Weber v. Lape

141 S.W. 67, 145 Ky. 769, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 938
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedDecember 8, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 141 S.W. 67 (Weber v. Lape) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Weber v. Lape, 141 S.W. 67, 145 Ky. 769, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 938 (Ky. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

Opinion op the Court by

Judge Settle

Affirming.

[770]*770By the judgment appealed from in this case the appellee, Harry N. Lape, recovered of the appellants, Albert Weber and Bertha Weber, $105, the purchase price of a Peck-Hammond house furnace they bought of him, with interest from November 4th, 1909, and costs. The judgment likewise enforced a mechanic’s lien asserted in the action by appellee against a house and lot in Newport owned by appellants, in and upon which the furnace in question was installed, and directed a sale of the same in satisfaction of appellee’s debt.

A recovery was resisted by appellants upon certain grounds insufficiently pleaded in an answer and counterclaim filed by them, to which, a demurrer was sustained. They thereupon abandoned their counterclaim, but filed another or amended answer in which, after denying liability for the debt sued on, they, in substance, alleged that the furnace installed in their house by appellee was known as No. 836, whereas the size of the one he contracted to furnish was larger and numbered 840; that the size furnished did not and could not heat all of the rooms of the house to 70 degrees Fahrenheit as he guaranteed it would do; that upon seeing the parts of the furnace before it was erected in the house they objected to receiving it, and did not at any time thereafter accept it. Without in words saying so, the answer seemed to concede to appellee the right to remove the furnace from the house and ended with the prayer that he be allowed to ‘ ‘ take nothing by his petition. ’ ’

Following the filing of a reply controverting the affirmative matter of the answer, the case was referred to the master commissioner to take proof and report upon appellee’s debt and mechanic’s' lien, and also such as might be filed by other persons. This duty was performed by the commissioner as required by section 2472, Kentucky Statutes, and the order of the court; his report showing that he took all the evidence, introduced by appellants and appellee, and that in addition he caused a test to be made under his supervision, of the heating capacity of the furnace. .The report-allowed appellee’s claim and lien, and notwithstanding appellant’s exceptions thereto, the report was..confirmed by the circuit court and judgment entered in conformity to its findings.

Appellants contend that' the allowance of appellee’s debt and lien by the commissioner was unauthorized by the evidence, and that the court erred in confirming the report and rendering judgment in appellee’s favor. In [771]*771our opinion neither of these contentions is sustained .by the record. The contract as to the -sale of the furnace being in -writing speaks for itself. It. describes the furnace as of the size known as No. 836, and while it guarantees, that with proper attention, the furnace would heat all rooms with registers to 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the average coldest winter weather, if all outside doors and windows 'are properly fitted, and- kept closed, .and provides that appellants should.have a year from the date of the installation of-the furnace to test it, ’it further provides that appellants should notify appellee at once and before that time (i. e., the end of the year), in case of its failure to heat the building, and allow him a reasonable time to remedy the defect.

The contract reserved to appellee the privilege of full control of the location of all the apparatus, and provides that in case of any local interference with the working of same, he should have the right of . adding to the apparatus, or replacing it with a larger one, or locating it differently, at his expense, to .secure the best results. ■

As neither fraud nor mistake in the written contract is alleged, we must take it for granted that it contains all the terms and conditions of the contract as ■ agreed upon by the parties. According to the evidence introduced in appellee’s behalf, the furnace was precisely such a heating apparatus as she contracted for. It is true the appellant, Bertha Weber, testified that she saw when the furnace was taken to,-her house, and before it was erected, that it was smaller than the one she was to receive; but we do not understand how’ she-could -have reached such a conclusion as a comparison of the furnace with the picture of the one sold her, could have given her no information that it was smaller. Indeed, under the circumstances it was well nigh impossible for her to have had a correct conception of the actual size of the furnace she had purchased. At any rate, her mere impression that it was smaller, can not be allowed, to outr weigh the evidence furnished by the number stated-in the contract and the’testimony of appellee, that it was of the size sold her.

She also testified that upon first seeing-the furnace, and on other occasions while appellee was érecting it, she and. her husband objected to it, told him not to put it in place and ordered him to take it out. In view of the fact that appellee did install the furnace and of its subsequent [772]*772long use by appellants, it is scarcely believable that these objections and statements of Mrs. Weber should have been made.

One of the painters at work on the house at the time-the furnace was installed, also testified that he informed appellee that Mrs. Weber did not want him to put it in the house.

Both Mrs. Weber and the witness last mentioned, were contradicted as to the statements referred to by appellee, who denied they were made. As on this point the witnesses were as two to one, it might plausibly be argued that the evidence preponderated in appellant’s favor but for the acceptance of the furnace by appellants, manifested by their long use of it after it was installed.

Mrs. Weber also testified, as did one or two other witnesses, that the furnace did not properly heat the house and, in fact, could not do so in cold weather, beyond 50 or 55 degrees Fahrenheit. On the other hand appellee and Zink, the superintendent of his manufacturing plant, testified that the heating capacity of the furnace was as guaranteed in its sale, viz., 70 degrees Fahrenheit, and that it had been properly erected. The contrariety of evidence on this feature of the case might leave the mind in doubt as to whether the heating power of the furnace was as guaranteed,but for the test made by the commissioner after taking the testimony of the witnesses, which test showed the heating capacity of the furnace to ;be substantially as great as appellee guaranteed it to be, the temperature in the rooms ranging from 67 to 74 degrees Fahrenheit. The test was made in cold weather when there was snow and ice on the ground and housetops and after the commissinoner discovered and removed from the hot air pipe, from which the heat was conducted to all the rooms, a quantity of asbestos paper which had greatly obstructed it. The test was made with the consent of Mrs. Weber and in her presence and that of appellee, and upon its completion, inspection of the fire pot showed it to be only half full of coal.

The test thus made removed all doubt of the heating capacity of the furnace and sustains the warranty made by appellee expressed in the written- contract.

It does not appear from the evidence that appellants ever complained to appellee that the furnace did. not properly heat their house, or that they at any time requested him to remedy any defect in it. This the con[773]*773tract required them to do, if it did in fact develop any defect, or fail to properly heat the house.

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

Related

Adams v. Commonwealth Ex Rel. State Highway Commission
146 S.W.2d 7 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1940)
Fahrenholtz v. Loomis
132 S.W.2d 307 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1939)
Union Light, Heat & Power Co. v. Heving
62 S.W.2d 789 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1933)
Edwards v. Citizens' Savings Bank of Paducah
51 S.W.2d 661 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1932)
Jefferson County v. Bischoff
37 S.W.2d 24 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1931)
Degraw v. Levin
27 S.W.2d 432 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1930)
Black Diamond Coal M. Co. v. Heyl Patterson
283 S.W. 393 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky (pre-1976), 1926)
Bowling v. Bowling
188 S.W. 1070 (Court of Appeals of Kentucky, 1916)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
141 S.W. 67, 145 Ky. 769, 1911 Ky. LEXIS 938, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/weber-v-lape-kyctapp-1911.