Maddux v. Mora

CRAIG, J.

The respondent began the above-entitled suit in Perris township, Riverside County, to recover $160.50 which, by amendments to the complaint was later increased to $237.50, together with $100 attorney’s fees, interest and costs, for breach of a contract. Judgment was rendered in favor of the plaintiff, and an appeal was taken to the Superior Court of Riverside County, wherein judgment was again rendered in favor of the plaintiff, after a trial

de novo.

From the latter judgment the defendant Mora appealed to this court.

The facts necessary to a consideration of the points presented are as follows: Maddux agreed to sell an automobile to the defendants under the terms of a conditional sale contract. Payments were made until October, 1921, when there was a balance on the purchase price of $162.50 then due. In September, 1922, the car being out of repair, the vendor took possession of it and put it in good condition again, at an expense of $75. The purchaser failed to pay either the balance of the original purchase price, or the expense of repairs, and on January 12, 1924, this suit was commenced.

It appears that one Haas was the agent who arranged the sale of the machine, and it is contended by the appellant that after default had been made, and the car had been repossessed by Maddux, Haas arranged to and did sell it to one Taylor. The court did not so find, and one of the grounds urged for reversal is that in failing to so find, material evidence was disregarded.

The principal attack upon the judgment is that the evidence is insufficient to support certain findings which the

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court made and which are numbered IV, IX and X. They are as follows:

IV. “That on or about the month of March, 1922, plaintiff found the said personal property abandoned in the yard of one Ira L. Haas at Perris, California; that at the time of such finding the tires on the said machine had deteriorated to such an extent that they were no longer of any value; that the said personal property had lain out in the weather for months without any protection and that the same was not in good order and repairs as when originally sold to the defendants herein; that plaintiff thereupon took possession of the said personal property for the purpose of putting the same in as good order as when sold in accordance with the terms of the said agreement and that thereafter plaintiff repaired same and placed the automobile in as good repair and condition as when originally sold at an expense of $75.00; that the plaintiff made the repairs on the said car on or about the 1st day of November, 1922, and that the amount of the said repairs nor any portion thereof has ever been repaid by either of the said defendants or by anyone acting in 'their behalf.”