Robbins v. Souers
Robbins v. Souers
070rehearing
On Petition for Rehearing.
It is again insisted that there was no such unadjustable antagonism between the answers and the general verdict as to overthrow the latter, and authorize a judgment on the former. And it is argued that the answers, to the effect that the one cow in question was in fact worth the valuation the parties put on her at the time the contract of purchase was
Opinion of the Court
This action , was brought by appellants against appellee to recover a balance alleged to be due on a promissory note, and unpaid. Appellee answered: (1) That the note was without consideration,- (2) that the consideration had wholly failed; (3) that the note was fully paid before the suit was brought; (4) by way of answer and counterclaim, that the note was given as the sole and only consideration for the sale to appellee by appellants of ten head of shorthorn cows, which were purchased by appellee from appellants, to be used by him and sold by him for breeding purposes, and that appellants warranted them to be sound and fit for breeding purposes; that two of the cows, of the value of $900 each, were never delivered, and that the eight actually delivered were afflicted with an infectious and contagious disease, known as contagious abortion, which rendered them unfit and of no value for breeding purposes; that appellee relied on the warranty, and had been damaged in the sum of $5,000. Wherefore it was demanded that the note be canceled, and that he be given judgment for the sum named.
To each of these paragraphs appellants replied the general denial, and also replied specially by a second paragraph addressed to the fourth paragraph of answer, or counterclaim as it is designated. In this special reply it was admitted by appellants that the note sued on was given by appellee and his two comakers, who were partners with him at the time, for the purchase price of ten cows, purchased by them from appellants. It averred that appellee and his copartners examined appellants’ stock of cows, and selected and purchased the ten in question, at an aggregate price agreed on for the ten, for which the note was given, and that at that time the cattle were in good condition and healthy, and had no disease of which appellants had any knowledge. It was further
During the progress of the trial, after part of the evidence had been introduced, the court, over the objections of appellants, permitted appellee to amend his fourth paragraph of answer so as to show that all of the ten cows were diseased, instead of eight, as first alleged, and to amend his second paragraph of answer so as to show a breach of the warranty as constituting the failure of consideration.
Thereupon appellants, charging a material change of the issue by the amendment which they asserted they were unable to meet, without time to investigate and procure additional evidence, filed their verified motion to set aside the submission to enable them to meet the new issue in the cause. This motion was overruled, and appellants excepted. A general verdict for appellee was returned by the jury, together with answers to interrogatories.
Appellants rely for a reversal on the action of the trial court in overruling their motion for .judgment on the facts found in answers to the interrogatories, and in overruling their motion for a new trial, in which the rulings of the court in refusing to set aside the submission of the cause upon the amendment of appellee’s answers, and permitting such amendments, various rulings on the admission of evidence, the refusal to give certain instructions tendered by appellants, and the insufficiency of the evidence to sustain the general verdict, are all made causes.
Upon these facts we think that a complete failure of appellee’s defense of a breach of warranty appears, and that appellants’ motion for judgment on the answers to interrogatories should have been sustained.
The judgment of the lower court is reversed, with instructions to render judgment in favor of appellants against appellee on the answers to interrogatories.
Concurring Opinion
I concur in the reversal, but am constrained to the belief that a new trial should be awarded, instead of a judgment directed on the interrogatories. There is evidence that one cow, some two years after appellee purchased her, became a breeder. There is evidence that it was known to appellant, that the purchase was made for the purpose of shortly holding a sale of the stock for breeders, and in view of abortion of one cow she was not offered for sale, and could not have been safely sold for the purpose for which she was purchased. There is also evidence, that abortion may have arisen from injury, though the jury find that it was from contagious abortion.
The jury found, in answer to interrogatories, that the cow was valued by the parties, at the time of the purchase, at $750, and that she was of that value, and that she would have been of that value if she had not aborted.
It seems clear to me that the answers of the jury are predicated on a value for breeding purposes only, and in view of the explicit evidence that the cow did not breed for two years, and of some evidence that she was only of the value of $40 or $50 during the time she did not breed, or in case she had been exposed to aborters, there is some ground for support of the answer of some failure of consideration, or some breach of warranty, and that justice will be better subserved by granting a motion for a new trial, upon the authority of Lake Erie, etc., R. Co. v. Hennessey (1912), ante, 64. See, also, Matchett v. Cincinnati, etc., R. Co. (1892),
Note.—Reported in 96 N. E. 586 and 97 N. E. 530. See, also, under (1) 38 Cyc. 1927; (2) 35 Cyc. 418; 53 Am. Dec. 173; (3) 38 Cyc. 1923.
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