Empire Transfer & Storage Co. v. Simon
Empire Transfer & Storage Co. v. Simon
Opinion of the Court
Appellee sought in this suit to recover from appellant for the alleged conversion of a cash register which had been stored with appellant.
The case was tried below before the court and a jury. After defining conversion and the measure of damages applicable to the case, and also after instructing the jury upon the law of liability applicable for loss or injury of goods stored with a warehouseman, the court instructed the jury that, if they found for the plaintiff (appellee), under the proof, they should render a verdict in the sum of $475, with 6 per cent, interest, for him.
Under this charge the jury returned a verdi'et for appelj.ee in the above-stated amount with 6 per cent, interest from the date of the failure by appellant to deliver to appellee the gash register upon his demand for it.
Appellant did not except to the charge of the court, and did not reguest that any special charge be given. However, the motion for a new trial contained an assignment of error to the effect that the testimony established the fact that there was a secondhand market in Dallas for such cash registers as that sued for, and that there was no evidence adduced to show its value in that market, and accordingly that the verdict was unsupported by any evidence. This assignment of error is brought forward in appellant’s brief, and undejr it a proposition is submitted to the effect that, when a recovery is sought for conversion of a secondhand article, and a market is established at the place of conversion for such secondhand article, then, in case of failure to prove what such market price was in the market at the time of the conversion, or any time thereafter until the date of the trial, there is no evidence before the jury upon which to base a finding of the amount of damages.
The proof adduced in appellee’s behalf clearly established the fact that there was a market in Dallas for secondhand cash registers. The record contains no proof in conflict with this evidence, and contains no proof of any character tending to show what was the secondhand value in the Dallas market of the cash register in suit. Ap-pellee testified that he paid $509 for the cash register; that it was practically new, and was worth to him the purchase price which he paid for it. The local manager of the National Cash Register Company, of Dayton, Ohio, testified that appellee paid $500 for the cash register in March, 1920, which was several months before the date of the alleged conversion, and that the amount paid was the reasonable value of the cash register. On cross-examination he testified positively that he knew there was a market for secondhand cash registers in Dallas, but that he did not know the prices which prevailed in that market. He further testified that his company did not buy secondhand cash registers, and that the only method by which he determined the value of secondhand registers! was that adopted by his company in taking them in exchange for new ones, ’that when secondhand registers were thus taken in exchange the company allowed 10 per cent, of the regular purchase price per annum for depreciation of such cash registers, and that by this rule the register involved in this suit, after one year’s use, would have an exchange value of $450, and that after six months from the date of .sale this value would be $475. He testified that he had seen the cash register shortly before it was stored, and that it had not been appreciably damaged at that time, and that in exchange for a new one he would have credited it with a value of $475.
“Under amended article 1971 it is only objections to the charge which are to be considered as waived if not presented to the court before the charge is read to the jury. The statute does not say that failure to so object to the charge shall, in a motion for a new trial, preclude complaint of the verdict as being without sufficient evidence to sustain it.” Elec. Ex. & Baggage Co. v. Ablon (Chief Justice Phillips’ opinion) 110 Tex. 235, 218 S. W. 1034.
Reversed and remanded.
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