Johnson v. Blanks

• Court: United States State Supreme Court of Missouri
• Writing for the Court: DRYDEN
• Citation: 34 Mo. 255
• Parties: STROTHER JOHNSON, Respondent, v. JOEL BLANKS, EX'R OF GEORGE MEYERS, deceased, Appellant.
• Decision Date: 31 October 1863

34 Mo. 255

STROTHER JOHNSON, Respondent,
v.
JOEL BLANKS, EX'R OF GEORGE MEYERS, deceased, Appellant.

Supreme Court of Missouri.

October Term, 1863.

Appeal to St. Charles Circuit Court.

Woods, Broadhead, Lewis & Alexander, for appellant.

I. If the warranty is broken as soon as made, as seems very clear, for there was nothing done or omitted to be done by the vendor which affected the contract in any way whatever, then the damages must be fixed at the time of the breach, and the vendee cannot, especially when he knows the whole history of the title, and knew of this adverse claim of title, be entitled to expenses incurred by him, by reason of his holding on to the property against the rights of the lawful owner. The expense thus incurred in raising the negro enures to the benefit of the lawful owner, and he is bound to know who the lawful owner was. The measure of damages is the value of the property at the time of the breach of warranty, and this value ought to have been fixed, and doubtless was fixed, by the price agreed upon between the parties.

R. G. Woodson, for respondent.

I. The instruction given by the court below for plaintiff (defendant in error) was properly given; it correctly informed the jury of the true measure of damages. (Sedgwick on Dam. 293.)

II. Plaintiff defended the suit of Mary Lewis in good faith; defendant had timely notice of said suit. Meyer's estate is liable to plaintiff for all damages necessarily arising from breach of the warranty, including keep of slave, and costs and expenses incurred by plaintiff in defending the suit of

[34 Mo. 256]

the adverse claimant, Mary Lewis. (Sedgwick on Damages, p. 293; Parsons on Contracts, vol. I, p. 459, note i.)

DRYDEN, Judge, delivered the opinion of the court.

This was an action by Johnson against Blanks, executor of Meyers, to recover damages for the breach of an express warranty of title to an infant slave, which was sold by Meyers to Johnson in 1855, and was afterwards, in 1859, recovered from the latter in an action brought against him for the purpose by one Mary Lewis, who claimed by title paramount to that of Meyers, of which action Blanks, the executor, had notice. The evidence tended to show that Mary Lewis acquired her title by means of a deed of gift from said Meyers, her grandfather; and that at the time of the plaintiff's purchase he had knowledge of the previous gift, but that it was...