Hardenburg v. International Safety Razor Corp.
Hardenburg v. International Safety Razor Corp.
Opinion of the Court
The defendant is a manufacturer of safety razors. It was about to put upon the market — or had begun to market — a razor known as .the “Mirak” and another known as the “By-ford.” These razors the defendant proposed to sell in cases, and in order to do this it entered into, a written contract with the plaintiffs, under date of September 11th, 1920, by the terms of which the latter agreed to manufacture and deliver to the defendant fifty thousand cases for the “Miraks” and fifteen thousand cases for the “Byfords.” The price to be paid by the defendant for these cases was twelve cents each,
The defendant seeks to have the verdict against it set aside upon the ground that, after the contract was entered into, it discovered that there was no demand for “Byfords,” and that, having communicated this fact to the plaintiffs' manager, it was agreed that the original contract should be so modified that the defendant should not be obligated to pay for the “Byford” cases until they were actually sold by it. The only witness offered to prove this alleged modification was the vice president of the defendant corporation, who testified that it was made by him as the representative of the defendant, and by the manager of the plaintiffs as their representative. The manager of the plaintiffs absolutely denied having agreed to any such modification of the contract, and the jury solved that factor of the case in favor of the plaintiffs. We cannot say that their finding on this point was not fully justified by the evidence. The uncontradicted proof was that the manufacture by the plaintiffs of all of the “Byford” cases was completed by the 1st of November, 1920. The alleged modification of the original contract was not entered into, according to the testimony of defendant's vice president, until the 1st of December. The jury, in determining the credit to be given to each of these witnesses, was naturally influenced bjr the fact that the modification of the contract which the defendant claimed had been made would have left the plaintiffs with a manufactured article on their hands for which, quite probably, there would be no sale, in case the defendant, for any reason, saw fit to discontinue the manufacture of the “Byford” razor.
The view that we have taken of the matters which we have discussed render the other grounds upon which we asked to make the rule absolute so immaterial as not to justify dis-mission.
The rule to show cause'will be discharged.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- HENRY B. HARDENBURG, PARTNERS, &c. v. INTERNATIONAL SAFETY RAZOR CORPORATION
- Status
- Published