Seale v. Schultz

3 S.W.2d 563
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 6, 1927
DocketNo. 556. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 3 S.W.2d 563 (Seale v. Schultz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seale v. Schultz, 3 S.W.2d 563 (Tex. Ct. App. 1927).

Opinion

STANFORD, J.

Suit by appellant on a check given by appellee to appellant for $1,-167.40 in payment for a shipment of 112 head of hogs shipped from Marquez, Tex., to New Baden, Tex., alleging fully the purchase of said hogs by appellee, his giving said check in payment therefor, and his failure to pay same. Appellee, after a general demurrer and general denial, alleged, in substance, that he bought said 112 head of hogs and gave said check in payment therefor; that appellant represented and .warranted said hogs to be well and sound, and thereby induced him to purchase same and to execute and deliver to appellant said check; that said hogs were not sound and well, as represented and guaranteed by appellant, but were infected with hog cholera when purchased, and that 89 of said hogs died of hog cholera or other infectious and contagious disease, and that said 89 hogs that died were a total loss, and the remaining ones' were greatly reduced in value because of their exposure to said disease; that as soon as he learned said hogs were diseased, he tendered same back to appellant, but appellant refused to accept said hogs and return his cheek, by reason of which the consideration for said check had failed. Appel-lee also filed a cross-bill, in which he alleged that before he knew that said hogs were infected he mixed same with other hogs he had, and said disease was communicated to said hogs, causing many of them to die; that his losses by reason of said infected hogs, and his expenses in treating said hogs, etc., amounted to far more than the amount of the check sued upon, and appellee sought to recover damages against appellant in the sum of $5,264. In response to special issues the jury found as follows:

“(1) A. H. Seale in selling said hogs to the defendant Paul Schultz did warrant that said hogs were sound and well at the time of the sale and delivery of Same.
“(2) Said hogs at the time of the sale and delivery of same by plaintiff to defendant were infected with cholera, or other contagions disease.
“(3) The diseased hogs purchased by defendant from plaintiff did transmit and cause the hogs belonging to the defendant, and his hog *565 pens and premises at New Baden, Tex., to be infected with cholera or other contagious disease germs. ,
“(4) What sum of money, if paid now, will fairly and reasonably compensate defendant for the damages, if any, which you may find that he has sustained as a direct and proximate result of infecting the hogs in question, if they were so infected, with cholera or other contagious disease at the time of their purchase by defendant from plaintiff? Answer: No damages, it being understood Mr. Schultz does not pay cheek for $1,167.40 made to A. H. Seale.”

Upon said findings the court entered judgment against appellant upon the check sued upon, and against appellee on his cross-bill for damages, and adjudged all costs against appellant, who has appealed and presents the record here for review.

Under, appellant’s first proposition he contends,- in effect, that as appellee’s answer alleged that he bought the hogs to be resold on the market for stock and butcher hogs and not for his own consumption, that no implied warranty arose, etc., and that the court erred in overruling his special exception, thereby holding otherwise. Appellee pleaded an express warranty of the hogs, and also that ap-pellee was engaged in buying hogs for the market, and that appellant knew that he bought these hogs for the purpose of placing them on the market, and that appellant knew that unless the hogs were sound and well they would be unfit for appellee’s purpose, etc. We construe said pleading to plead an express warranty, and, in the alternative, in case the evidence fails to establish an express warranty, then that there was an implied warranty. This, we think, was permissible and proper, and we think the facts alleged as the basis for such implied warranty were sufficient. We do not think it is true that there can be no implied warranty of food products unless same are intended for consumption by the purchaser. Neither do we think that because appellee made a casual inspection of said hogs or had an opportunity to inspect same that an implied warranty could in no event arise. Needham v. Dial, 4 Tex. Civ. App. 141, 23 S. W. 240; Fairbank Co. v. Metzger, 118 N. Y. 260, 23 N. E. 372, 16 Am. St. Rep. 753, and authorities cited in note. At apy rate, no error is shown here, in that the question of implied warranty was not submitted to the jury and in no way affected the recovery.

Under his second assignment appellant contends that appellee’s answer was subj'ect to special exception, because it failed to aver that alleged latent defects in said hogs were known to appellant. If appellant warranted the hogs to be sound and well, he was bound by such express warranty, and it was immaterial whether he knew of the existence of defects or not. Where there is an express warranty by the vendor of the animals of chattels sold, such warranty becomes a part of the contract, and the warrantor is bound by the terms of his contract of warranty, whether the defects are latent or patent, and whether the vendor knew of such defects or not. Norris et al. v. Parker, 15 Tex. Civ. App. 117, 38 S. W. 259; Sanders v. Britton (Tex. Civ. App.) 47 S. W. 550; Spivey v. Gee (Mo. App.) 200 S. W. 726; Fitzgerald v. Evans, 49 Minn. 541, 52 N. W. 143; Watson v. Roode, 30 Neb. 264, 46 N. W. 491; Carter v. Cole (Tex. Civ. App.) 42 S. W. 369; 24 R. C. L. 153; 35 Cyc. p. 378, and cases cited. We overrule this assignment.

Under his fifth assignment appellant complains of the refusal of the court to permit the witness Ryan to testify to certain statements which he said Luther Taylor had made to him as to what appellee, Paul Schultz, had said to him, Taylor, about his hog pens being infected with cholera prior to his purchase of the hogs from appellant. The record shows that appellee and Luther Taylor were jointly interested in some hogs purchased by Taylor. There was no general partnership, but they were jointly interested only in ‘ certain purchases made by Taylor. Taylor was not interested in the hogs purchased from appellant.- If Taylor had been produced and offered testimony as to what ap-pellee said to him in reference to prior infection of his pens, such evidence,would have been admissible as a statement against interest, or for impeachment if the proper predicate had been laid, but to permit Ryan to detail statements which he said Taylor told him appellee had made would clearly be to admit hearsay evidence. Hearsay evidence is not admissible for the purpose of impeachment nor to prove declarations against interest. Austin Elec. Ry. Co. v. Faust, 63 Tex. Civ. App. 91, 133 S. W. 449; McKelvy on Ev. (2d Ed.) p. 123. There is no merit in this assignment, and it is overruled.

Under other, assignments appellant contends the court erred in refusing to give in charge to the jury his requested special issues 1, 2, and 3, as follows:

“(1) Did the defendant, acting by and through his agent, W. O. McNutt, rely solely upon the representations of the plaintiff, if he made any representations, as to the soundness and health of said hogs ?
“(2) Did the defendant, Paul Schultz, in purchasing said hogs, rely solely upon the inspection and judgment of his agent, W. O. McNutt, as to the soundness and health of said hogs?

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3 S.W.2d 563, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seale-v-schultz-texapp-1927.