Baird v. Truitt
Baird v. Truitt
Opinion of the Court
This is the second time this case has been brought to this court. (Truitt v. Baird, 12 Kas. 420.) This time the case is brought here by the plaintiff below, J. C. Baird; and the principal ground upon which he asks to have the judgment of the court below reversed is the giving of a certain instruction, which reads as follows:
“If you believe from the evidence, that at the time the partnership mentioned in defendant’s answer was entered into, that the plaintiff agreed to furnish certain apple trees and grafts as his portion of the capital stock of said partnership, and that he was to furnish said trees and grafts at the price they were selling at in Quincy, Illinois; that plaintiff furnished said trees at a price exceeding their selling-price in Quincy, Illinois; that the defendant not knowing the selling-price in Quincy, and relying on the representation of said plaintiff as to their selling-price accepted them as so much capital stock at such over-price, the defendant will be entitled to recover one-half the difference between the actual selling-price of the trees in Quincy, and the price at which they were put into said partnership.”
The ground upon which it .is claimed that the giving of this instruction was erroneous is as follows: The defendant’s answer alleged that the selling-price of said apple trees, and of such apple trees, at Quincy, Illinois, in the spring of 1870, was $35 per thousand. The evidence showed that the plaintiff actually paid for said apple trees at Quincy only $32.50 per thousand. The instruction, it is claimed, told the jury in effect, that they might find what the selling-price of said trees was in Quincy, in accordance with the evidence, without regard to the pleading. That is, it is claimed that said instruction told the jury that they might find that the selling-price of said apple trees in Quincy was only $32.50 per thousand, although the defendant had admitted and alleged in his answer that said selling-price was $35 per thousand. Now it is not certain that this instruction is open to. such criticism; for it was given along with other instructions, and these other instructions stated precisely and exactly what the
The jury found a general verdict in favor of the defendant. The defendant then moved the court to allow him to amend his answer so as to allege that the selling-price of said trees at Quincy, Illinois, was only $32.50 per thousand, instead of $35 per thousand, as he had formerly alleged, and the court sustained the motion, and the amendment was so made. The plaintiff claims that this was also error. The plaintiff then moved the court for a new trial, which motion was overruled, and this is also assigned for error. The court rendered judgment in favor of the defendant and against the plaintiff for costs, which is also claimed to be erroneous. It will be seen that all the errors claimed are founded upon the supposed error in giving said instruction. Now for the purposes of this case we shall assume that said instruction is open to the criticism placed upon it by the plaintiff, and that under it the jury found that the selling-price of said apple trees at Quincy was only $32.50 per thousand; and with these assumptions, was there any substantial error committed by the court below? We think not, although we think it was irregular for the court to give the instruction before said amendment was made, or before any suggestion or order that it might be made. A court should generally confine its in
The judgment of the court below will be affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. C. Baird v. John W. Truitt
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published