Refrigeration Discount Corp. v. Richards

284 N.W. 343, 135 Neb. 856, 1939 Neb. LEXIS 48
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 3, 1939
DocketNo. 30504
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 284 N.W. 343 (Refrigeration Discount Corp. v. Richards) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Refrigeration Discount Corp. v. Richards, 284 N.W. 343, 135 Neb. 856, 1939 Neb. LEXIS 48 (Neb. 1939).

Opinion

Messmore, j.

This is an action in replevin. At the close of all the testimony the court directed a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, and entered judgment “That the plaintiff’s title and right of ownership and right of possession of the two refrigerators replevined in this action, at the time the same were replevined, was in the plaintiff and the same is hereby confirmed and that plaintiff have and it is hereby given judgment against the defendant and its damages for the illegal detention of property in the sum of one £ent.” From the verdict and judgment of the court, defendant appeals.

The petition is regular in form and the answer a general denial. The defendant, an ice cream manufacturer, relying absolutely upon certain advertisements, containing the specifications of “Kelvinator-Nash Ice Cream Cabinets,” appearing in a magazine known as “Ice Cream Field,” purchased three Kelvinator cabinets. Two of the cabinets are involved in this action, one having been returned by the defendant to the Kelvinator company. The two Kelvinator cabinets were purchased under written contract, specifying the amounts, the down-payments and the amounts to be paid in instalments. The 2-hole portable cabinet was purchased under contract dated June 19, 1931, and the 3-hole portable cabinet under contract dated July 2, 1931.

The defendant testified that the cabinets leaked gas, causing the melting of the ice cream contained therein, and that he was required to replace the product, to his damage; that he had expended for servicing the three machines the amount of $75, and on the two involved in this action $35; that he was unable to obtain service for the cabinets and had to rely upon a Frigidaire service man; that agents of the Kelvinator company called on him to collect and promised to “get the machines going,” claiming he needed certain parts for them, and the agents did send him a couple of gauges, for which he paid, but did not service the machines [858]*858as promised. Most of the testimony of defendant was excluded on the theory that the contracts of purchase contained the entire agreement between the parties.

Section 69-415, Comp. St. 1929, a part of the Uniform Sales Act passed in 1921, is cited, the defendant contending that the court decided the case under subdivision 4 of said section which reads: “In the case of a contract to sell or a sale of a specified article- under its patent or other trade-name, there is no implied warranty as to its fitness for any particular purpose;” further contending that subdivision 1 of said section of the statute is the one applicable to the facts in the case at bar, which subdivision reads: “Where the buyer, expressly or by implication, makes known to the seller the particular purpose for which the goods are required, and it appears that the buyer relies on the seller’s skill or judgment (whether he be the grower or manufacturer or not), there is an implied warranty that the goods shall be reasonably fit for such purpose;”, and that the greater weight of authority is that where goods are sold under a patent or trade-name for a specific purpose they come under the section with reference to merchantability; that is, subdivision 1 of section 69-415, Comp. St. 1929.

In the instant case, the defendant had the use of the two refrigerators through the summer of 1931. In the record is a letter from him to the plaintiff, dated January 22, 1932, which is an explanation of his reasons for not keeping up the payments on the cabinets. On June 20, 1932, practically a year after having contracted for one of the cabinets, the defendant, by letter to plaintiff, wrote about his inability to procure the money with which to make the payments, and complained of the servicing of the cabinets, of the leaking of gas, and stating that the cabinets were of no use to him when there was no one to service them; and on July 29, 1932, he again, by letter, complained of the leaking of gas in the cabinets and stated that he would ship back one of the cabinets and wanted credit on two cabinets for the return of one.

[859]*859The plaintiff on June 23, 1932, responded to defendant’s letter of June 20, 1932, stating that the conditional sales contract was binding upon the defendant for the payment of the items, but that plaintiff was “not disposed to take an unnecessarily arbitrary position in the matter,” and asked cooperation on the part of the defendant to the extent of turning over to the railroad the cabinets, consigned to the Kelvinator Sales Corporation, and to ship them direct, freight collect, and that it would accept the cabinets in full settlement of the balance due on the three contracts, offering to return the canceled contracts upon receipt of the cabinets. On July 5, 1932, plaintiff wrote defendant, calling his attention to its letter of June 23, 1932, and asking him to advise the company if he had sent the cabinets; that, if they had been shipped, to send the bill of lading; if not, to send the cabinets at once; that it could not continue to hold the offer open if the cabinets were kept over the present season, and asking that the company be advised by telegram of the status of the matter. The two cabinets were not sent, but were retained by the defendant.

To clarify defendant’s position, we quote the following from his brief: “If, because of the plan of construction or the character of materials used, the article will not accomplish that for which it purports to be designed, there is a breach of the implied warranty of merchantability, as well as the implied warranty of general fitness, and in this respect it is immaterial that the machine was sold under a patent or trade-name, or as a specific standard article;” citing annotations, 59 A. L. R. 1224, and 90 A. L. R. 422; West Michigan Furniture Co. v. Diamond Glue Co., 127 Mich. 651, 87 N. W. 92; Parsons Band Cutter & Self Feeder Co. v. Mallinger, 122 Ia. 703, 98 N. W. 580; Ideal Heating Co. v. Kramer, 127 Ia. 137, 102 N. W. 840.

The view has been taken that the law implies a warranty in a contract for the sale of patented machines that they are reasonably adapted to the purpose for which they are made. There is an implied warranty that the machine, when manufactured, will not be unfit for its purpose on account [860]*860of defects in workmanship or the materials used by the manufacturer. 24 R. C. L. 202, sec. 475; Nettograph Machine Co. v. Brown, 28 Okla. 436, 114 Pac. 1102, 34 L. R. A. n. s. 737; Rodgers v. Niles, 11 Ohio St. 48, 78 Am. Dec. 290.

No representation was made by the defendant to any agent of the company as to the use to which the machines were to be put, and the specifications appearing in the magazine, upon which plaintiff relied when purchasing, contained no warranty, but advertised the efficiency and economy of the machine over other types of refrigeration. This is the only evidence on this proposition.

“In case of the sale of machinery as an ordinary article of commerce, whether the seller is the maker or manufacturer or not, there is, according to the better view, no implied warranty that the machine will do work for which it is ostensibly intended in any particular manner.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
284 N.W. 343, 135 Neb. 856, 1939 Neb. LEXIS 48, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/refrigeration-discount-corp-v-richards-neb-1939.