Ryan Equipment Co. v. Brewer

347 S.W.2d 430, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 600
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJune 13, 1961
DocketNo. 30693
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 347 S.W.2d 430 (Ryan Equipment Co. v. Brewer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Ryan Equipment Co. v. Brewer, 347 S.W.2d 430, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 600 (Mo. Ct. App. 1961).

Opinion

WOLFE, Judge.

This is an action in four counts, the first of which is for an indebtedness in the amount of $1,224 for a balance owing on rental of a tractor. The defendant claimed that only $900 rental was owing and tendered this amount into court. A verdict and judgment on this count was for the plaintiff, but only in the amount tendered by the defendant.

The second count was for damage to the tractor during the rental term, and the amount sought was $981.48. To this count defendant answered that he owed only $200, and tendered such sum into court. There was a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff for the amount the defendant tendered.

The third count was on a promissory note for $800 plus interest and attorney’s fees. To this action the defendant pleaded a setoff of $520.79 and paid $279.21 into court as the total balance owing. A verdict and judgment were for the plaintiff in the amount tendered.

The fourth count was for $709.52 on an open account. The defendant admitted liability for only $627.32, and paid that amount into court. A verdict and judgment was for the plaintiff in the sum of $706.63.

The defendant also counterclaimed for $78.11 interest which he asserted was improperly charged, and there was a verdict and judgment for the defendant on his counterclaim.

After timely motions for a new trial had been overruled, plaintiff appealed.

The plaintiff’s petition alleged in its first count that it leased to the defendant a diesel crawler tractor with a shovel. The lease was for a period of six months from July 1, 1958, at $1,200 per month, plus $24 sales tax, payable in advance. It was alleged that the defendant failed and refused to pay the last monthly rental in[432]*432stallment wliich became due on December 1, 19S8 and the sales tax in the amount of $24. This count concluded with a prayer for the sum of $1,224.

Count 2 of the petition alleged that the defendant agreed to maintain the tractor in the same condition it was in when delivered to him by plaintiff, but that he failed to do so, and that the tractor was damaged in the amount of $981.48. The defendant sought judgment for that amount. Both Counts 1 and 2 were predicated on the lease of the tractor, which was in writing, and attached to the petition and made a part thereof.

Count 3 was on a note for $800. It was alleged that the note was executed on April 14, 1938, and became payable on June 1, 1938. The note was attached and made a part of the petition. The note provided for attorney’s fees in the amount of IS percent plus interest, all of which the plaintiff sought by this count.

Count 4 was on an open account for services rendered from September 3, 1958 to January 2, 1939, and the total sum sued for was $709.32.

The defendant, answering Count 1, admitted that he owed rental for three-fourths of the month of December, but claimed that he did not owe for the last quarter of that month as the tractor had broken down on the 24th day of December, and that he was by reason of this deprived of the use of it for the last quarter of the month. He asserted that the breakdown of the tractor was due to a factory defect covered by a factory warranty. He tendered into court $900, which he claimed was the total sum owing as rental.

As to Count 2, he alleged that the portion of the lease requiring him to return the tractor in the same condition in which he received it was impossible of performance. He alleged that the only damage to the tractor during the rental term, which was not attributable to usual wear and teai", could reasonably be repaired for $200, and that amount he tendered into court.

Answering Count 3, the defendant admitted signing the note as part payment on a new tractor purchased from the plaintiff, but he averred that the additional sum owing for the tractor plus an account which he owed the plaintiff at the time were to be paid by a note endorsed over to the C. I. T. Finance Company, secured by a chattel mortgage. The amount of the note to be endorsed to the Finance Company was for $13,199 plus finance charges. He alleges that he signed the note in blank, with the understanding that the sum to be filled in was $13,199 plus finance charges. He alleged that $520.79 was added by the plaintiff to the amount agreed upon as the sum payable under the note. He therefore averred that he was entitled to a setoff of $320.79 against the $800 payable to defendant under the note sued upon, and that he owed only $279.21, which he tendered into court.

As to Count 4, defendant alleged that he owed $627.32, and tendered that amount into court.

The counterclaim of the defendant is predicated upon the allegation that the alleged $520.79 improperly added to the amount due on the note signed in blank carried its portion of interest, which amounted to $78.11, and for this amount he counterclaimed.

The evidence as it related to the sum alleged to be owing under Count 1 of the petition consisted, first, of the lease entered into between plaintiff Ryan Equipment Company, as lessor, and defendant Everett M. Brewer, as lessee. The equipment leased was new and had never been used. The pertinent parts of the lease, as it relates to the issues about the amount owing under it, provided that there should be paid monthly in advance $1,200 plus $24 sales tax.

The lease also provided that there was no warranty of the equipment other than [433]*433the manufacturer’s warranty as set forth in the catalog. The pertinent parts of that are as follows:

“Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing Company warrants that it will repair f. o. b. its factory, or furnish without charge f. o. b. its factory, a similar part to replace any material in its machinery which within six months after the date of sale by the Dealer, is proven to the satisfaction of the Company to have been defective at the time it was sold, provided that all parts claimed defective shall be returned properly identified to the Company’s Factory, charges prepaid.
“This warranty is the only warranty, either express or implied, upon which said machinery is purchased. No other warranty has been made or exists, either expressly or by implication, all statutory and implied warranties being hereby expressly waived and excluded from this transaction, and the Company’s liability in connection with this transaction is expressly limited to the repair or replacement of defective parts, all other damages, statutory or otherwise, being hereby expressly waived.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Heiden v. General Motors Corp.
567 S.W.2d 401 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1978)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
347 S.W.2d 430, 1961 Mo. App. LEXIS 600, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/ryan-equipment-co-v-brewer-moctapp-1961.