Heller v. Elliott
Heller v. Elliott
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the court was delivered by
It has been found by the jury that the merchandise which is the subject of this controversy was sold by the plaintiffs, on the condition that it should be paid for on delivery, and that consequently, by force of that contract, the title to the property, as the vendee failed to pay the price, did not vest in him. As the testimony was contradictory with respect to the terms of this sale, and was far from demonstrative in favor of the version of it given by either of the parties, this verdict must be taken as conclusive of the question.
Assuming, then, that the original bargain was that the title should not pass until payment of the price, the only question that remains to be disposed of is, whether the condition requiring prepayment was not waived by the plaintiffs. In my • judgment, such must be the legal conclusion from the undisputed facts in the case. After the delivery of the merchandise in question by the vendor to the vendee, and after the sale of the same by the latter to one of the defendants, the plaintiffs caused an attachment to be issued against the property of their vendee for the price of these goods so sold and delivered, and caused them to be levied on under that writ. When the plaintiffs proceeded to enter upon this course of law, they were plainly in a position to adopt either branch of an alternative. They could have insisted that they were still the owners of the goods, and have retained them and sued the
The case of Morris v. Rexford, 18 N. Y. 552, cited in the brief of counsel, is illustrative of the legal doctrine. The transaction was a bargain and sale of goods for cash, and the vendee took possession, but failing to pay the price, the goods were replevied by the vendor; and it was decided this conduct was a disaffirmance of the sale and was a bar to a subsequent action for the purchase money, the court saying: “ A vendor of goods on a sale and delivery upon cash terms, if he fails to get payment, may consider the delivery absolute and ■rely on the responsibility of the vendee, or he may disaffirm .and reclaim his property. But he cannot do both of these things. The remedies are not concurrent, and the choice be
This I consider a correct exposition of the legal doctrine involved in the present case. The fact that the plaintiffs subsequently abandoned their attachment proceedings, can have no effect. They affirmed the sale in an incontestable form by their affidavit of the vendee’s indebtedness to them, and by taking out and executing the writ of attachment, and it was their power subsequently to revoke the sale which by their own conduct they had completed.
The defendants are entitled to a new trial.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.