Sorg v. Brost

150 N.W. 455, 29 N.D. 124, 1914 N.D. LEXIS 16
North Dakota Supreme Court·Decided December 19, 1914·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

Gross, J.

This action is brought for the purchase price of farm machinery, sold by the plaintiff manufacturer to the defendant dealer, under the usual written machinery order and warranty. The defense is breach of warranties, and because thereof a rescission of the execu-tory contract of sale. The written contract contains the usual reservation of title in plaintiffs until full payment. The machinery in dispute consists of seven drills delivered defendant in the spring of 1907, only one of which was resold.

There are sixty-five different assignments of error in the brief. It is unnecessary to discuss many of them. Decision necessitates consideration of but three general questions: (1) Did the trial court err in permitting amendments of the answer ? (2) If not, did the answer as amended set forth a defense grounded on breach of warranties? and (3) If so, does a breach of warranty relied on stand admitted, rendering all errors,,assigned nonprejudicial?

The first two may be treated together, for the better understanding of both. The written order and warranty are made a part of the complaint. The warranty reads: “All goods sold on this contract are purchased and sold subject to the following warranty and agreement, which is made a part of the contract. Any machine of our make is guaranteed 'to do good and efficient work for which it is intended when properly operated.’ ” No other warranty or qualification thereof is contained in the written contract. The original answer before amendment stated that the drills “were never accepted by defendant, for the reason that the same were not made and constructed of material to do the work for which they were intended, in this, that the castings were of inferior material, and the construction and material were such that said drills did not work to the satisfaction of defendant’s customers; that the shoe was not properly thereon, and other defects which rendered said drills worthless and of no value whatever to this defendant in his trade; that defendant did all in his power to remedy the defects in said [127] machinery to enable him to sell and dispose of same, but was unable to make said drills do the work for wbicb they were intended on account of said defects and defective materials of which they were constructed.” This may not charge a breach of warranty in the specific terms in which the warranty was made, but plaintiff has raised this question only by objections to testimony. The pleading is not to be examined, as it would be under demurrer to the pleading, instead of to the evidence. With all reasonable intendments taken in favor of the pleading, the same must be held to shadow forth a defense for breach of the written warranty, which warranty is pleaded in plaintiff’s complaint as the one under which the goods were sold. In the counterclaim, a sufficient breach of warranty is pleaded in these words: “That said-grain drills . . . were constructed of inferior material and defectively constructed, so that they were entirely unfit for the purpose for which they were intended.” This is a suit by the manufacturers. They have expressly warranted that which, when not expressly negatived by contract of sale, would be impliedly warranted by law. Comp. Laws 1913, § 5980. Defendant has pleaded a breach of this warranty, and also a breach of the manufacturer’s warranty against the latent defects in manufacture, also implied by law under § 5979, Comp. Laws 1913, unless negatived by the express provisions of the contract of sale. The authorities cited under these sections of our 1913 Code, fully sustain our conclusions. Consult notes in 33 L.R.A.(N.S.) 508; 27 L.R.A.(N.S.) 914 and 925; 29 L.R.A.(N.S.) 139; 15 L.R.A.(N.S.) 868; 31 L.R.A.(N.S.) 783; 34 L.R.A.(N.S.) 737; and 15 L.R.A.(N.S.) 855. This is not a case, as was Dowagiac Mfg. Co. v. Mahon, 13 N. D. 517, 101 N. W. 903, where implied warranties were excluded by express terms of the written contract of sale, but, instead, is in line with Hooven & Allison v. Wirtz Bros. 15 N. D. 477, 107 N. W. 1078, that implied warranties are not excluded from operation except expressly contracted against. The issue on the implied and express warranties was thus presented by the pleadings before amendment, "so that all objections on that score were not well taken. During the trial, defendant was permitted to amend the answer to allege that the drills “were of no value whatever,” and this is assigned as error. Plaintiff strenuously contends that thereby his case was prejudiced by the allowance of an amendment presenting an issue, to meet which he was wholly [128] ■unprepared, and wbicb be bad no reason to anticipate. Tbe portion of tbe answer heretofore recited refutes this, as it gave plaintiff notice that defendant would assert that tbe drills were worthless, wherein it recites tbe defects “which rendered said drills worthless.” But even conceding plaintiff’s objections in this respect to have been well taken, and that it was error to permit tbe amendment, it was nonpre judicial, as will hereafter appear, because tbe sale was executory, not executed, and tbe goods admittedly deficient in that they would not, as manufactured and delivered, do tbe work for wbicb they were intended. This gave defendant tbe right to rescind tbe contract of sale, title never having, passed to him, and leave tbe goods tbe property of tbe plaintiff, as they have always been, and relieving defendant of bis obligation to accept and pay for them by releasing him from bis contract of purchase. Hence it is immaterial what was tbe value of tbe goods, and any error in tbe pleadings, proof, or instructions relative to their value is as nonpre judicial as it is immaterial.

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Sorg v. Brost, 150 N.W. 455, 29 N.D. 124, 1914 N.D. LEXIS 16 (N.D. 1914).

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