Associated Mfg. Co. v. Jordan
Associated Mfg. Co. v. Jordan
Opinion of the Court
Appellees, A. W. Jordan and others, a partnership doing business under the name of the Farmers’ Cash Store, ordered of appellant, Associated Manufacturing Company, five cream separators, as follows: 2 No. 16-A Iowa separators, 275" pounds capacity, at $30 each; 2 No. 25-A Iowa separators, 500 pounds capacity, at $45 each; 1 No. 16 Iowa separator, 225 pounds capacity, $24.50. The order was taken by a sales agent, who represented that the said separators would do the work for which they were intended with entire success, and that they could be operated successfully by any one who ’ wished to purchase one of them. Upon receipt of the separators, the managing partner of the store, W. T. Sampson, took the separator No. 16 of 225 pounds capacity, to his own home, Intending to purchase it for his own use. He and his wife testified that they followed the book of instructions accompanying the separator in putting it up, and adjusting and operating it, but that it yvould not separate the cream from the milk. Neither of the parties had ever had any experience in putting up or operating a cream separator, but called in some of the neighbors, and these could not make it work, though they, too, had no experience with this kind of separator. The nme “Iowa cream separator” was on the machine, and it appears that the handling of separators of this patent was formerly by the Iowa Cream Separator Company, but in 1914 the Associated Manufacturing Company bought out the rights of the said Iowa Cream Separator Company, and thereafter, sold said separators. Across the top of the letter heads of the appellant company were the words in large letters, “Associated Manufacturers’ Company.” Underneath and in smaller letters was written:
“Cream Separators, Gasoline 'and Kerosene Engines, Concrete Mixers, Feed Grinders, Silo Fillers, Washing Machines, Wood-Sawing Outfits, Friction Pulleys, Pump Jacks, Line Shafts, Iowa Cream Separators, Associated Engines.”
After the said Sampson had tried said separator, he wrote the Iowa Cream Separator Company, at Waterloo, Iowa, the place of the home office of the Associated Manufacturers’ Company, stating in said letter that the separator would not work, and asking that the company send some one to adjust it. To this letter the Associated Manufacturers’ Company replied that it would send some one to adjust the separator, and did in fact write the agent and demonstrator, who had taken the order, to attend to the matter. The ap-pellees heard nothing further from the appellant for about a month, and then without further notice shipped all' five separators to Waterloo, Iowa, consigning the shipment to the Iowa Cream Separator Company, or the Iowa Dairy Separator Company. Some time after this the sales agent for the appellant called on the appellees, intending to see what was wrong with the separator, and was informed that they had been shipped back to the appellant. The separators came crated separately, and the other four separators were never uncrated.
The appellant filed this suit to recover the contract price of the separators! The ap-pellees pleaded that said agent, taking their order for the separators, had falsely rep-, resented that said separators would do the work for which they were intended, and that the said separators had been returned to the plaintiff, who had refused to accept them. After the suit was filed, the defendants received notice from - the railway agent at Waterloo, Iowa, that the shipment was unclaimed, and unless taken out within 15 days would be sold for accrued charges, $12.72 freight, and $9.60 storage. This notice was addressed to the Farmers’ Cash Store, Spur, Tex., and the Iowa Dairy Company, Waterloo, Iowa. Special issues were submitted to the jury, and on their answer judgment was rendered for the defendants.
*1052 “It may be said in a general way that, if but one consideration is paid for all the articles sold, so that the particular amount of the consideration for each cannot be determined, or if the purchase is of goods as a particular lot, even if the price is to be determined by the number of pounds, barrels, or the like, in the lot, it is an entire, and not a severable, contract. But, though several different articles are sold at the same time and are of the same general description, yet, if they sold for distinct prices, the contract may usually be treated as severable, and the buyer may accept such of them as comply with the contract and reject the others.”
The judgment will be reversed and remanded.
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Reference
- Full Case Name
- ASSOCIATED MFG. CO. v. JORDAN Et Al.
- Cited By
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- Published