Commercial Pub. Co v. Campbell Printing-press & Mfg. Co

• Citation: 111 Ga. 388,36 S.E. 756
• Court: Georgia Supreme Court
• Decision Date: 13 July 1900
• Parties: COMMERCIAL PUB. CO. et al. v. CAMPBELL PRINTING-PRESS & MFG. CO.

111 Ga. 388

36 S.E. 756

COMMERCIAL PUB. CO. et al.

v.CAMPBELL PRINTING-PRESS & MFG. CO.

Supreme Court of Georgia.

July 13, 1900.

APPEAL—NEW TRIAL—GROUNDS—REVIEW— REPLEVIN—EVIDENCE.

1. Grounds of a motion for a new trial alleging error in admitting or in rejecting evidence cannot be considered, when they fail to distinctly inform the court what was the evidence to which they respectively relate.

2. When, in defense to an action of bail trover for the recovery of personalty which the plaintiff had sold to the defendant under a contract reserving title till the purchase money should be paid, the latter set up that the former had received a part of the price, and was not, without returning the same, entitled to a verdict for the property itself, it was not, though no claim for hire was made in the petition, erroneous to admit in behalf of the plaintiff evidence showing the value of the property for hire while in the defendant's possession, or to charge the jury that, if such value was equal to or exceeded the amount of the payments upon the purchase price, the plaintiff was not bound to return the money which the defendant had paid upon the purchase.

3. The evidence warranted the verdict.

(Syllabus by the Court.)

Error from city court of Atlanta; H. M. Reid, Judge.

Action by the Campbell Printing-Press & Manufacturing Company against the Commercial Publishing Company and another to recover personal property sold under a condi tional sale. From a Judgment for plaintiff, defendants bring error. Affirmed.

W. R. Brown, for plaintiffs in error.

Harvey Hatcher, Jr., and E. M. & G. F. Mitchell, for defendant in error.

LUMPKIN, P. J. The Campbell Printing-Press & Manufacturing Company brought against the Commercial Publishing Company and R. B. Blackburn, as receiver of its assets, an action of bail trover for the recovery of a printing press and outfit. In its petition the plaintiff alleged that it had entered into a written contract with the publishing company, under the terms of which it agreed to purchase the property in question, paying therefor by installments, but that after paying a portion of the purchase money it had refused to comply further with its obligations; that the property was sold with reservation of title, and it was expressly stipulated in the contract that, should such default be made, the plaintiff should have the right to immediately retake possession, but that, notwithstanding this stipulation, and the fact that the publishing company was in default, it had, on proper demand, refused to yield possession of the property, which conduct on its part amounted to a conversion of the same. On the trial the plaintiff elected to take a verdict for the property itself. The defense interposed was that the contract between the parties was one of conditional sale, and the plaintiff was in equity liable to account for so much of the purchase money as had been paid to it, etc., to the end that the rights of the defendants in the premises might be protected, and an equitable rescission of the contract effected. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiff, which embraced a finding that the payments made upon the purchase price of the property did not exceed its fair rental value while in the possession of the publishing company. The defendants thereupon filed a motion for a new trial, which was overruled, and they excepted.

1. One ground of the motion alleges...