Silberman v. Fretz

42 N.Y.S. 559
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Silberman v. Fretz. Read the opinion of the Court — 12 A.D. 328

Opinion

INGRAHAM, J.

The action was brought to recover the contract price for 20 pieces of Helvetia, 48 inches in width. The plaintiff's assignors, who will be here called the plaintiffs, were a firm doing business in New York "under the name of Luckemeyer, Schefer & Co. This firm made two contracts with the defendant,—one dated August 12, 1888; the other, August 18, 1886,—by which contracts they sold to the defendant 120 pieces of Helvetia, 60 pieces being 44 inches and 60 pieces being 48 inches, at an agreed price.' The first 60 pieces, under the contract of August 12th, were to be delivered September 28th or earlier; and the remaining 60 pieces, sold under the contract of August 18th, were to be delivered in November, 1886. It seems that, prior to and at the time of making these contracts in question, other contracts were made between the plaintiff’s assignors and the defendant for the sale of other goods; no goods, however, having being delivered to the defendant on account of such ■contracts. This contract of August 12, 1886, which provided for the delivery of 60 pieces of Helvetia, had not, on the 22d of October, 1886, been complied with; and the time of the delivery of the goods sold had expired. The contract of August 18th, which also provided for the delivery of 60 pieces to the defendant, had not been complied with, but the time of its completion bad not expired, as these 60 pieces were to be delivered during the month of November. Prior to October, 1886, there seems to have been a new understanding between the defendant and a Mr. Sternberger, as representing the plaintiffs, which was reduced to writing and signed by the defendant, and delivered to the plaintiffs, by which it was understood that the defendant was to receive from the plaintiffs 40 pieces of Helvetia on the 1st of November, and 20 pieces in addition during the month of November. There were further to be delivered in November 60 pieces, and on or about December 10th, 60 pieces in addition. The contract further provides as follows:

“As soon as I receive the above-mentioned 40 pieces oí Helvetia [evidently the 40 pieces to be delivered on the 1st of November], I bind myself, without .any further delay, to pay, with them, for the 40 pieces of Gloria I received October 18th, amounting to §1,278.93, deducting 7 per cent, discount.”

None of these goods appear .to have been delivered on the 1st of November according to this understanding, but on the 18th of November the plaintiffs, delivered to the defendant 20' pieces of 48-inch Helvetia, which were received by the defendant, and have not [561]*561been paid for. It is to recover for the contract price of these 20 pieces that this action is brought. None of the other goods provided for in either of these contracts of August 12th or 18th, or in the revised agreement of October 22, 1886, has been delivered to the defendant. No counterclaim is set up in the answer, and no attempt is made to offset the damages sustained by the defendant in consequence of the failure of the plaintiffs to deliver the goods sold.

The court below allowed a recovery for the goods which were delivered to and received by the defendant, and the sole question presented here is whether or not the plaintiffs are entitled to recover, without alleging and proving that they had completed the delivery of all the goods which they sold and agreed to deliver upon the 1st of November. The action was tried by the court below without a jury, and a recovery was allowed upon the grounds, as stated by the court, as follows:

“True, the defendant was not bound to accept a delivery of 20 pieces only, if not in accordance with the understanding of the parties. He had a right to reject or retain them, as he saw fit. Yet, if he elected to accept the part delivered,, appropriated the same to his own use, and by this act evinced a waiver of the condition as to entire delivery, he then became liable to pay for what was actually delivered.”

We think that this is a correct statement of the law, and applicable to this case. The authorities cited by the learned judge in his opinion amply sustain it. The court then said:

“The correspondence between the parties shows that the defendant did not expect to avoid payment for the goods delivered, except by recouping his damages for nondelivery of the remainder. He put himself squarely upon this position, which is entirely inconsistent with the claim now made that he is not liable at all. If the attitude he assumed was warranted by his understanding of the facts, the defendant should have recouped his damages for nondelivery of the other pieces, for this, according to the rulings in Tipton v. Feitner [20 N. Y. 423] and Avery v. Willson [81 N. Y. 341], was the only course then available to him.”

The only question presented in this case is whether the facts as proved sustain this conclusion of the court. As before stated, the revised contract was made on October 22, 1886. Whether or not the obligations of the.plaintiffs under the contracts of August 12th and 18th were abrogated by this new contract, it is clear that, as between the plaintiffs and the defendant, the time for the delivery of the goods in question was extended, so that, the delivery of these goods at the time mentioned in the memorandum on October 22d would have been a good delivery under the original contracts of sale. By the contract of October 22d the defendant expressly agreed that, as soon as he received the 40 pieces of Helvetia, which were to be delivered on November 1st, he would, without any further delay, pay, with them, for the 40 pieces of Gloria which he had received October 16th. By this it is clear that it was understood that, as soon as the 40 pieces of Helvetia were delivered to him, he was to pay for those 40 pieces, and also pay for the Gloria which he had received on October 18th, and which he had not then paid for. Under that contract as it stood, it is clear that he would not be bound to pay for anv of the Helvetia until the whole 40 pieces had been [562]*562delivered. In other words, it was an entire contract, and the defendant became liable only upon the plaintiffs’ completing it and delivering the whole 40 pieces, unless in some way the defendant waived his right to insist upon an entire completion of the contract. See Nightingale v. Eiseman, 121 N. Y. 292, 24 N. E. 475.

The correspondence between the parties after the 22d of October, 1886, justifies, we think, the conclusion of the court below that the defendant waived his right to insist upon a completion of the entire contract before becoming responsible for the goods delivered to him. Under the contract of October 22d these 40 pieces were to be delivered on the 1st of November. The plaintiffs failed to make such delivery within that time, but on November 8th they wrote a letter to the defendant by which they say that 20 pieces of Austria,^ a material of the same character, but manufactured by a different manufacturer, had been shipped from Europe, and that they had on hand 20 pieces of Gloria; and the defendant was asked to notify the plaintiffs whether he desired those goods. In reply to that letter, on the 9th of November, the defendant wrote the plaintiffs that he did not want the Gloria, and did not want the Austria, as he had not purchased either of them, but that he did want the Helvetia, saying, “But I do want Helvetia at once, or you pay dear for such nonsense.” This letter was answered on November 10, 1886, whereby the plaintiffs said:

„ “If we do not deliver you on time the Helvetia ordered, you cannot fill your contracts.

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Silberman v. Fretz, 42 N.Y.S. 559 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1896).

42 N.Y.S. 559 (Silberman v. Fretz) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Nightingale v. . Eiseman
24 N.E. 475 (New York Court of Appeals, 1890)
Avery v. . Willson
81 N.Y. 341 (New York Court of Appeals, 1880)
Tipton v. . Feitner
20 N.Y. 423 (New York Court of Appeals, 1859)