Mauriello v. Mazzaro
Mauriello v. Mazzaro
Opinion of the Court
There are ten separate cases brought by1 the plaintiffs against same defendants to recover money had and received, and were all tried together.
The claim of the plaintiffs is that they agreed to purchase grapes from defendants by separate contracts, and paid the money on defendants’ promise to deliver, which was never performed. The defence was that it was a joint enterprise and as there was a loss each must bear a proportionate share. What defendant testified to was that it was proposed to buy a carload of grapes in boxes, and that before doing so each plaintiff made a separate arrangement with defendants to take a certain quantity, to be paid for in advance, and having contracts for different amounts sufficient to make a carload, it was ordered, but defendants refused to accept delivery because the grapes were not of the quality ordered from the seller, and were sold by carrier for freight, leaving a surplus.
The points argued are (a) that the ruling of the court that it would not allow each defendant six challenges was error. No foundation was laid for appeal on this ground. At the opening of the case a question was raised and discussed as to number of challenges, and the court said it would only allow six, not six to each defendant, but no challenges were made and the court was never required to pass on the concrete question; (b) court refused to nonsuit although the money' was paid on Sunday by all the plaintiffs, except two. One plaintiff ordered fifty boxes on Saturday, but'was told he must pay the money and he gave it on Sunday. Another
“The proof upon both sides applies to the affirmation or negative of one or the same issue or proportion of fact, and the party whose case requires the proof of that fact has all along the burden of proof. It does not shift though the weight in either scale may at times preponderate.” Hughes v. Williams, 229 Mass. 467; 116 N.E. Rep. 914. As the court was in error about the Sunday contracts, all the judgments except those in favor of Albano and Tosso should be reversed and those should be affirmed. Other matters were argued but the error of the trial court on the question of the Sunday law was so injurious to the other defendants that it is not necessary to consider them. The judgments in all the cases except those in favor of Albano and Tosso, which are affirmed, will be reversed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.