Bemidji Sales Barn, Inc. v. Chatfield

• Decision Date: 21 January 1977
• Docket Number: No. 46655,46655
• Citation: 250 N.W.2d 185,312 Minn. 11
• Parties: , 20 UCC Rep.Serv. 1137 BEMIDJI SALES BARN, INC., Respondent, v. Gilbert CHATFIELD, Appellant.
• Court: Minnesota Supreme Court

Page 185

250 N.W.2d 185

312 Minn. 11, 20 UCC Rep.Serv. 1137

BEMIDJI SALES BARN, INC., Respondent, v. Gilbert CHATFIELD, Appellant.

No. 46655.

Supreme Court of Minnesota.

Jan. 21, 1977.

Syllabus by the Court

1. Upon a seller's breach of an express warranty that breeding cattle 'had been vaccinated for shipping fever and were ready for the farm,' consequential damages contemplated by Uniform Commercial

Code, Minn.St. 336.2--714(3), are recoverable by the buyer for the loss of a 'calf crop,' excess costs of feed and care required to maintain such nonproductive cattle, and cattle deaths proximately caused by seller's breach.

2. Upon this record the trial court was justified in refusing an award of damages for a lost 'calf crop' and excess feed and care costs because of buyer's failure of proof.

3. The court was also justified in limiting the amount of consequential damage recoverable for cattle deaths because of proof of buyer's failure to mitigate such damages.

Tupper & Smith, Harlan E. Smith, and Kimball D. Mattson, Walker, for appellant.

Murphy, Lano, Kalar & Murphy and William E. Kalar, Grand Rapids, O. C. Adamson II, Minneapolis, for respondent.

Heard before ROGOSHESKE, PETERSON, and SCOTT, JJ., and considered and decided by the court en banc.

ROGOSHESKE, Justice.

Defendant, Gilbert Chatfield, purchased breeding heifers from plaintiff, Bemidji Sales Barn, Inc., at auction. Upon defendant's refusal to make good his check for payment or to return the cattle, plaintiff sued defendant for the purchase price. Defendant counterclaimed, alleging damages resulting from a breach of an express warranty by plaintiff that the cattle were properly vaccinated for shipping fever and breach of an implied warranty of merchantability. The trial judge, sitting without a jury by agreement of the parties, found a breach of the express warranty alleged and awarded defendant special damages totaling $3,614. This amount was the aggregate of $1,114 for veterinary fees, $500 for incidental expenses incurred by defendant's care and treatment of the cattle, and $2,000 consequential damages for cattle deaths caused by plaintiff's breach. This award was offset against the award to plaintiff of $10,982 for the auction sale price of the cattle. Additional consequential damages claimed by defendant for loss of a 1973 'calf crop' and the cost of feed and care for the period during the animals' convalescence and nonproductivity were disallowed. Defendant's appeal challenges only the adequacy and propriety of the consequential damages awarded and disallowed. We affirm the trial court's disposition including the disallowance of additional consequential damages claimed by defendant.

On the afternoon of March 9, 1972, defendant attended an auction on the premises of plaintiff in Bemidji and purchased 62 head of mixed heifers. The purchase of these cows was intended to double the size of defendant's already existing breeding herd from 62 to 124 head. Before the auction commenced, the auctioneer represented that the cows had been 'vaccinated for shipping fever and were ready for the farm.' However, as the trial court found, the cattle had only been vaccinated the day before, and since at least 2 weeks are needed to develop adequate immunity, the vaccinations had little if any preventative effect.

Immediately following the sale, defendant had the cows shipped by truck from the sales barn to his ranch in Boy River. When the cattle arrived on the evening of March 9, some of the cattle had already started coughing and defendant was concerned that they might have contracted shipping fever. For the remainder of that night the 62 new head were closely confined in a 66- by 30- foot area inside defendant's barn. Early the next morning, after defendant noticed that one of the new cows was dead and two others were down, he contacted his veterinarian, who examined the cattle and diagnosed the problem as shipping fever. The doctor prescribed various drugs to treat the disease, and, further, advised defendant to keep his healthy cows separate from the sick ones. Thereupon, defendant immediately stopped payment on the check he had given plaintiff for the purchase price of the animals.

Treatments by the doctor continued for the next month while the cattle remained enclosed in the barn. During this time the old herd came into frequent contact with the new inside the barn, where only a wooden fence separated the two herds. Eventually, the shipping fever epidemic spread throughout the newly purchased herd, and some of the cows in the old herd also became infected with the highly contagious disease. Toward the end of March, an epidemic of pinkeye broke out which affected both herds, and by July 30 at least 19 cows had died, 17 of the new cows and 2 of the old herd, ostensibly from either shipping fever or pinkeye. Six additional head were also allegedly lost from the epidemics, but the evidence casts doubt as to the actual causes of death. The bloated bodies of two of these cows were found in defendant's field, but no post-mortem examination was ever conducted to determine the cause of death, and the bodies of the remaining four were never found.

Originally defendant planned to breed both herds in July 1972, which would have produced a 'calf crop' during the year 1973. Due to the epidemics, however, the animals had lost approximately 50 to 75 pounds each and the veterinarian advised against breeding the herds in July. Even though there was some evidence indicating that the cattle had regained their weight by the fall of 1972, defendant did not breed his herds until the following spring, thus losing the entire 'calf crop' intended for 1973.

The trial court's award to defendant of $3,614 in consequential damages arose from plaintiff's undisputed breach of an express warranty created at the time of sale under Minn.St. 336.2--313 when material representations were made that the cattle 'had been vaccinated for shipping fever and were ready for the farm.' ¹ Consequential damages, as defined by § 336.2--715(2), ² are fully recoverable for breach of warranty under § 336.2--714(3). Before reviewing defendant's assignments of error, we emphasize that although remedies are to be 'liberally administered,' § 336.1--106, the burden of pleading and proving consequential loss still remains on the buyer. § 336.2--715, U.C.C. Comment 4, 21A M.S.A. p. 727.

Defendant...