Murray Co. v. Morgan
Opinion of the Court
In this action on four notes, aggrégating $10,297.97 and interest, the validity of which was admitted, the jury found a verdict for only $4,985.18. The notes were given for balance of the purchase price of machinery for a ginning plant — two for the balance on the engine and two for the balance on the gins and attachments. Separate contracts were made for the engine and the gins, but they were practically cotemporaneous and one transaction. The warranty, identical in both papers, was as follows:
“Said machinery is warranted to be of good material, and to perform well, if properly operated by competent persons. Upon starting, if the purchaser at any time within 10 days is unable to make same operate well, telegraph or written notice stating wherein it fails to conform to the warranty is to be given by the purchaser to the Murray Company, at Atlanta, Ga. (and not verbally to any of its traveling men), and reasonable time shall be given the Murray Company to remedy the defect, the purchaser rendering all necessary and friendly assistance-; and, in case trouble be caused from a clearly defined originál defect in the machinery itself, the Murray Company reserves the right to replace any defective part or parts, without charge, but such defective part or parts shall not condemn the machine to which it belongs. If on trial the machine cannot be made to fulfill the warranty, and the fault is in the machine itself, the amount of the purchase price of same is to be credited on the notes pro rata, or the money paid thereon refunded pro rata; the purchaser in such case not to have nor make any .claim for damages of any nature or character whatsoever against the Murray Company by reason of the failure of said machine to fulfill the warranty, but the pro rata diminution of purchase price aforesaid to be the sole and only element of damage for breach of this warranty. Failure of any article named herein to comply with this aforesaid warranty shall in no way affect this contract, nor the notes and chattel mortgage and trust deed given in accordance therewith as to the other articles named therein. Failure to make such trial, or to give such notice, shall be conclusive evidence of the fulfillment of the warranty. If the Murray Company shall, at the request of the purchaser, render assistance of any kind in operating said machine, or any part thereof, or in remedying any defects at any time, said assistance shall in no ease be deemed an acknowledgment on its part of a breach by it of this warranty, or a waiver*501 of, or excuso for, any failure of the purchaser to fully keep and perform the conditions of this warranty.”
The defendants set up as a defense breach of warranty, and as a counterclaim alleged false and fraudulent representation:
“That, the Murray Company had installed in Anderson county, S. C., and in neighboring counties a number of ginnery systems or outfits similar to that offered defendants and that all of said outfits were performing well, had always performed well and were giving perfect satisfaction to the purchasers.”
But the defendants did not claim rescission, and the alleged deceit as to the unsatisfactory work of other like machinery was of no consequence if the machinery sold the defendants met the warranty. Under the evidence the counterclaim for deceit faded away, leaving as tlie material issue the claim for damages for breach of warranty. The District Judge, therefore, properly limited the defendants’ recovery to damages for breach of the warranty.
The plaintiff asked for a directed verdict for the full amount claimed because the defendants had not met the two conditions required by the contract to make the warranty available: First, they had not in the notices given stated wherein the machinery failed to conform to the warranty; and, second, they had not given notice of the defect alleged every 10 days while the machinery was in use.
“If the Hurray Company shall, at the request of the purchaser, render as-slstance of any kind in operating said machinery, or any part thereof, or in remedying any defects at any time, said assistance shall in no case be deemed an acknowledgment on its part of a breach by it of the warranty, or a waiver of, or excuse for, any failure of the purchaser to fully keep and perform the conditions of this warranty.”
The mere assistance “in operating said machinery, or any part thereof, or in remedying any defects at any time” “at the request of the purchaser,” here mentioned, means a voluntary act of assistance on the part of the seller, and is a very different thing from the legal obligation assumed in the warranty by the seller to itself remedy the defect. on the specific notice required of the purchaser. Observing this distinction, it seems clear that although the mere gratuitous accommodation of assistance to the seller at his request in operating the machine. or remedying a defect does not constitute waiver of the written notice required to bring into existence the legal obligation of the seller to remedy any defect, yet the undertaking by the seller to discharge its own express legal obligation — not to assist the purchaser but to itself-remedy the defect — in response to an irregular or insufficient notice is evidence of waiver of the irregularity or insufficiency of the notice. Lorenz v. Hart-Parr Co., 146 Wis. 261, 131 N. W. 446, 50 L. R. A. (N. S.) 796, note 797. In the light of this construction of the contract, defendants’ evidence below recited justified the inference that the purchasers had given the required notice of the breach of the warranty, or, if they had not, that the seller had waived the insufficiency.
Woodward did not leave until October 29th, and a new period of 10 days would not commence until that time. After Woodward left, defendants operated the machinery until November 3d, less than 10 days from October 29th, and then wrote another complaint of failure of the gins to perform well, and of consumption of too much fuel by the engines. Two days afterwards, November 5th, plaintiff wrote promising to send an expert oil man to make necessary adjustments. Again another 10 days did not begin to' run until another agent of plaintiff, Millizor, came on November 23d. After that defendants ran the plant only on December 1st, 2d, 3d, 4th, 10th, 17th, 18th, 24th, 30th, and 31st. But on the 31st — before the expiration of the tenth day of use from the time Millizor left — Delk, another agent sent by plaintiff, came to remedy the defects. December 31st and January 1st could not be counted against the defendants because the plaintiff, through Delk, was then participating in running the machinery and trying to put it in order.
This summary of the testimony shows that the jury might well infer: First, that the notices were not sent by defendants or received by plaintiff as mere requests for assistance, but were in the nature of demands that the Murray Company should comply with its legal obligation to make the machinery perform well; second, that the defendants did comply with the requirement that they should not use the machine for any 10 days without notice to the plaintiff within the meaning of the contract; and, third, that even if the notices were not in time, or were irregular from any other cause, the plaintiff waived the irregularities by acting upon the notices. It follows that the District Judge was right in his construction of the contract, and in refusing to direct a verdict for lack of notice by the defendants.
We have discussed all of the 44 assignments that seem to be of consequence, and find no error.
Affirmed.
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