Singer Sewing Machine Co. v. Cole

63 S.W.2d 977, 187 Ark. 1017, 1933 Ark. LEXIS 212
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedOctober 16, 1933
Docket4-3124
StatusPublished

This text of 63 S.W.2d 977 (Singer Sewing Machine Co. v. Cole) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Singer Sewing Machine Co. v. Cole, 63 S.W.2d 977, 187 Ark. 1017, 1933 Ark. LEXIS 212 (Ark. 1933).

Opinion

Mehaffy, J.

This is an action in replevin, begun in the Little Rock Municipal Court, for the recovery of an electric sewing machine.

The appellant sold the sewing machine to appellee for $210, taking an old machine of appellee’s for $30, and $10 in money, the balance of the $210 to be paid at the rate of $5 per month. Title of the machine was to remain in appellant, until the full consideration had been paid. Appellee made two payments, and refused to make additional payments, and also refused to surrender the machine.

Appellee filed answer alleging that the execution of the contract was induced by fraudulent representations of appellant’s agent in making the sale. She alleged that the appellant’s agent represented to her that the appellant ,was offering to a few selected women, the opportunity to enroll in a class of advanced sewing, designing and drafting, which was to be taught in Little Rock by a representative of appellant; that the price of the course was $150, and that no one could enter the class unless they purchased one of appellant’s machines; that relying on these statements, believing them to be true, she entered into the contract for the purchase of the sewing machine; that she thereafter went to the office of appellant in Little Rock to secure the instructions, and learned that the school was not as represented by appellant’s agent, and was nothing more than an elementary class in dressmaking and sewing. She further stated that appellant breached the contract by its failure to carry out the terms; that the contract was induced by fraud, and she was entitled to have it canceled, and entitled to the return of her old machine. She prayed for a dismissal of the complaint, and for possession of her old machine.

The appellee, at the time she purchased the machine, signed an instrument promising to pay the purchase price at the rate of $5 per month. The instrument also retained title in the appellant until paid for in full. There was also added, after the signature of appellee, the following: “Also school free to daughter, Francis. Hem. Attch. free after completion of course.” Also on the margin was the following: “This note specifies all the conditions of this sale, and no other will be recognized.” The attorneys for the parties in municipal court, signed the following stipulation:

“Expressly reserving and saving to each of the parties hereto all right to except to and interpose objections to the competency, relevancy, legality and legal effect of the facts stated, it is agreed by and between the Singer Sewing Machine Company, by its attorney, Jno. S. Grate-wood, and Mrs. Eula Mae Cole, by her attorneys, Owens & Ehrman, that the following facts would be proved if testimony were offered upon hearing of the above-styled cause:•
“That on the 3rd day of June, 1932, the defendant, Mrs. Eula Mae Cole, was solicited by one Marvin O. Dawson, the then agent of the plaintiff, Singer Sewing Machine Company, who represented that he was the representative of the educational department of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, and that the company was offering to a few select women of Little Rock and North Little Rock the opportunity of enrolling in a class of advanced sewing, designing and drafting to be taught by an expert who would be brought from New York by the Singer Sewing Machine Company; that the class or course of instruction had never been before taught in Little Rock; that the usual price charged for the course was $150; that upon completion of the course the defendant, Eula Mae Cole, would be so trained as would enable her to support her family in case her husband lost employment; that the large firms in New York were looking for women with the training this company was offering, and that he could place fifty women in responsible positions as designers of women’s clothes; that no women, however, could enroll or take the course of instruction unless she purchased one of the Singer Sewing machines; that the purchaser of a machine would receive the course free.
“That, by being induced by and relying upon the promises and representations of the plaintiff, by its said agent, the defendant purchased a machine for the price and consideration of $210, of which $10 was paid in cash and $30 was credited upon the remainder as represented by an old machine of defendant’s, and at the same time executed and delivered to the plaintiff a sales agreement contract, reciting said consideration and said credits and providing that the balance of $170 would be payable at the rate of $5 per month, and that title to said machine should remain in the plaintiff, Sewing Machine Company, until the full consideration was paid; that the contract attached to the complaint is the contract signed and executed by the defendant; that sometime after the purchase and delivery of said machine the defendant went to plaintiff’s office at 924 Main Street, Little Rock, and applied for the course of instruction, but found that the school of instruction conducted there was not as represented to her by the plaintiff’s said agent, and that no course of designing and drafting was being offered by plaintiff, but only a course in less advanced sewing was being offered; that upon learning this fact the defendant demanded that plaintiff give the course as represented to her would be given by plaintiff’s said agent; that plaintiff had been and was then offering a course of instruction in sewing at its place of business in Little Rock, but at no time did it offer to give such instruction as was represented by its agent; that defendant paid the installment due in July and August and then refused to make further payments; that there was no defects, flaw or misrepresentation as to the kind or quality of the machine purchased, and no objection thereto has been found that same was not as was represented, or that same was not worth the price asked for it.”

There was a judgment in favor of appellant in the municipal court, and an appeal prosecuted by appellee, and in the circuit court judgment was rendered in favor of appellee. The appellee offered testimony tending to prove the allegations of her answer. Judgment was entered for the appellee, motion for new trial filed and overruled, and the case is here on appeal.

It is first contended that the court erred in permitting appellee to introduce testimony varying from and inconsistent with the statement of facts agreed to in the stipulation above set out. Attention is called to Webster v. Goldsby, 130 Ark. 141, 197 S. W. 286. In that case the court quoted with approval the following statement from 1 R. C. L. 778: “Where parties to a case agree to submit the same for decision upon an agreed statement of facts, and nothing is said in the agreement to the contrary, each party is absolutely bound and concluded by the statements of fact thus agreed to, so far as the trial in which the stipulation is made is concerned; and where the agreement is not expressly limited to use in the trial in which it is made, it is admissible in evidence as an admission in any other trial or litigation between the same parties, where the same issues are involved, but it is not absolutely binding and conclusive upon the parties in other litigation.”

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

Related

New Home Sewing Machine Co. v. Westmoreland
38 S.W.2d 314 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1931)
Shaver v. Clark County Bank
31 S.W.2d 132 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1930)
Webster v. Goolsby
197 S.W. 286 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 1917)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
63 S.W.2d 977, 187 Ark. 1017, 1933 Ark. LEXIS 212, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/singer-sewing-machine-co-v-cole-ark-1933.