Folkes v. Pratt

Mississippi Supreme Court
Folkes v. Pratt, 86 Miss. 254 (Miss. 1905)
Teult

Folkes v. Pratt

Opinion of the Court

Teult, J.,

delivered the opinion of the court.

The court should have permitted the appellant to prove, as she asked, that the goods received from the appellees were not of the quality represented, and that they defrauded the appellant by the substitution of a quality of goods not contemplated by the contract and not ordered, and that complaint was made just as soon as the fraud was discovered. The offer to make this proof was made in due time by the appellant, and was" denied by the court on the ground, presumably, that the contract recited that, as a condition precedent to the establishing of any claim arising from a breach of warranty, the purchaser should notify the seller, within five days of the receipt of the goods, of any objection on account of failure of the goods in quality or other respect. The court overlooked the elementary proposition that fraud vitiates all contracts, and that the conditions- of a contract are predicated of the idea that it is an honest un*260dertaking. So a requirement that the seller should be notified of any mistake or shortage in the goods purchased, within a reasonable stated time after the receipt thereof, would, if the contract was itself fair and honest, be conclusive. In this case, however, the appellant offered to prove that she had been defrauded by a substitution of different and inferior goods to those ordered, and that this was the result, not of mistake, but of a preconcerted design to defraud. The appellant also offered to show that, owing to the peculiar nature and character of the goods ordered, consisting of many dozen bottles of perfumes, toilet water, and boxes of face powder, and the like, the short time granted by the contract within which to make examination was unreasonable, and imposed an impossible condition, it being impracticable to examine the amount of such goods as are here involved within the limited time allowed. The court should have admitted the proffered evidence, and, if it tended to support the charge of fraud, should have allowed the jury to pass upon the case, and say whether or not the contract was carried out fairly and according to the mutual intentions of the parties, or whether it was a fraudulent scheme, devised and intended to entrap the unwary. This conclusion does no violence to the general doctrine that parol proof is inadmissible to vary the terms of a written contract, for the reason above indicated, and because of the fundamental principle of justice which protects the innocent from the fraud of the dishonest and designing.

Reversed and remanded.

Reference

Full Case Name
Mahala E. Folkes v. Walter Pratt
Cited By
1 case
Status
Published
Syllabus
Evidence. Written contract. Parol. Fraud. Fraud vitiates all contracts, and. the conditions of a contract are predicated of the idea that it is an honest undertaking; hence in a suit upon a written contract, or order for goods, containing a warranty of quality upon condition that the buyer should, within too limited a time after their reception, notify the seller of any objection on account of the quality of the goods, it is competent for the defendant to show by parol that the plaintiff intentionally and fraudulently substituted inferior goods to those ordered, and that owing to the nature of the goods the time granted by the contract for their examination was unreasonably short and the condition imposed an impossible one.