Schoenung v. Gallet

238 N.W. 852, 206 Wis. 52, 78 A.L.R. 387, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 138
CourtWisconsin Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 10, 1931
StatusPublished
Cited by20 cases

This text of 238 N.W. 852 (Schoenung v. Gallet) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wisconsin Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schoenung v. Gallet, 238 N.W. 852, 206 Wis. 52, 78 A.L.R. 387, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 138 (Wis. 1931).

Opinion

Fritz, J.

The following are the controlling facts as established by undisputed evidence or as found by the trial court: On April 15, 1929, plaintiff, a minor, nineteen years of age, purchased from defendant an automobile for $300, for which he gave his judgment note for $250 and an automobile, which defendant accepted in trade at a valuation of $50. At that time plaintiff was an emancipated minor living with his parents on a farm, which was three miles from the city where he was employed at $75 per month in an implement business. His brother was a part owner of that business and plaintiff usually drove with him to and from work. He had been working for several years and had been permitted to keep his earnings, which he had used to provide his necessaries and to pay for two cheaper automobiles. Up to June 6, 1929, he had driven the automobile, which he had purchased on April 15, 1929, from six hundred to one thousand miles on pleasure trips and had used it occasionally in going to or from his work. On several occasions he had left it at defendant’s garage for adjustments and repairs, for which no charges were made. On June 6, 1929, he restored the automobile to defendant by leaving it at defendant’s garage, and he demanded the return of his note and his former automobile. Defendant refused to accept the returned automobile and the certificate of title thereto, and also refused to return plaintiff’s note and his former automobile, which defendant had sold and which had been wrecked. Later on June 6th defendant removed the automobile, which plaintiff had returned, from defendant’s garage to the public street in front of plaintiff’s place of employment. A traffic officer ordered plaintiff to remove it from the street, and plaintiff then took it to his father’s farm, where it has remained. Since then plaintiff offered it to defendant several times, but defendant refused to accept it. The terms of the purchase were fair and reasonable, and there was nothing wrong with the automobile when plaintiff returned it on June 6th. There is no evidence as to its value at that time.

[54]*54The court concluded that the automobile was necessary to plaintiff to carry on his business and employment; that he was an emancipated minor and liable on his contract; and that he was not entitled to rescission and to recover his note and former automobile.

That plaintiff was an emancipated minor was immaterial as a matter of law in this action. Emancipation does not remove or affect a minor’s incapacity to subject himself to contractual liability for things which are not necessaries. 14 Ruling Case Law, p. 219, § 6; 31 Corp. Jur. p. 1008, § 37; Tyler v. Fleming, 68 Mich. 185, 35 N. W. 902; Person v. Chase, 37 Vt. 647, 88 Am. Dec. 630; Wickham v. Torley, 136 Ga. 594, 71 S. E. 881; Mast v. Strahan (Tex. Civ. App. 1920) 225 S. W. 990; 113 Am. St. Rep. 121, notes. Consequently, plaintiff lacked capacity to contract for the purchase of this automobile, unless it was a necessary for him under the particular facts and circumstances of this case. In 31 Corp. Jur. p. 1077, § 175, it is said:

“The term ‘necessaries,’ as used in the law relating to the liability of infants therefor, is a relative term, somewhat flexible, except when applied to such things as are obviously requisite for the maintenance of existence, and depends on the social position and situation in life of the infant, as well as upon his own fortune and that of his parents. The particular infant must have an actual need for the articles furnished; not for mere ornament or pleasure. The articles must be useful and suitable, but they are not necessaries merely because useful or beneficial. Concerning the general character of the things furnished, to be necessaries the articles must supply the infant’s personal needs, either those of his body or those of his mind. However, the term ‘necessaries’ is not confined to merely such things as are required for a bare subsistence. There is no positive rule by'means of which it may- be determined what are or what are not necessaries, for what may be considered necessary for one infant may not be necessaries for another infant whose state is different as to rank, social position, fortune, health, or other circumstances, the question being one to be determined from the particular facts and circumstances of each case.”

[55]*55To the same effect see, also, 14 Ruling Case Law, p. 257, § 34.

In Covault v. Nevitt, 157 Wis. 113, 146 N. W. 1115, the question arose as to whether a minor who owned real estate could contract for the employment of a janitor. This court said:

“It is clear that in the instant case the alleged contract could only be sustained, if at all, upon the ground that it was a contract for necessaries; and it is equally clear that such a contract is not a contract for necessaries. 22 Cyc. 584, 585; Hollingsworth, Contracts, p. 31; 16 Am. & Eng. Ency. of Law (2d ed.) 276. The general rule respecting necessaries is that they must be such as to supply the personal needs of the infant. Tupper v. Cadwell, 12 Met. 559, 562. Manifestly the contract in this case is not a contract for necessaries under which a liability could be enforced not for the benefit of the infant.”

In Wallace v. Newdale Furniture Co. 188 Wis. 205, 205 N. W. 819, a minor sought to recover money which she had paid as part of the purchase price for furniture, which she used for keeping roomers, and then returned during her minority to the defendant. This court said:

“It has not been contended by counsel for the appellant that the articles purchased by the plaintiff were necessaries and that she could not rescind for that reason, nor would the argument be sound if made. The fact that a minor engages in business does not remove the incapacity to make general contracts, and, in the absence of statutes, purchases' made in trade cannot be regarded as necessaries.”

Although conditions and circumstances may exist because of which an automobile may be considered a necessary for a minor, it has thus far been held that a motor vehicle is not a necessary, and that his contract for the purchase thereof is voidable. Arkansas Reo Motor Car Co. v. Goodlett, 163 Ark. 35, 258 S. W. 975; Maloney v. Perks, 169 Ill. App. 227; Lein v. Centaur Motor Co. 194 Ill. App. 509; Utterstrom v. Kidder, 124 Me. 10, 124 Atl. 725; Raymond v. [56]*56General Motorcycle Sales Co. 230 Mass. 54, 119 N. E. 359; Fulwiler Electric Co. v. Spann (Tex. Civ. App. 1923) 252 S. W. 892; Pyett v. Lampman, 53 Ont. L. Rep. 149, 12 British Rul. Cas. 289. In the case last cited the court said:

“It is clear that the conclusion of the learned trial judge that the contract sued upon was one for the purchase of necessaries, and therefore one by which the infant was bound, is deduced from and based upon the finding of fact that the infant bought the car to enable him to go into the business of peddling fish, and to enable him quickly to obtain oil or gas for a tractor which he used on the farm of which he was a tenant.

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Bluebook (online)
238 N.W. 852, 206 Wis. 52, 78 A.L.R. 387, 1931 Wisc. LEXIS 138, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schoenung-v-gallet-wis-1931.