Moore v. Day Rubber Co.
Moore v. Day Rubber Co.
Opinion of the Court
— Action for damages for breach of warranty in a contract for the sale of personal property. The trial resulted in a verdict and judgment for plaintiff in the sum of $350, and the cause is here on the appeal of defendant. The property sold was a lot of belting for a concentrating mill owned and operated by defendant at Galena, Kansas. The contract of sale was made orally. The belting was of a brand sold by defendant under the trade name of “King Jack” and the price paid for the lot purchased by plaintiff was $936.90. It is alleged in the first count of the petition that to make the sale defendant “then and there warranted and represented that said rubber belting was made out of good, first-class material and was as good as any belting sold in this district, and would last as long as any belting sold in this district; and that by the term ‘this district’ was meant and understood by plaintiff and defendant to mean the lead and zinc mining district of Southwest Missouri and Southeastern Kansas, embracing Jasper and other counties in Missouri and Cherokee and other counties in Kansas.”
Further, it is alleged that plaintiff relied on said warranty and representations; that the belting was made out of inferior material; that it would not last as long as other belting sold in that mining district, and that when sold was not worth to exceed $296.30. The prayer is for damages in the sum of $700, the difference between the contract price and the market value of the goods. Since the verdict was for defendant on the second count of the petition, it is not necessary to state the cause of action pleaded therein. The answer is a general denial.
Defendant’s principal place of business was in St. Louis, but it maintained a branch house at Joplin. It handled two grades of belting in the Joplin district
“He came two or three times to Carthage to see me about the belt for the mill. I was not familiar with the Day Rubber Company belt, and he told me they were selling as good a belt as was sold in the district, and I talked and asked him if it was as good as the Double Diamond— . . . He stated that the house was responsible and their belt was as good as any sold in the district, he did not mention ány kind of belt. I did not know they had two brands at the time. . . . He mentioned the name of no belt, simply spoke of their belt being first-class and that the house was in Joplin and would stand back of their representations.
“Q. He stated it was first-class in every respect? A. A first-class and as good as any sold in the district.”
Plaintiff did not give the order to Tedford, but visited defendant’s place of business at Joplin where a stock of belting was- kept and succeeded in obtaining a better cash discount than Tedford was authorized to offer. The price quoted him was for “King Jack” and that was the belt delivered to him. He paid the bill promptly, taking advantage of the cash discount offered, and installed the belting in the mill. It did not turn out to be the best belting for the very obvious
With admissions such as these before us, we find no room for any other reasonable conclusion than that plaintiff knew defendant sold different grades and deliberately and knowingly bought a cheaper grade than the best. He is now endeavoring to secure damages from defendant because he found that a second class article would not give first-class service. He received what he bought and what he intended to buy, and his effort to distort the general statement of the agent that that the goods sold by his principal were as good as any
The judgment is reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.