McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. v. Gustafson
McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. v. Gustafson
Opinion of the Court
The McCormick Harvesting Company sought judgment in the district court of Wayne county upon three promissory notes made to it October 13, 1891, by John
The above aAmrments of the answer may be reduced to a simpler form. They were, in effect, first, that the machine was sold with a warranty that it would do good work satisfactorily to defendant; second, that if this warranty failed, plaintiff would furnish a new machine; third, that it had failed .to fulfill the warranty; and, fourth, that plaintiff, upon being notified of this failure, had neglected and refused to furnish a new machine, by reason of which failure the defendant had been damaged. <.n the answer there was no denial, except that “Defendant * * *. denies that he is in any way indebted to plaintiff.” With only this denial of a mere conclusion
Q. Did he succeed in making it work?
A. Well, he worked with it not very much; stood there in the yard a while and he told me to go and hitch up the horses, and we went into the field and cut two acres and lie got it to bind about half'more than before, and he got it to bind so that it would not mms only now and then. And we went round — we cut about two acres, about an acre and a half in the piece I had left, and we went around the wheat field with twenty-five acres in, and I would not say that I missed more than one or two sheaves.
Q. How did ii work after that?
A. He said come to town. We had a full talk out there. I said, “It is a shame to let me go this way if there was a man that could fix it and then have men come all the way from Omaha and work hard and could not make it work,” and l said, “You come and don’t work hard and you make it work,” and he said, “Gome to town this afternoon and pay for that machine,” and I said, “I*279 show you,” and I said, “You fix it sooner;” and I went to town, — thought I would see somebody that would know something .about it, — and I said, “The machine is running lots better now, and if the machine works that way I will pay for it.” * * * Well, he, this general agent, wánted me to pay. I got some letters from him. I cannot think what his name is till I look at it. It is the one that was here last time. He said I should pay them notes. I said, “I won’t till I cut the rest of it, and if it keeps that way I shall, and if it goes back I won’t;” and he says, “You have to,” and he said, “I sue and beat you and take it to the supreme court.” - -
Q. What did he do after that?
A. Nothing, and I haven’t seen anything of them since.
Q. You went back and tried to cut with it?
A. I went back and it went back and wouldn’t cut again, and I just left it and bought me another machine.
If the verdict of the jury can be at all sustained it must be upon this testimony alone, for none of defendant’s witnesses testified to more than the failure of the machine to do good work, wliile the testimony of such witnesses of plaintiff as testified to this transaction was tó the effect that at this trial of the machine it did work which was good and perfectly satisfactory to the defendant. It is true there was other evidence, for instance on behalf of plaintiff, that the failure was alone that of the binding apparatus, which could have been replaced at a trifling expense, but these facts were not pleaded. For the defendant there was testimony that after the above trial of the machine it became as worthless as before; but this consideration could not avail the defendant, for, tested by the averments of his answer, his relief was confined to the substitution of a new machine if that which he had purchased did not work to his satisfaction. According to his oavu testimony the defendant’s latest expression to plaintiff or to plaintiff’s agent, was of his satisfaction with the working of the machine. On the theory of his answer he was entitled to have his machine
Reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.