Cornell Tractor Co. v. Humphrey

STURTEVANT, J.

The plaintiff commenced an action against the defendants to recover a judgment for the price of a harvester sold and delivered. The defendants answered the complaint and they also filed a cross-complaint. The eross-eomplaint was answered and the issues so made were tried before the court sitting without a jury. The court made findings in favor of the defendants and from a judgment entered thereon the defendants have appealed.

No demurrer was interposed and there was no motion to strike out. However, as we understand the plaintiff, it claims that the alleged misrepresentations were not as to material matters, that they were not false, and that the case as made by the defendants did not entitle them to any relief.

The defendants were engaged in farming 1,000 acres of grain in the neighborhood of Pescadero. Because of the prevalence of fo'g in that neighborhood, during the summertime, harvesting is at all times a serious problem. In the

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spring of 1928 Mr. Cornell, the president of the plaintiff corporation, went to Pescadero and commenced the negotiations to sell to the defendants a harvester. He was taken over the ground, the conditions were explained to him, and he was told the wants of the defendants. He stated to them that their Holt Harvester Model 32 would do the work of the defendants satisfactorily, and that it would thresh 600 to 800 sacks per day. They acted on his representations and ordered a machine. That particular machine is constructed on peculiar lines. If we understand the record correctly, there are two separate operations. The first one cuts the grain and lets it fall in windrows. The second operation picks it up, threshes it, and drops the filled sacks. The threshing commenced in June. The plaintiff sent an experienced representative to operate the machine, but from the very beginning much trouble was experienced. The principal trouble consisted in the failure of the machine to pick up the cut grain, also of its failure completely to separate the straw from the grain. The result was, according to the testimony of the defendants, a large portion of their grain was left in the field, much of it was discolored because of the long time it was left exposed to the fog, and the portion that was harvested contained straw and other foul stuff, which reduced its value. The machine did not harvest but 270 sacks per day, whereas it was represented that it would harvest 800 sacks per day. It cost more per acre to harvest than did the old method. The trial court found that the representations alleged in the cross-complaint were made and it also found that they were false. It requires no citation of authority to the effect that the alleged misrepresentations were actionable.