In re Gotham Silver Co.

• Decision Date: 12 January 1950
• Docket Number: No. 85697.,85697.
• Citation: 91 F. Supp. 520
• Parties: In re GOTHAM SILVER CO., Inc.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Southern District of New York

91 F. Supp. 520

In re GOTHAM SILVER CO., Inc.

No. 85697.

United States District Court S. D. New York.

January 12, 1950.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Norbert Rothstein, New York City, for claimant.

Archibald Palmer, and Samuel Masia, New York City, for debtor.

RIFKIND, District Judge.

This is a petition by the debtor for review of an order made by a referee in bankruptcy. The referee, after hearing objections, allowed a general claim of $1200 against the estate of Gotham Silver, Co., Inc., the debtor, in favor of Paul Mayer, a creditor. The referee also granted the creditor's motion for an order authorizing the filing of an amended proof of claim to conform the pleadings to the proof.

On March 17, 1947 the creditor bought from the debtor 480 alarm clocks, to be delivered within thirty days "F.O.B: 32 Bway" (the address, in New York, of the debtor). The price was $2.96 per unit. Delivery of the clocks was made on June 10, 1947 at which time the unpaid balance of the purchase price was paid to the seller by the buyer's shipping agent. The clocks were received in Argentina on September 11, 1947. They were accepted and resold by the buyer. On September 30, 1947 the buyer wrote a letter to the seller in which he expressed dissatisfaction with the seller's performance. On November 9, 1948 the buyer filed a proof of claim against the seller, which had in the meantime sought relief under Chapter XI of the Bankruptcy Act, 11 U.S.C.A. § 701 et seq., alleging liability by the debtor of $981.20. The proof of claim recited that the basis of the claim was as follows: "$501.20 is demanded as damages (price difference) because the bankrupt delivered, instead of 480 alarm clocks with luminous dials and metal parts, as agreed, 480 alarm clocks with plain dials and plastic parts. The sum of $480.00 is demanded as damages for belated delivery, which compelled sale at $1.00 less per piece than the price would have been if delivery had been timely. Delivery was made in June, 1947 instead of April, 1947."

Objection was made to this claim and a hearing was had before the referee. Both the claimant and his shipping agent testified and at the conclusion of claimant's case the debtor rested without offering any proof. The referee, after the hearing, found the following facts, among others: the buyer is an importer of goods into Argentina; the alarm clocks which were the subject of the sale were luminous dial alarm clocks; a provision on the order form used by the parties as the written memorandum of the sale which read, "All claims must be made within 3 days after receipt of the goods", was not intended to be a term of the sale; under the circumstances of the case, the buyer informed the seller of his complaint within a reasonable time; luminous clocks, if delivered within the time specified in the contract, would have reached Argentina in May and could then have been resold there at $6.00 each, and the non-luminous clocks which were delivered on June 10, 1947 were received on September 11, 1947 and were sold and could be sold there at $3.50 each; as a result of the seller's breach, the buyer suffered damages of $1200. The referee then made his order allowing a general claim against the estate in the sum of $1200 in favor of Paul Mayer, and granting claimant's motion for an order authorizing the filing of an amended proof of claim to conform to the claim as allowed.

The debtor in its petition for review argues that the order was contrary to law and against the weight of the evidence. Specifically, it asserts that the order was based upon inadmissible hearsay evidence; that no prima facie case was established by the claimant; that the best evidence rule rendered inadmissible evidence received in support of the claim; that the claimant, by accepting the clocks, waived any possible grounds for objecting to the alleged delay in delivery; that the claim was barred because not made within three days, or within a reasonable time after the receipt of the goods, and that the referee erred when he found that the three day provision was not intended to be part of the contract and when he decided that under the circumstances of the case the complaint was made within a reasonable time; that the referee was in error when he found that the contract called for luminous dial alarm clocks; that the referee erred in finding that luminous clocks, delivered on time, could have been resold for $6 each; that the referee erred in finding claimant's damage to be $1200.

In effect the debtor was found guilty of two breaches of contract: lateness in delivery and substitution of non-luminous clocks for luminous clocks. We first consider the alleged breach arising from the delay. Since New York is the place where the contract was made, the place of performance, and the place with most contacts with the transaction, New York law governs. Cf. Jones v. Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, 1936, 158 Misc. 466, 286 N.Y.S. 4. See Erie R. Co. v. Tompkins, 1938, 304 U.S. 64, 78, 58 S.Ct. 817, 82 L.Ed. 1188, 114 A.L.R. 1487. Section 130 of the New York Personal Property Law, McK.Consol.Laws, c. 41, is applicable here: "In the absence of express or implied agreement of the parties, acceptance of the goods by the buyer shall not discharge the seller from liability in damages or other legal remedy for breach of any promise or warranty in the contract to sell or the sale. But, if, after acceptance of the goods, the buyer fails to give notice to the seller of the breach of any promise or warranty within a reasonable time after the buyer knows, or ought to know, of such breach, the seller shall not be liable therefor."

When the seller urges that acceptance of the goods constituted a waiver of the alleged delay, it runs into the teeth of this statute, unless it means to assert that there was an express or implied agreement on the part of the parties waiving the breach. Whether the facts justify finding such an implied agreement, Cf. Atwater & Co. v. Panama R. Co., 1931, 255 N.Y. 496, 175 N.E. 189, we need not decide for, in any event, the buyer's right to sue for damages after acceptance is conditioned upon his giving notice of the breach to the seller within a reasonable time after discovery. This requirement of notice is a condition precedent to the buyer's right, and he must show that the terms of the statute have been complied with. Rothenberg v. Shapiro, Sup. 1913, 140 N.Y.S. 148; 2 Williston on Sales, 2d Ed., 1259 (1924).

The purpose of conditioning the right upon notice was to avoid "the hardship on the seller of allowing a buyer at any time within the period of the Statute of Limitations to assert that the goods are or were defective though no objection was made when they were received." 2 Williston on Sales, 2d Ed., 1259 (1924). The argument that a seller who has made a late delivery does not require notice of the breach since, he is, of necessity, aware of it, misses the point of the requirement. The purpose of the statute is not to inform the seller of his own act, but to reveal to him that the buyer chooses to assert the act as a breach and seek a legal remedy therefor. American Mfg. Co. v. United States Shipping Board E. F. Corp., 2 Cir., 1925, 7 F.2d 565, 566.

In the case at bar, the sale which was made on March 17, 1947 called for delivery within thirty days. The buyer's agent testified that delivery was made to him on June 10, 1947. The clocks were received by the buyer in September and, according to his own testimony, were resold that same month. It is therefore clear that acceptance of the clocks occurred, at the latest, in September, 1947.

The record does not indicate that promptly after acceptance the buyer gave notice to the seller of the breach occasioned by the delay. The buyer's letter of September 30, 1947 does not appear in evidence. The seller's reply of October 13, 1947 refers only to a claim of delivery of wrong merchandise and does not manifest any awareness by the seller of a claim of breach for delay. The first time the seller was given notice of the buyer's intention to hold him liable for damages arising out of delay was on the filing of the proof of claim on November 9, 1948. Notice following a lapse of over thirteen months after acceptance, and of over eighteen months from the time buyer ought to have known of the breach is not, in the absence of unusual circumstances, given within a "reasonable time." American Mfg. Co. v. United States Shipping Board E. F. Corp., supra; Brunella v. Bracchi, 1928, 131 Misc. 301, 226 N.Y.S. 738. I therefore hold that the claimant is not entitled to recover damages resulting from the delay.

The second alleged breach was the substitution of plain for luminous dial clocks. The petitioner argues that the sale terms did not require that the clocks be luminous. The referee found as a fact that luminous dial alarm clocks were the subject of the sale on March 17, 1947.

The oral testimony clearly supports this finding and it must stand unless that testimony should have been excluded in obedience to the parol evidence rule. So the seller argues, asserting that the paper executed by the parties is a complete contract which may not be varied by evidence of prior negotiations.

The petitioner's objection is not well taken. I reach this conclusion because the term "Ingersol Alarm", which is the written description of the subject matter of sale, is ambiguous, and may refer either to plain or luminous dial alarm clocks. No evidence was received of custom or usage of the trade which restricts the term "Ingersol Alarm" to plain dial clocks only. Consequently, parol evidence is admissible to explain the ambiguity since it does not vary the terms of the written contract but merely enables the court to understand what the parties wrote as they understood it at the time. See Thomas et al. v. Scutt, 1891, 127 N.Y. 133, 141, 27 N.E. 961; U. S. Printing & Lithograph Co. v. Powers, 1922, 233 N.Y. 143, 159, 135 N.E. 225....