Irby v. Stubblefield
Irby v. Stubblefield
Opinion of the Court
Plaintiff and defendant traded horses. The plaintiff undertook to rescind and returned to defendant the horse for which he had traded and demanded the return of his horse. The defendant refused to comply with this demand and plaintiff brought his action before a justice of the peace in replevin for the horse he originally owned. After a trial in the justice of the peace court, an appeal was taken to the circuit court, where, on a trial anew, the plaintiff obtained a verdict and judgment, from which the defendant has appealed.
The testimony discloses that this was plaintiff’s first experience in the horse trading business. He was about twenty-one years of age at the time of the transaction. The defendant was engaged in the mercantile business and farming at Birdeye in Greene county.
Plaintiff testifies that shortly before the trade he went into the defendant’s store and the question of a trade was brought up; that plaintiff then asked defendant if his horse had any blemishes on him, to which the defendant replied that he did not know that he had any, except that he had a wire cut on him, and
The defendant himself testified that he told the plaintiff that he would guarantee the horse sound out
The case was tried in the circuit court to a jury and the instructions given were free from error.
The testimony clearly justifies the conclusion that the plaintiff was, by reason of the discovery of the sunken place in the horse’s shoulder, led to believe that there was some defect as a result thereof, which he was not able to fully discern and, therefore, intended to exact of the defendant a specific warranty as to that particular point and that the defendant so understood the plaintiff and, for the purpose of inducing the trade, made the assertions the plaintiff testifies he made and which the jury, under the instructions given to them, must have found to be true.
This, we think, is not a case in which the defendant merely expressed an opinion leading the plaintiff to believe that he must examine and judge for himself, as was the case in Anthony v. Potts, 63 Mo. App. 517; nor an instance in which there was. an obvious defect, the result of which might be determined upon a mere inspection as in Doyle v. Parish, 110 Mo. App. 470, 85 S. W. 646. Neither does, it come within the rule laid down in Moore v. Koger, 113 Mo. App. 423, 87 S. W. 602, where it is held that when the buyer has an opportunity to inspect, an implied warranty cannot he invoked. The case of Grojean v. Darby, 135 Mo. App. 586, 116 S. W. 1062, relied upon by the defendant, is
It is said in Samuels v. Guin’s Est., 49 Mo. App. 8, 10, that, “The general rule doubtless is that the general warranty of soundness does not cover patent defects., nor defects known to the buyer. It is, however, a matter of contract; and, as in construing all agreements, so with this undertaking, the object is to discover the real intention of the parties.” It is further said, however, that “The rule is clearly well settled that the vendor may in express terms warrant against an obvious defect. If the undertaking is clear and unequivocal, we know of no rule of law that will permit the warrantor to escape the obligation of his contract.”
In the case at bar, we hold that the defendant must have understood that the plaintiff was exacting of him a special warranty as to any defect in the horse’s shoulder caused by the injury that had left the depression and the warranty by defendant of the soundness of the horse, except the bump on the head and the one on the knee, was made to and did induce the plaintiff to make the trade. Under the facts we hold that the court properly instructed the jury and that the judgment is for the right party and must be upheld. The judgment is affirmed.
Concurring Opinion
CONCURRING OPINION.
There is; another reason why the plaintiff should recover in this case. The evidence shows that the visible defects on the horse’s shoulder were sufficient to arouse plaintiff’s suspicions that there might be some defect more serious than a mere
On this state of facts we find that at the consummation of the trade, and as a condition thereof, plaintiff asked the defendant if he would take the horse back if there was anything wrong with him other than the visible blemishes they had talked about and defendant replied: “Yes, sir, I will guarantee him to be all right. Bring him back if you find anything wrong with him except that little bump on his. knee and that little bump on his head. I will guarantee him to be all right.” This is more than a mere guarantee as to soundness; it is a plain contract that the horse was to be taken back by defendant and plaintiff’s horse returned to him in case the horse plaintiff was trading for was found to have any such defect as the evidence plainly shows he did have. Such was the contract of
I am unable to reconcile my views as to the law of warranty of soundness with those of my associates as applied to this case. Here, the defect was the effect resulting from the breaking of the shoulder when the animal was a colt; the defect was not the cause, but the effect, i. e., the effect the once broken shoulder had on the outward appearance— a shrunken place—and on the animal’s gait. There is no evidence whatever that the shoulder was in any way diseased, or, indeed, that any disease would result from a broken shoulder; and, since the broken bone had grown together, it was not the defect complained of by the plaintiff. It is true, the broken bone, which had healed, was latent; but the resultant effect of the breaking of the bone in this case—the shrunken place and the shortened step—was the real defect complained of, and that was perfectly apparent on ordinary inspection, and at least was apparent to the plaintiff before he purchased because he testified that he saw the horse driven to a wagon and noticed a limp in his walk and called particular attention to the shrunken place in the shoulder. Hence, according to my view, the defect was patent, and one about which the plaintiff admits he knew.
The cases cited in the majority opinion are those where the defect consisted of a diseased condition which might and probably would inform the purchaser that something was wrong; it was the existing disease that caused the defect, which disease was, unknown. In this case there was no diseased condition, for, so far as the evidence shows, the bone had grown together, and the only defects existing were those which were apparent—the consequences or results of a once broken bone.
I believe the case at bar, so far as the warranty of soundness is concerned, falls within the rule laid down in the line of authorities which hold that a general warranty of soundness (and in this case the strongest warranty made was, “I will guarantee him to be all right)” does not cover patent defects nor defects known to the buyer. See Samuels v. Guin’s Estate, 49 Mo. App. l. c. 10, and Doyle v. Parish, 110 Mo. App. l. c. 473, 85 S. W. 64, where the rule is stated as follows: “In most instances there can be no recovery on a warranty in the sale of a chattel, for a perfectly obvious defect apparent on a simple inspection and which the purchaser had an opportunity to observe, unless the warranty expressly covered obvious defects. Neither, generally speaking, can an action be maintained for a defect known to the purchaser.”
However, I concur in the result reached because, leaving out of view the question of the warranty of soundness, the testimony of plaintiff which the jury believed shows that an express contract was made by
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.