Whitty Manufacturing Co. v. Clark

180 N.E. 315, 278 Mass. 370, 1932 Mass. LEXIS 861
CourtMassachusetts Supreme Judicial Court
DecidedMarch 3, 1932
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 180 N.E. 315 (Whitty Manufacturing Co. v. Clark) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whitty Manufacturing Co. v. Clark, 180 N.E. 315, 278 Mass. 370, 1932 Mass. LEXIS 861 (Mass. 1932).

Opinion

Crosby, J.

This is an action of contract to recover a balance of $700, with interest, due under the terms of a written contract for the sale by the plaintiff to the defendant of a “#10 Whitty Automatic Coal Burner.” The defendant filed a declaration in set-off seeking to recover from the plaintiff the amount paid by him on account of the purchase price of the boiler on the ground that he had rescinded the contract. The jury found for the plaintiff both for the amount claimed to be due and on the defendant’s claim of set-off.

At the trial the article sold was referred to by witnesses as a “burner” and was also called a “stoker.” These terms were used by the witnesses synonymously. The defendant [372]*372testified that he first met one Whitty, who represented the plaintiff, in August, 1929, and talked with him about automatic coal burners; that he never had seen the burner before he signed the contract; that Whitty made statements before the contract was signed as to what the burner would accomplish. The defendant was asked by his counsel what these statements were and the question was excluded, subject to the defendant’s exception.

The defendant made three offers of proof as follows: (1) “The defendant offers to prove that he contracted to buy the burner, not because of any trade name or in reliance upon any trade name, but because he was told by the plaintiff’s authorized representative that it would run automatically all night without attention ”; (2) “ The defendant offers to prove that he signed the contract in suit relying on the plaintiff’s skill and judgment to provide a burner fit for the defendant’s particular purpose which he made known to the plaintiff’s authorized representative before the execution of the written contract, namely, that the burner must operate all night without attention; that the plaintiff’s authorized representative orally stated to the defendant shortly before the execution of the written contract that the plaintiff could and would provide a burner suitable for such purpose and that the defendant signed the contract in suit in reliance upon this statement; that the plaintiff failed to provide such a burner after being given reasonable opportunity so to do”; (3) “The defendant offers to prove that the burner was not contracted for or delivered in fulfilment of the defendant’s offer to purchase goods by a name known to the trade.” These offers of proof were excluded, subject to the defendant’s exception. ' The judge then stated that he would exclude “any evidence of conversation prior to the making of the contract,” and “ruled that any testimony before or after the contract and in conversations or otherwise which the defendant cared to offer with reference to” merchantability of the burner, its automatic operation, and whether it would efficiently burn one hundred pounds of coal per hour was admissible. The defendant testified that before he executed the contract he read it and knew its terms. It is [373]*373recited in the exceptions that there was conflicting evidence from which the jury properly could have found that the burner fulfilled all the terms of the written contract, and that there was evidence of the performance of the conditions referred to in paragraph 10 of the contract which obligated the defendant to keep clean and in good condition the boilers or furnaces, and the coal burning equipment.

At the trial the defendant contended that he was not required to pay the balance due under the contract, and was entitled to recover back what he had paid on the ground that the burner was not in accordance with the contract, in that it was not automatic and would not efficiently burn one hundred pounds of coal per hour. These contentions were submitted to the jury under appropriate instructions. The judge stated that the foregoing were the defendant’s contentions, and no exception was taken to that statement.

Under the contract the plaintiff agreed to furnish the defendant with a “#10 Whitty Automatic Coal Burner.” The undisputed evidence showed that patents for this burner had been applied for about a year before the trial, and four or five burners had been installed and were in operation previously to the burner being installed for the defendant. The finding having been for the plaintiff, it is to be assumed that the jury found that the burner sold and delivered to the defendant fulfilled in all respects the terms of the written contract. It is agreed by the parties that all the instructions of the judge in the charge were properly and adequately directed to the evidence, the only ground of exception being certain specific objections which appear in the record.

The written contract recites that the plaintiff is to furnish and instal a “#10 Whitty Automatic Coal Burner with front panel, ashpit doors, and automatic regulation . . . in connection with the following: Walker-Pratt 40/9 Boiler”; under the title “guarantees,” that “the Contractor guarantees the equipment as follows: (a) smokelessness. When operated in accordance with the Contractor’s directions and with the coal specified, the Whitty Automatic Coal Burner shall conform to the local smoke [374]*374ordinance,” and that “The Contractor guarantees that the Whitty Automatic Coal Burner will efficiently burn 100 pounds of coal per hour.”

The contract on its face is free from ambiguity. It embodies the entire agreement of the parties, and cannot be varied or controlled by paroi evidence. The proffered evidence, that the defendant signed the contract relying on the plaintiff’s skill and judgment to provide a burner fit for the defendant’s particular purpose which was made known to the plaintiff before the execution of the written contract, in substance, that the burner would operate all night without attention; that the plaintiff’s representative stated orally that the plaintiff could and would provide a burner for such purpose; and that the defendant relied upon these statements, was rightly excluded. Where, as here, the contract contains express warranties, proof of additional paroi warranties cannot properly be allowed. Glackin v. Bennett, 226 Mass. 316, and cases cited. Boston Consolidated Gas Co. v. Folsom, 237 Mass. 565. “This is most obviously a necessary conclusion where the paroi warranty concerns the same quality or attribute of the goods as the written warranty; but it is also commonly held that the paroi warranty is inadmissible if any express warranty is in writing; and even where there is no express warranty contained in the writing to which the terms of a sale are reduced, extrinsic evidence of a warranty generally is excluded.” Williston, Sales (2d ed.) § 215. There is nothing in the written contract which provides that the burner would run automatically all night or for any definite period of time without attention, nor was there any evidence to show that when operated in accordance with the plaintiff’s directions and with the coal specified it did not conform to the local smoke ordinance, or that it would not efficiently burn one hundred pounds of coal per hour. If the defendant relied upon the statements which he contends were made to him orally by the representative of the plaintiff, they should have been inserted in the contract.

The first and second offers of proof relate to an alleged oral agreement by the plaintiff to furnish a burner which would [375]*375run automatically all night without attention as distinguished from one with manual operation. They related to representations made before the written agreement was entered into, and were rightly excluded for reasons herein-before stated.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
180 N.E. 315, 278 Mass. 370, 1932 Mass. LEXIS 861, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whitty-manufacturing-co-v-clark-mass-1932.