Woodward-Wight & Co. v. Engel Land & Lumber Co.

49 So. 719, 123 La. 1093, 1909 La. LEXIS 825
CourtSupreme Court of Louisiana
DecidedJune 7, 1909
DocketNo. 17,388
StatusPublished
Cited by26 cases

This text of 49 So. 719 (Woodward-Wight & Co. v. Engel Land & Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Woodward-Wight & Co. v. Engel Land & Lumber Co., 49 So. 719, 123 La. 1093, 1909 La. LEXIS 825 (La. 1909).

Opinion

Statement of the Case.

MONROE, J.

This was begun as an ordinary action, upon two promissory notes, each for $2,000, given by the Engel Land & Lumber Company for the balance due upon the price ($10,000) of two “skidder” outfits, which that company had bought from the plaintiff company. By various supplemental petitions, George P. Hummer, indorser of the notes sued on, was made defendant, an attack was made upon a mortgage which the defendant company had imposed upon its property, in favor of Hummer, and a writ of attachment was prayed for and ob[1095]*1095tained. Defendants interposed various exceptions and motions, some of 'which were disposed of and some referred to the merits, after which they set up the defense that there was a failure of consideration, in that the “skidders” proved to be faulty in design, or construction, and could not be made to do the work contemplated in their sale and purchase; and the lumber company, alleging that it thereby sustained serious loss, and assuming the position of plaintiff in reconvention, prayed judgment for damages, as, also, for the sum of $G,000, being the portion of the purchase price of the skidders, already paid. To the claim for damages thus set up, plaintiff (in the main action) pleaded the prescription of one year, and otherwise (in this court, for the first time, apparently) urges the objection that defendant has made no offer to return the skidders.

The questions presented by the exceptions and motions to which we have referred have been practically merged in that raised by the defense on the merits and by the demand in reeonvention. The facts, as we find them "from the evidence before us, are as follows:

The defendant company, having acquired a large body of timbered land in the parish of Madison, and having established thereon a sawmill and a logging railroad, some 7 miles long, on March 22, 1906, entered into, a contract with the plaintiff company whereby the latter agreed, for $10,000, to furnish, “f. o. b., New York, at earliest possible time,” “two slack rope skidders complete with fittings”; the material and construction of the same being guaranteed. A skidder, “complete with fittings,” it appears, is a machine intended for use in the pulling of saw-logs from the places, in woods or swamps, where the trees fall, to more accessible places, and there loading them on logging trains or otherwise handling them; and, for the purpose of the contract in question, each skidder consisted of two engines, with 9x10-inch cylinders, the one, equipped with a revolving drum and wire rope, to pull logs to the railroad, and the other to load them on the cars. Defendant’s foreman had used skidder engines of the “Lidgerwood” make, with 10xl0-ineh cylinders, and defendants, guided by his advice, would probably have-bought engines of that kind; but plaintiff’s representative urged the purchase of engines with 9xl0-ineh cylinders. He told them “that this machine that he had for sale, at that time, was a new type of machine-that they were getting out for the Pacific Coast (in fact, he called it the Pacific Coast type), and that it had a larger pulling gearing, which would give it practically more-strength than a 10x10,” etc.; and it was therefore agreed that the engines should be of the new, “Pacific Coast type” with 9x10-inch cylinders. One of the skidders, “complete,” reached defendant about the last of May or first of June, 1906, and defendant appears to have written a letter requesting that the shipment of the other be delayed until it (the one received) could be tested. The letter is not in the record; but the answer, dated June 4th, reads, in part, as follows, to wit:

“We are in receipt of a letter from your Grand Rapids office, in which they ask us to delay the shipment of the second machine in order that you may have a chance to test the first machine before the second is shipped. We beg to call your attention to the fact that you have-purchased from us two machines, complete, and, if you will note your contract, you will find that the shipment of these machines was to have-been made at the earliest date. We placed your order for these machines with the Lidgerwood Company, New York, and the same are-built especially to fit your conditions. * * * We understand that the first machine was shipped to you last week and that the second will go forward some time this week. The writer expects to visit your place when you have the machines in operation and feels sure that these machines will prove perfectly satisfactory to-you.”

The machine first received was operated for 31 days, when it was found that the-[1097]*1097-valve and valve seat of the skidding, or pulling, engine were being badly cut, and the •same condition developed in the skidding engine of the second machine, within 6 or 7 days after defendant, began operating it. 'The valves in question were “D,” sliding, •valves, the functions of which were to regulate the passage of the steam between the «team chests and the cylinders, and as the valves were 6 inches square, and the engines were operated with a pressure of 100 ¡pounds of steam to the square inch, it follows that the outer surface of each of the valves presented superficial areas of 36 ■square inches and were subjected to a total pressure of 3,600 pounds. The faces of the valves were, however, cut away to such an .extent as to leave only 11% square inches .actually bearing or; the valve seats, so that (deduction being made for the steam “ports” ..opening through the valve seats) the surface ■of the valve faces, subject to friction, sustained a pressure of 310 pounds to the •square inch. Beyond that, it appears that the valves did not move over the entire surfaces of the valve seats, but stopped short .of the ends, and that, by the cutting of the valves into the seats, shoulders were form■ed in the latter, which, in turn, rounded the surfaces of the valves, at the ends, and caused the valves to “rock.”

As soon as these defects were developed, plaintiff was notified, and it sent a representative, named Duscher, to inquire into them and provide a remedy. He examined the parts giving the trouble, and defendant's ■foreman tells the result as follows:

“He looked at that valve * * * and told us it was a mechanical defect, from the shop, and for us to take that cylinder out, or both •cylinders out, and box them up and ship them to New York, and he would send us new cylinders to replace them.”

The steam chests and the cylinders, it may be remarked, are cast in one piece; the valve eats being inside the chests, or valve boxes, and the valves being loose pieces, or lids, which move back and forth over the valve seats.

Those parts were, accordingly, taken out (of both engines) and shipped to the Lidgerwood Company, in New York, and were replaced by otners, which.proved to be no better than those which they replaced. Plaintiff was again notified, and sent up the manager of their mechanical department (French) and their expert (Duscher), who, after examination, said that still other parts would be sent, which was done, and the cutting went on, resulting in the escape of the steam and rendering the machines useless.

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

Related

Klein v. R.M. Homes, Inc.
424 So. 2d 485 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1982)
Ashley v. Volkswagen of America, Inc.
380 So. 2d 702 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1980)
Fleur De Leis Apts v. DAVIDSON SASH, ETC.
364 So. 2d 234 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1979)
White v. Martin GMC Trucks, Inc.
359 So. 2d 1094 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1978)
McClendon v. State, Through Dept. of Corrections
357 So. 2d 1218 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1978)
Peoples Fur. & G. v. Carson Hicks/Friedrichs Ref., Inc.
326 So. 2d 919 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1976)
McLain v. Cuccia
259 So. 2d 337 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1972)
Cryer v. M & M Manufacturing Co.
253 So. 2d 69 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)
Beneficial Finance Co. v. Bienemy
244 So. 2d 275 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1971)
Dagenhart v. Robertson Truck Lines, Inc.
230 So. 2d 916 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1970)
Motorola Aviation Electronics, Inc. v. Louisiana Aircraft, Inc.
172 So. 2d 118 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1965)
Brown v. Dauzat
157 So. 2d 570 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1963)
Delahoussaye v. Domingues Chevrolet, Inc.
137 So. 2d 356 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)
Goff v. Dewey Olivier, Inc.
137 So. 2d 393 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1962)
Hermeling v. Whitmore
140 So. 2d 257 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1961)
Aegis Insurance Co. v. Delta Fire & Casualty Co.
99 So. 2d 767 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1958)
Mohana v. Woodall
69 So. 2d 163 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1953)
Cole v. Zellan
55 A.2d 516 (District of Columbia Court of Appeals, 1947)
Southern California Enterprises, Inc. v. D. N. & E. Walter & Co.
178 P.2d 785 (California Court of Appeal, 1947)
Greater New Orleans Homestead Ass'n v. Harvey
158 So. 852 (Louisiana Court of Appeal, 1935)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
49 So. 719, 123 La. 1093, 1909 La. LEXIS 825, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/woodward-wight-co-v-engel-land-lumber-co-la-1909.