Alden v. Kaiser
Alden v. Kaiser
Opinion of the Court
Action to recover damages in the sum of $775 for the breach of an executory contract for the purchase of automobiles on future delivery. Judgment was rendered against the defendant for $539.60 and interest, and he appealed therefrom. ■
The court, following the allegations of the complaint, found: That ■on October 7, 1910, the parties entered into a contract in writing substantially as follows: For the purpose of securing the agency for and the right to sell at retail the Paterson automobiles in five named counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, during the season of 1911, the defendant agreed to deposit with the plaintiffs $200, the first $100 to be applied on the contract for five cars, and to remain in the possession of the plaintiffs until the last car was shipped under the contract, and the other $100 to be credited on the first car ordered. The provision of the contract in this regard is: “The receipt of which [the $200] is hereby acknowledged; and I [the defendant] agree to purchase five cars, optional. Paterson automobiles at the list price less a discount of 20 per cent f. o. b. Flint, Mich., subject to sight draft attached to hill of lading, said automobiles to be shipped as follows. As ordered. * * * All deliveries shall be deemed complete when on board cars at Flint, Mich., and that an additional deposit of $100 on each car shall be made with the order for shipment, which sum is to be deducted from sight draft.” Then follows a guaranty on the part of the plaintiffs and a provision that they shall not be held liable for failure to ship cars “as per their agreement, which may be ■caused by fire, strike, insurrection, or other causes beyond [their] control.” Following this is a list of models and prices, naming different kinds of automobiles, with their respective prices.
The evident purpose of the deposit was to secure the performance ■of the contract on the defendant’s part, and it cannot be said that the parties, by the provision in question, intended to liquidate the ■damages resulting from the defendant’s breach. We cannot, therefore, sustain the defendant’s theory. The contract provides that he agrees “to purchase five cars, optional, * * * to.be shipped
The defendant’s grievance on this branch of the case is that the plaintiffs were entitled to nominal damages only, under the allegations of the complaint, and hence it is contended that the court’s, action in awarding them “profits” was erroneous. The sole question thus involved, no evidence being returned, is the sufficiency of the complaint and the findings to warrant the court’s award of special-damages. 1 Dunnell, Minn. Dig. § 3éé.
The allegation of the complaint in this regard is as follows: “That if said cars specified in said contract had been specified and ordered and delivered and paid for in accordance with the terms and conditions of said contract, plaintiffs could and would have made a profit thereon and in the sale thereof, under the terms of said contract, in the sum of seven hundred seventyrfive dollars. That by reason of the facts above set forth plaintiffs have suffered and sustained damages in the sum of $775.00, with interest thereon since July 21st, 1911.”
The finding concerning damages reads: “That if defendant had taken and paid for said four cars, in accordance with the terms of said contract, plaintiffs would have made a profit thereon of $639.-60.”
It is clear, from this quotation and the one next above, that the court must have considered the matter of the plaintiffs’ right to the •
In that case the rule was applied to sustain a complaint, where the indebtedness sued on was alleged, but the complaint did “not set out the facts necessarily involved in the legal creation of such debt.” The court said in its opinion: “The complaint identifies the indebtedness upon which judgment is sought, and identifies the transaction by which it is claimed the debt was created. The transaction referred to, though not properly pleaded, is of a nature out of which a valid indebtedness of the defendant might arise. The complaint, is sufficient to sustain the judgment.”
This language is especially apt when applied to the present case,, for it is inherent in the facts alleged and found that the plaintiff» •.might have suffered the special damages awarded. Mr. Dunnell, in 'his Minnesota Practice, § 1833, states the rule to be: “When the-sufficiency of a pleading is questioned for the first time on appeal,, every reasonable intendment is indulged in its support. It will be-sustained if it contains the essential facts of a cause of action or defense even by remote inference.” See, also, Getty v. Village of Alpha, 115 Minn. 500, 133 N. W. 159.
Now, as to the sufficiency of the finding, the rule is that finding» should not contain evidentiary facts, but must state the ultimate ones. They must include all the facts essential to the judgment and upon which it is based. The test is, Would they be sufficient to authorize & judgment if presented in the form of a special verdict ? 3 Dunnell, Minn. Dig. § 9851.
Tested by these rules, we hold: (1) The allegation of the com
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- W. A. ALDEN and Another v. WILLIAM KAISER
- Status
- Published