Saunders v. Pratt
Saunders v. Pratt
Opinion of the Court
An action of assumpsit to recover the value of forty barrels of apples, alleged to have been sold and delivered to the defendant, and for commissions earned by the plaintiff in purchasing one hundred and thirty-nine barrels of apples for the defendant. The jury found for the plaintiff on both items for the amount claimed in the writ, and the case comes before this court on a motion for a new trial on the usual grounds.
The claim for commissions depended upon the interpretation of certain letters and a conversation over the telephone testified to by the plaintiff. In the final analysis it involved a question of fact for the jury, under proper instructions by the court, which we must assume were given, as no exceptions were taken.
As to the item for forty barrels of apples sold and delivered, the defense was that they were never delivered to the defendant as he refused to receive them, they arriving at their destination in a frozen condition. The question also was raised that some of them were not up to the specifications as to size.
To avoid .the effect of the delivery to the carrier, — they being shipped by rail in accordance with the instructions of the defendant,- — constituting a delivery to the defendant, the defendant relies upon the fact that they were, with the consent of the plaintiff, shipped “at the owner’s risk,” which deprived the defendant of a claim against the carrier in case they were damaged in transit. The defendant contending that delivery to a carrier does not amount to a delivery to the vendee where the seller does anything without the authority of the vendee to deprive the vendee of a claim against the carrier in case the goods are damaged in transit.
This rale seems to have been first laid down in Clark v. Hutchins, 14 East 475, and the American decisions recognizing the rule may be found in 23 R. C. L., 1429, L. R. A., 1917, F. 561. As stated by the court in Miller v. Harvey, 221 N. Y., 54. For delivery to the carrier to constitute delivery to the vendee, “The seller must not sacrifice the buyer’s right to claim indemnity from the carrier.”
In the case at bar, however, there was evidence from which the jury could have fairly found that the defendant instructed the plaintiff to ship the apples in a refrigerator car, which he did. At the
A review of the evidence does not satisfy this court that the verdict of the jury was manifestly wrong upon either item.
Motion overruled.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Gerald L. Saunders v. J. W. Pratt
- Status
- Published