Meske v. Melicher
Meske v. Melicher
Opinion of the Court
This is an action to recover money for goods sold and
Tbe errors specified and relied upon by the plaintiff as justifying this appeal arise by reason of tbe rulings of tbe court on questions of evidence during tbe course of tbe trial, and on account of tbe action of tbe court in directing tbe verdict at tbe conclusion of tbe trial.
Tbe facts as stated by tbe plaintiff and appellant in bis brief on this appeal (and they are to be considered as established by tbe evidence and offers of proof of the plaintiff) are as follows: Plaintiff farmed as a tenant certain lands belonging to tbe defendant on a crop share contract. In November, 1920 plaintiff and bis wife executed and delivered to tbe defendant their promissory note for $2,700 and interest at 10 per cent due in October, 1921 and secured by a chattel mort
The plaintiff’s position is that the accord has not been executed; that, therefore, the plaintiff may elect to treat the accord as null and void, and the $2,700 note paid through conversion by defendant of the plaintiff’s share of the 1920 and 1921 crops, leaving the $3,100 purchase price for horses, cattle and machinery still due and unpaid. The defendant’s contention is that there was no exception in the agreement of accord as to the 1920 and 1921 crops, and that the defendant was to surrender and cancel the $2,700 note and pay plaintiff $450, and the plaintiff was to receive the same in full satisfaction of all differences between them. At the trial the plaintiff proved the sale and delivery of the personal property for the agreed sum of $3,100. Defendant then offered evidence tending to establish the accord, as he claimed the same to be, and the satisfaction of the same. Plaintiff then sought to show that the agreement of accord was in fact different from that contended for by the defendant in that defendant was to pay plaintiff for his share of the 1920 crop* and deliver to him his share of the 1921 crop, and offered evidence tending to show such an agreement. To this proffer on the part of the plaintiff, the defendant objected on the ground that it was not admissible under the pleadings.
Appellant’s assignments of error are predicated on the rulings of th.e court in excluding evidence on the objection of the defendant as above set out, and in later directing the verdict for the defendant on the record thus made.
It is the appellant’s contention that the accord agreement arrived at between the parties was not executed by the defendant, and, may, therefore, be considered by plaintiff as repudiated by defendant. An accord, as defined in our statute, § 5825, Comp. Laws 1913, “is an agreement to accept in extinction of an obligation something different from or less than that to which the person agreeing to accept is entitled.” Section 5826, Comp. Laws 1913, provides: “Though the parties to an accord are hound to execute it, yet it does not extinguish the obligation until it is fully executed.” So where an accord has been arrived at, but is not fully executed, the party to whom something yet remains due has, under the section last cited, his remedy in two directions. Lie may either consider the accord repudiated and sue on the original obligation, crediting thereon that which has been paid and recover the balance remaining-Shubert v. Rosenberger, 45 L.R.A.(N.S.) 1062, 123 C. C. A. 256, 204 Fed. 934; Lehde v. National Union F. Ins. Co. 46 N. D. 162, 180 N. W. 56; Strobeck v. Blackmore, 38 N. D. 593, 165 N. W. 980; 1 C. J. 534; or he may sue on the contract of accord for that which remains due to him. on account of that contract. Comp. Laws 1913, § 5826. Williston, Contr. § 1848. At the common law he could not sue on the contract of accord, but had only his remedy on the original obligation after crediting that which had been paid. That is, an accord until satisfied was revocable at the pleasure of either party.
See 2 Parsons, Contr. 9th ed. p. 837 and cases cited; Williston, Contr. §§ 1839, 1840. There is a dictum in the case of Kinney v. Brotherhood of American Yeomen, 15 N. D. 21. 106 N. W. 44, from which it might be inferred that the old common-law rule in this regard is the law in this state. But we think that § 5826 must have been overlooked by the court at the time of rendering that decision. A reference to the original Field Code, § 652, from which our statute was adapted, shows that the rule as we now have it in the first clause of
It will be noted that the case at bar is brought to recover the purchase price of certain property sold and delivered to the defendant by the plaintiff. The defendant admits the purchase of the property but contends that the same has been paid for. The only disagreement between the parties is that the plaintiff claims that while the property in question was in fact sold to the defendant and the defendant paid therefor, yet that as a part of the same transaction there was an agreement on the part of the defendant to pay certain other matters in difference between the parties, which he has not done; on the other hand, the defendant admits the purchase and sale of the property in question but denies that there was any further agreement as to the payment of any other items. If there was an accord executory, the plaintiff, as we have shown, may sue on the original claim, crediting thereon that which has been paid. But surely he cannot be permitted to separate that claim into its various constituent elements and credit such payments as may have been made on such items as he sees fit, and sue on the remaining items, declaring on them alone. That is what he has attempted to do here. So far as the personal property is concerned for the purchase price of which he declares, the agreement of the defendant was performed, as plaintiff himself concedes. It is true that under the code, § 7439, Comp. Laws 1913, all forms of pleading are abolished, yet § 7440 provides that the complaint shall contain a plain and concise statement of facts constituting the cause of action without unnecessary repetition. This to apprise the defendant of the nature of the plaintiff’s claim. We do not believe that the complaint in this case can be said to meet that requirement, SO' as to permit plaintiff to prove the case that he contends for. Even the most liberal construction will not sustain his contention. While, if the plaintiff saw fit to consider the accord repudiated for the reason that the defendant had not executed the same, he might do so and sue on the original claim, yet that claim in this case consisted of numerous items in addition to that sued on, and should have been stated in his complaint. Had ho pleaded the original claim consisting of the various items that were
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- SAM G. MESKE v. J. A. MELICHER
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- 1 case
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- Published