Prieto v. Hull Dobbs Co.
Prieto v. Hull Dobbs Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the Court.
On August 3,1955, Josefina Prieto, appellant herein, went to appellee’s business premises at Stop 23, Santurce, in her Ford automobile, license plate P-46-985, devoted to taxi business, in the company of a mechanic and of the driver of said taxi, Angel Colón, for the purpose of trading her vehicle for another. She was waited on by Mr. Mora, appellee’s salesman. Appellant picked out a used automobile of those which were there for sale, asked her mechanic to try it, and in turn Mora, who was a mechanic but had no obligation to inspect vehicles (T.E. p. 46), tried hers. Mora testified that the salesmen make the proposition for the sale of automobiles, but the papers are not accepted until they are signed by the man
The following day Mrs. Prieto went back to appellee’s business taking with her both automobiles for the purpose of picking up an employee of the latter who was to accompany her to the Public Service Commission in order to change the license plate. On this occasion Garcia asked her to hand him the key of the car object of the transaction, which she did, and when she inquired the reason Garcia informed her that the deal was off. According to Mora, the transaction was approved on August 3, 1954 (T.E. p. 45), but the following day, when appellant went back, Garcia called a mechanic to inspect the vehicle which she “had traded in,” and the latter
Mrs. Prieto testified that the original purchase order was no good, since “new papers were filled in” when the adjustment was made with García and that he retained them (T.E. p. 36). Regarding the copy of the original order, she testified that “. . . that was in the garbage can and I took it out and started to scribble on it” (T.E. p. 37). The copy admitted as appellee’s evidence is not “scribbled on.” They did not return the $100 to her. She did not use the automobile returned to her any more, but on or about December 20 she presumably “started to use” the taxi permit on another vehicle (T.E. p. 32). In view of these facts, appellant sued the appellee for breach of contract and damages.
The trial court concluded that the transaction in question was based on a purchase order admitted in evidence, except that the price was changed so that instead of crediting $1,500 for the old vehicle she was credited with $1,600 plus $100 which she paid in cash; that the requirements set forth in the order that it be signed by appellee and approved by the finance company were not met; that the obligation arises when such condition precedent is met, and if it is not met “the legal nexus is not created”; that even assuming that the salesmen had authority to bind appellee, there was no contract between the parties, since it was not established how and when appellant was going to pay to appellee the balance between $2,300 and $1,700 which she still owed;
Feeling aggrieved, appellant appealed to this Court on August 10, 1955, the case having been submitted for consideration in November 1962. Appellant contends that the trial court committed two errors, to wit: (1) in holding that the efficacy and validity of the contract in question depended on the signature and acceptance by appellee and by a finance company as to the deferred balance; and (2) in concluding that “there was no contract between the parties in this case since there is no evidence as to how and when plaintiff was going to pay to defendant the balance between the price of $2,300 and $1,700.”
'In our opinion, the evidence shows that there was an agreement between the parties as to the object and price of the contract and delivery of the thing. The fact that the evidence fails to show the form and manner agreed upon for payment by appellant of the unpaid balance of the price of $2,300, namely, $600, does not mean that there was no meeting of minds between the parties, since it is evident from the circumstances of the case and from the custom and uses in this type of business that appellant'would pay such sum in instalments, in which case the courts may fix the duration. Civil Code, § 1081, 31 L.P.R.A. § 3064; Sánchez v. De Choudens, 76 P.R.R. 1, 10 (1954); Rivera v. Cardona, 56 P.R.R. 786, 790 (1940); Jiménez v. Ramos, 51 P.R.R. 375 (1937); Armstrong v. Jones, 44 P.R.R. 739 (1933); Seoane v. Cortés, 40 P.R.R. 69 (1929); and Nicorelli v. Ernesto López & Co., 26 P.R.R. 49 (1917). The transaction was originally based on the aforesaid purchase order, except that the order was not filled in completely and, as we shall presently see, it was actually- called off. In the process of
We already said that defendant’s Exh. 1, which is the order in question signed by appellant only, was called off by the parties. This conclusion is based on the considerations which follow. The so-called purchaser’s order is a form prepared by appellee and should therefore be considered and restrictively construed as respects the latter. Torres v. P.R. Racing Corporation, supra. It is significant that the part thereof referring to appellee’s vehicle which the customer proposes to buy is printed in English and Spanish, but the latter part, referring to the vehicle which the customer owns and wishes to trade in to appellee in order that the price thereof be credited to the former vehicle, and which contains the clause providing that the order is not valid if it is not signed and accepted by appellee and by a finance company, is printed only in English. In the present case the blanks in this part of the order were not filled in, nor was the space for the date of the order filled in. In other words, it seems that appellee wanted to make sure that the customer had indubitably a clear understanding of the terms of purchase
In view of the foregoing, we are bound to conclude that appellee is guilty of breach of contract and that its action in defending itself in this suit is manifestly obstinate.
Appellant established the damages sustained as a result of the breach of contract consisting in the privation during one week of her automobile from which she realized a net profit of $20 a day. Her damages therefore amount to $140.
The judgment will be reversed and another rendered instead ordering appellee to pay to appellant $140 for such damages, to refund the sum of $100 which appellant paid
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.