show that they were of value.

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257 S.W. 335, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pope-v-clendennen-texapp-1923.