Spring City Brick Co. v. Henry Martin Brick Machine Manufacturing Co.

39 Pa. Super. 7, 1909 Pa. Super. LEXIS 431
CourtSuperior Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 26, 1909
DocketAppeal, No. 106
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 39 Pa. Super. 7 (Spring City Brick Co. v. Henry Martin Brick Machine Manufacturing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Superior Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Spring City Brick Co. v. Henry Martin Brick Machine Manufacturing Co., 39 Pa. Super. 7, 1909 Pa. Super. LEXIS 431 (Pa. Ct. App. 1909).

Opinion

Opinion by

Henderson, J.,

This action was brought to recover damages from the defendant on an alleged warranty of a brick dryer sold to the plaintiff by the defendant. An action was tried at the same time between the same parties for the balance of purchase money for the apparatus. We are not furnished with a copy of the pleadings, but conclude from the statement of the questions involved that the plaintiff declared on a parol contract of guaranty contemporaneously made with the written agreement under which the dryer was bought.

The first of the questions involved is stated to be “sufficiency of evidence to modify written contract by contemporaneous agreement. A. contracted with B. to purchase a brick dryer to dry a certain number of bricks per day. ‘A.’ claimed that at the execution of the contract ‘B.’ guaranteed that it would do the work. This ‘B.’ denied, etc.” The discussion of the case by the appellant’s counsel covers a much wider field from which it might be inferred that the plaintiff contended for three positions: (1) that there was an express guaranty in their written agreement with the defendant; (2) that there was a contemporaneous parol agreement of guaranty, and (3) that there was a failure of consideration by reason of the inefficiency of the dryer.

The first sixteen and the nineteenth assignments of error relate to the charge of the court; the seventeenth and eighteenth, to the answers to two of the defendant’s points. The appellant made no request for particular instructions and did not submit [21]*21any points. The assignments cover small portions of the charge and criticise the court in some instances for having said too little and in others for having assumed too much.

We do not understand the five and one-half lines from the charge set forth in the first assignment to have been intended by the trial judge as a statement of the material facts in the case, nor of the attitude of the respective parties under the contract. It is a brief statement of a part of what was done by the parties under the express terms of the written agreement. It cannot be questioned that the building, the boilers, the piping, the valves, the pallets, etc., were necessary parts of the dryer plant and it is admitted that these were to be furnished by the plaintiff. The court did not undertake to say in this connection what the rights of the parties were either under the written or the alleged parol agreement. It was part of an introductory statement leading up to the inquiry what the contract was between the parties and was not an improper reference to the written agreement. Conceding that a representative of the defendant was present to superintend the setting up of the machinery the fact remains that the plaintiff erected the building and put the parts together. Taking into view the whole structure of the charge it would not have been in logical order to discuss the evidence suggested by the appellant at this point in the charge.

The question raised by the second assignment is not within the statement of the questions involved; for this assignment is based on the contention that there was a written agreement of guaranty in the contract, the allegation being that that part of the contract by which the defendant undertook to furnish “the hereinafter described materials for the construction of one latest improved Martin Patent Steam Dryer having a holding capacity of 32,000 wire cut brick calculated on the basis of nine bricks to each pallet” amounted to a warranty of capacity because of the technical meaning of the word “ capacity.” Three witnesses were called as experts by whom it was undertaken to show that the word “capacity” in a contract for a brick dryer has reference in the trade to daily productive capacity. Of this evidence it may be said in the first place that none of the witnesses re[22]*22ferred to a contract in which the capacity of the apparatus was restricted and limited to space as in this case. One of them, Mr. Chambers, did not know anything about the trade of selling other brick dryers than tunnel dryers in which he dealt; another, Mr. Briner, did not claim to be an expert and thought the contract ambiguous, the third witness, Mr. Cox, had had experience with but one company and that engaged in the construction of tunnel dryers; and none of them based his opinion on a contract for a holding capacity on a basis of a given number of bricks to each pallet. If the question were before the court under the pleadings the plaintiff failed to show by evidence of this character that there was an agreement in the written contract that the dryer should have a daily productive rather than a containing capacity of 32,000 bricks.

The argument on the third assignment is not elaborated and we do not clearly apprehend the appellant’s view. After a careful examination of the evidence we have not found anything which would justify the conclusion that the court had not correctly stated the situation with reference to the plaintiff’s allegation that there was a parol agreement of guaranty.

The subject of the fourth assignment is a quotation by the court from the contract and a statement of the defendant’s claim with reference thereto. It does not contain any erroneous statement of a legal principle, nor a misstatement of the evidence.

The fifth assignment covers a part of the charge which is pertinent to the very question which the appellant says is involved in the case. The action was founded on the allegation that there was a breach of the contract with subsequent damages. Mr. Boyer for the plaintiff had testified as to the contract under which the dryer was bought and the guaranty. The court very properly instructed the jury that if there was not such an agreement the defendant was entitled to a verdict. The appellant now contends that even if there was not such an agreement there might be an abatement in the price and, therefore, a defense against the payment of the note in the other action. But there is no allegation of deceit; the apparatus was bought after an inspection of a similar plant, and the only objection raised by [23]*23the plaintiff was that it was not as productive as they wanted and expected it to be. It did, however, dry from 15,000 to 16.000 brick a day and we do not find anything in the case that would justify the conclusion that it is not what it was sold for, to wit: a brick dryer capable of drying bricks. There is no room for the position now taken by the appellant that even in the absence of a guaranty of effectiveness they might defend against the payment of the price.

The sixth assignment is without merit. It is too plain for discussion that if the failure to properly do the work undertaken by the plaintiff was the cause of the inefficiency of the machine the defendant was not responsible for such failure. The plaintiff was to do certain work in the erection of the building and the machinery. If its part of the undertaking was not well done the defendant is not responsible for it. The court does not assume as is supposed that the dryer was to be constructed by the plaintiff, but the proper completion of the plaintiff’s share of the work was presumably essential to the successful operation of the plant, and the fact that the defendant’s representative was there to oversee the work does not alter the situation. There was evidence that it was erected in accordance with the plans furnished by the defendant, and testimony was offered on the other hand that Mr. Boyer had ideas of his own and built accordingly. If he did the defendant cannot be made liable for any failure in his designs.

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

Related

Irons v. Snyder
49 Pa. Super. 522 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1912)
Glatfelter v. Mendels
46 Pa. Super. 562 (Superior Court of Pennsylvania, 1911)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
39 Pa. Super. 7, 1909 Pa. Super. LEXIS 431, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/spring-city-brick-co-v-henry-martin-brick-machine-manufacturing-co-pasuperct-1909.