Welch Veterinary Supply Company v. Martin

313 S.W.2d 111, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1979
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedApril 3, 1958
Docket3526
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 313 S.W.2d 111 (Welch Veterinary Supply Company v. Martin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welch Veterinary Supply Company v. Martin, 313 S.W.2d 111, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1979 (Tex. Ct. App. 1958).

Opinion

TIREY, Justice.

This is a damage suit grounded on a warranty growing out of a telephone conversation. At the conclusion of the testimony the court overruled defendants’ motion for an instructed verdict. The jury, in its verdict, found substantially that plaintiff’s hogs died as a result of cholera and from no other disease, and that their death was not caused by the feeding of raw garbage, and further that the feeding of raw garbage did not contribute to the death of the hogs; that defendant Evans did not state to plaintiff that True-Vac would immunize his hogs against cholera if they were fed garbage; that plaintiff Martin was not justified in relying upon the statement made by Evans in using True-Vac vaccine; that Welch stated to plaintiff that True-Vac would immunize his hogs against cholera if they were being fed garbage, and that such statement was not an expression of an opinion, and that Martin did not know that such statement was an expression of an opinion, and that Martin should not have known that such statement by Welch was an expression of an opinion, and that plaintiff relied upon the statement to him by Welch, and that Martin was justified in relying upon such statement; that 200 hogs died of cholera and that their average weight was ISO pounds, and that their value was 16^ per pound, and that Martin did not fail to mitigate his damages. Defendants seasonably filed their motion for judgment non obstante veredicto, which was overruled, and the court granted *113 plaintiff’s motion for judgment, and the judgment followed the verdict. Defendants seasonably filed their motion for new trial, which was overruled, and they have perfected their appeal to this court. (Evans, a local druggist, was also made a party defendant and on the verdict of the jury judgment was entered that plaintiff take nothing against him, and there is no assignment of error on the court’s action).

The judgment is assailed on four points. They are substantially that the court erred (1) in overruling their motion for an instructed verdict because there is no evidence that the appellants made any statement to appellee concerning the product True-Vac, other than a mere expression of opinion, belief or judgment; (2) in overruling defendants’ motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict of the jury, because there was no evidence to support the finding of the jury to Issue No. 5, to the effect that Welch stated to appellee that True-Vac would immunize his hogs against cholera, if they were being fed garbage; (3) in overruling defendants’ motion for an instructed verdict because the plaintiff was, as a matter of law, placed on notice that defendants were not warranting the True-Vac vaccine in question when the plaintiff read the printed disclaimer with the instructions enclosed with each package of True-Vac vaccine sold to him by Edwin Evans; (4) in overruling the objection of defendants to the argument of attorney for appellee to the jury to the effect that appellee is a poor hog raiser while Anchor Serum Company and Welch Veterinary Supply Company paid the expenses of witness from St. Joseph, Missouri, and Anchor Serum Company is the largest corporation of its kind in the world, because such argument is immaterial, highly prejudicial and constitutes an argument of the poverty of the appellee and the richness of the appellants.

A statement is necessary. Appellee went to trial on his Second Amended Original Petition. Pertinent to this discussion, we quote substantially paragraph 2: that plaintiff is in the business of farming and raising hogs for market; that during the month of February, 1956, plaintiff was feeding a large number of hogs and was in need of serum and virus to vaccinate said hogs against cholera; that the plaintiff approached Edwin Evans, a druggist at Groesbeck, Texas and discussed the matter of a proper vaccine for said hogs, to which he was going to feed garbage; that Evans advised plaintiff that there was a True-Vac product being sold by the Welch Veterinary Supply Company at Ft. Worth, which was highly recommended, and Evans suggested that he would call the supply company so that the company could explain the quality of its product; that in accordance with such suggestion, Evans did call the supply company and had plaintiff talk to C. M. Welch, who recommended that plaintiff use the product known as True-Vac, which is a modified virus, and which Welch stated would immunize said hogs from cholera, and which Welch and Evans warranted to be fit for the use of plaintiff, and better than the live virus plaintiff intended to use; that Welch advised plaintiff to give the hogs 2 cubic centimeters of True-Vac per hog and 25 or 30 cubic centimeters or more of hog cholera serum, according to the weight of the hog; that plaintiff purchased from Evans, at the recommendation of Evans and Welch, the True-Vac furnished by Welch Veterinary Supply Company, and vaccinated said hogs according to the instructions given to plaintiff by Welch and Evans; that at the time plaintiff vaccinated said hogs, they were not sick and had no cholera, and after said hogs were vaccinated, they began getting sick, and some of them began to die, and by the month of July quite a few of them were dying, and they continued to die in August, September and October, 1956; that plaintiff contacted Evans, who called Welch Veterinary Supply Company, and advised them that the hogs were dying; that Welch Veterinary Supply Company then *114 sent a veterinarian to examine said hogs, and advised plaintiff to sell immediately the hogs which were living; that the veterinarian sent by Welch Veterinary Company called in another veterinarian, who had diagnosed the ailment of the hogs as being cholera, and who advised' plaintiff to vaccinate the hogs for cholera. Plaintiff then vaccinated the hogs remaining for cholera with another serum and a live serum other than True-Vac, 'and plaintiff lost no other hogs; that the True-Vac vaccine furnished by defendants to plaintiff was the direct cause of the death of the hogs.

Appellants went to trial on their First Amended Original Answer. Pertinent to this discussion, appellants entered a general denial, and further plead that they were engaged in the wholesale drug business in Ft. Worth, under the name of Welch Veterinary Supply Company, during which time they have purchased True-Vac vaccine, which is a reasonably useful product for the immunization of garbage-fed hogs against hog cholera from the' Anchor Serum Company; that this vaccine was manufactured and produced under government regulation; that they had nothing to do with the manufacture or preparation of this product; that they sold a portion of this vaccine, in its original package, to Evans, a retail druggist at Groesbeclc, during the year 1956, and that prior to the sale, Evans called C. M. Welch on the telephone; that after Evans got C. M. Welch on the telephone, he asked him to speak with plaintiff Martin, which he did; that in response to a question presented by plaintiff Martin, C. M. Welch stated that he could see no reason why True-Vac vaccine, which is a modified live virus, would not be just as effective in immunizing garbage-fed hogs from hog cholera as a live virus, and that it might be preferable to a live virus, in that a modified live virus does not spread the hog cholera germ, while a live virus does; that O. M. Welch did not, in the course of this conversation, state that True-Vac vaccine would immunize John Martin’s garbage-fed hogs, and did not expressly or impliedly warrant True-Vac vaccine, and enters an express denial; that the statement made to C. M.

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Bluebook (online)
313 S.W.2d 111, 1958 Tex. App. LEXIS 1979, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welch-veterinary-supply-company-v-martin-texapp-1958.