Sturm v. Williams Oven Manufacturing Co.

201 A.D. 113, 193 N.Y.S. 852, 1922 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6264
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided May 3, 1922·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

Kiley, J.:

This action was commenced on the 11th day of December, 1918, The complaint alleges that the plaintiff purchased of the defendant on the 12th day of August, 1914, to be installed at his place of business in the city of Gloversville, N. Y., a baker’s oven and steam boiler at the agreed price of $1,115. It was to be delivered the 5th day of September, 1914. (It was actually installed in October, 1914, the work completed October 13,1914.) The complaint further alleges that the oven was defective in construction and design, and such defects could not be discovered until after installation, and by reason thereof the plaintiff sustained great financial loss; that he notified the defendant, pointing out the defects, and that thereafter (spring of 1916) defendant agreed to reconstruct and replace the defective oven and furnish plaintiff with a workable oven meanwhile, which defendant attempted to do and in so doing put plaintiff to great expense, which under his original and subsequent contract, agreement and guaranty the defendant was legally bound and did promise to pay. Plaintiff alleged his damage was $2,500. Defendant by its answer admits the contract of August 12, 1914, which is in writing, and that it installed the oven and boiler and denies the other allegations of the complaint. Upon the issues thus presented the parties went to trial. The plaintiff had a judgment for $609.46. Unless some rule of law dr evidence was violated the judgment should stand. It appears that, notwithstanding the efforts of the plaintiff, the oven did not do its work satisfactorily from the time of its building and installment and that complaints were made; the first one, made in writing, was about two or three months after the oven was built; defendant sent one of its men there and he repacked the outside lining with three loads of sand in addition to what had been used originally; still the heat was insufficient to bake the bread properly. The president of defendant came on from New York city and advised that a new chimney be built, which was done at an expense of $182 and for which plaintiff was not permitted to recover in this action. That did not give relief, and then the defendant, through its president, said it would rebuild [115] it and correct defects, and according to plaintiff’s evidence the defendant was to stand the expense; much of it the jury were not permitted to consider in this action. The oven was rebuilt and still was unsuccessful. It appears that the defendant has since abandoned the model or kind of structure and has adopted another. The plaintiff had worked, in season and out of season, with this oven from October, 1914, until June, 1917, when the oven was rebuilt. He used soft coal in his effort to get sufficient heat; he did get more heat, but not enough and at the same time the smoke and soot spoiled the appearance, salability and quality of his bread to a great extent. It appears that plaintiff and the president of the company were, or became during the course of this deal, very friendly and it is fair to presume that plaintiff did all he could to make the venture a success, and would, in a measure, permit the inference that such relationship had much to do with the delay indulged in by plaintiff in pushing his claims. Some little time after the building of the oven a second time plaintiff went to defendant with the bills for the extra expense he had been obliged to bear because of the transaction, and even offered to compromise, but defendant disclaimed liability. The action followed.

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Sturm v. Williams Oven Manufacturing Co., 201 A.D. 113, 193 N.Y.S. 852, 1922 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6264 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1922).

201 A.D. 113 (Sturm v. Williams Oven Manufacturing Co.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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