Robbins v. Souers

96 N.E. 586, 177 Ind. 213, 1911 Ind. LEXIS 6
Indiana Supreme Court·Decided November 28, 1911·No. No. 21,950·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinions

Cox, J.

This action , was brought by appellants against appellee to recover a balance alleged to be due on a promissory note, and unpaid. Appellee answered: (1) That the note was without consideration,- (2) that the consideration had wholly failed; (3) that the note was fully paid before the suit was brought; (4) by way of answer and counterclaim, that the note was given as the sole and only consideration for the sale to appellee by appellants of ten head of shorthorn cows, which were purchased by appellee from appellants, to be used by him and sold by him for breeding purposes, and that appellants warranted them to be sound and fit for breeding purposes; that two of the cows, of the value of $900 each, were never delivered, and that the eight actually delivered were afflicted with an infectious and contagious disease, known as contagious abortion, which rendered them unfit and of no value for breeding purposes; that appellee relied on the warranty, and had been damaged in the sum of $5,000. Wherefore it was demanded that the note be canceled, and that he be given judgment for the sum named.

To each of these paragraphs appellants replied the general denial, and also replied specially by a second paragraph addressed to the fourth paragraph of answer, or counterclaim as it is designated. In this special reply it was admitted by appellants that the note sued on was given by appellee and his two comakers, who were partners with him at the time, for the purchase price of ten cows, purchased by them from appellants. It averred that appellee and his copartners examined appellants’ stock of cows, and selected and purchased the ten in question, at an aggregate price agreed on for the ten, for which the note was given, and that at that time the cattle were in good condition and healthy, and had no disease of which appellants had any knowledge. It was further [215] alleged in this paragraph of reply, that after the execution of the note-, appellee and his copartners took possession of all of said cows, and sold them for breeding purposes, and that none of them was returned to them by those to whom they had been so sold, nor was any claim made against them on account of their warranty, and that the cows were sound and fit for breeding purposes; that appellee and his co-partners never made complaint to appellants about the cows until after they had sold them to others, and never at any time offered to return them to appellants; that each of the copartners of appellee had paid one-third of the note.

During the progress of the trial, after part of the evidence had been introduced, the court, over the objections of appellants, permitted appellee to amend his fourth paragraph of answer so as to show that all of the ten cows were diseased, instead of eight, as first alleged, and to amend his second paragraph of answer so as to show a breach of the warranty as constituting the failure of consideration.

Thereupon appellants, charging a material change of the issue by the amendment which they asserted they were unable to meet, without time to investigate and procure additional evidence, filed their verified motion to set aside the submission to enable them to meet the new issue in the cause. This motion was overruled, and appellants excepted. A general verdict for appellee was returned by the jury, together with answers to interrogatories.

Appellants rely for a reversal on the action of the trial court in overruling their motion for .judgment on the facts found in answers to the interrogatories, and in overruling their motion for a new trial, in which the rulings of the court in refusing to set aside the submission of the cause upon the amendment of appellee’s answers, and permitting such amendments, various rulings on the admission of evidence, the refusal to give certain instructions tendered by appellants, and the insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the general verdict, are all made causes.

[216] A careful and thorough consideration of the record leads to the conclusion that multiple errors occurring during the progress of the trial were potential in bringing about the general verdict in appellee’s favor, but the conclusion reached by such consideration requires that extended attention be given to one question only of the number raised, and that the one first above stated.

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Robbins v. Souers, 96 N.E. 586, 177 Ind. 213, 1911 Ind. LEXIS 6 (Ind. 1911).

96 N.E. 586 (Robbins v. Souers) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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Robbins v. Souers
96 N.E. 586 (Indiana Supreme Court, 1911)