Pratt-Gilbert Co. v. Hildreth

207 P. 364, 24 Ariz. 141, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 192
CourtArizona Supreme Court
DecidedJune 8, 1922
DocketCivil No. 1898
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 207 P. 364 (Pratt-Gilbert Co. v. Hildreth) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Arizona Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pratt-Gilbert Co. v. Hildreth, 207 P. 364, 24 Ariz. 141, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 192 (Ark. 1922).

Opinion

McALISTER, J.

This is an action by Fen S. Hildreth against the Pratt-Gilbert Company, a corporation, in which he seeks to recover the purchase price of a Monarch tractor sold him by the latter. From a judgment for plaintiff in the full amount asked for, $1,856.70, and an order denying its motion for a new trial, Pratt-Gilbert Company appeals.

It appears from the complaint that in the latter part of June, 1917, appellee, Hildreth, ordered from appellant a Monarch tractor which arrived in Prescott, Arizona, the latter part of July, 1917, and a few days thereafter was driven to appellee’s ranch in Yavapai county; that it was purchased for the express purpose of plowing, disking and preparing the land on appellee’s ranch for planting to crops, a fact then well known to appellant, who at the time of making the sale to appellee warranted that the said tractor was fully adapted to the particular purpose for which appellee desired it and that it would “develop eighteen (18) brake horse-power at the drawbar and thirty (30) horse-power at the crank shaft, and that said tractor would handle and pull four fourteen-inch plows in the soil on plaintiff’s said ranch, the condition of which said soil and the position and location of said ranch were to defendant company well known”; that appellee, relying upon said warranty, ordered and received said tractor and paid therefor the sum of $1,650 and for freight thereon from the factory at Watertown, Wisconsin, to Prescott, Arizona, the further sum of $206.70; that appellee was unable to use the tractor for plowing at the time he purchased it because of the hardness of the soil on his ranch due to the drought, and that he kept said [144]*144tractor on his premises properly housed and protected from the elements until the condition of the soil was such that the tractor could he used, which was in the spring of 1918, and that upon a trial of it in the work for which it was purchased it failed to fulfill the conditions of the warranty above set forth, in that it did not and could not pull four fourteen-inch plows as aforesaid and did not and could not develop eighteen brake horse-power at the drawbar and thirty horse-power at the crank shaft, which said fact was immediately thereafter, to wit, on April 20, 1918, communicated to appellant, together with a demand for a return of the purchase price, including the freight, notice at the same time being served on appellant that appellee was ready to return the tractor, which was then at its disposal on his ranch in Yavapai county, in as good condition as when purchased.

The answer admits the sale and delivery of the tractor and the payment of the purchase price, but denies the warranties claimed, and alleges that the sale was made upon an agreement that if, after a three-days’ test by appellee, the tractor did.not work well, he would give appellant written notice thereof stating wherein it failed, whereupon the latter would send a competent man to put it in shape, and, if this could not be done appellee should then immediately return the tractor to appellant; that the failure to give notice that the tractor did 'not work well after a trial as above stated or its use by appellee after three days from the time it was delivered to him without giving notice as to wherein it failed should operate as an acceptance thereof and a fulfillment of all warranties pertaining to the sale; that the tractor was delivered on July 29, 1917, a trial thereof had in behalf of appellee by his agent, Bob Southers, who accepted it, whereupon appellee on August 8, 1917, paid the purchase price; that at no time previous to April 20, 1918, did appellee notify appellant that said trac[145]*145tor did not work well nor offer to return the same; that the notice and offer on said last-mentioned date were not within a reasonable time from August 7, 1917, the day of acceptance.

It appeared from the evidence that about a week after the tractor had been delivered and, according to appellant, tested, and accepted by appellee through his representative, a request for the payment of the purchase price was made, but appellee, declining to accept the guaranty of the factory people whom he did not know, refused payment unless appellant, a local company, would guarantee that the tractor would do the work at his ranch. Consequently the following letter was delivered to appellee, whereupon he gave appellant his check for $1,650, having paid the freight when the tractor was unloaded in Prescott :

“Pratt-Gilbert Company.

“Phoenix, Arizona, 8 — 7—17.

“Mr. Fen S. Hildreth,

‘ ‘ Fleming Bldg.,

“Phoenix, Ariz.

“Dear Sir: As per your verbal conversation with our Mr. Doe this afternoon regarding the work the tractor purchased from us recently will do, we hereby guarantee said tractor to handle four fourteen-inch plows, and will develop 18 brake HP. at the drawbar, and 30 brake HP. at the crank shaft.

“Hoping that this will meet with your approval and thanking you for your very many courtesies, we beg to remain.

“Yours very truly,

“PRATT-GILBERT CO.,

“CYRIL S. GILBERT.”

Attached to this letter was the guaranty of the Monarch Tractor Company, evidently in the form given with all its machines, which contained the warranties alleged in the answer and signed by appellant as well as by the manufacturer. These guaranties were delivered to appellee and the purchase price [146]*146paid August 7 or 8, 1917, nine or ten days after the delivery of the tractor. Hence it would seem to be clear that it was not then understood by either party that the three days’ test required by the factory guaranty had been made, or, if so, that the tractor was accepted in consequence of it; otherwise, appellee could have had no purpose in demanding* and appellant none in giving* its separate guaranty. But even if it had been made appellant, in order to satisfy appellee completely as to the tractor’s fitness for his purpose, guaranteed in its letter of August 7, 1917, reliance upon which prompted the payment of the purchase price, that it would “handle four fourteen-inch plows, and will develop 18 brake HP. at the draw-bar, and 30 brake HP. at the crank shaft,” though no definite time for ascertaining whether it would do this was given, and appellant contends that from August 7, 1917, the date of payment, to April 20, 1918, the date of the letter of rescission, a period of over eight months, is unreasonable and as a matter of law constitutes a waiver of any breach of warranty and an acceptance, and bars appellee’s right to rescind. This is true unless there was a definite agreement fixing the time, or, in the absence of such an agreement, that there were conditions over which the parties had no control rendering it impossible to make the test within a reasonable time, for there is no question as to the right of the parties to fix their own time, and under all the authorities when none has been fixed the purchaser is allowed a reasonable time. 35 Cyc. 439.

Appellee alleged, however, and the court so found, that appellant through its agent gave him until the fall or spring plowing to make the test, but the sufficiency of the evidence to support this finding is challenged, and in support of its position appellant cites the following excerpt from the testimony of appellee, which is all the record contains on the subject:

[147]*147“Q. At the time that you bought this tractor, was there any time specified when you were to try it? A. Yes, in a way.

“Q.

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213 P. 400 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1923)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
207 P. 364, 24 Ariz. 141, 1922 Ariz. LEXIS 192, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pratt-gilbert-co-v-hildreth-ariz-1922.