Osborne & Co. v. Bell

• Court: Michigan Supreme Court
• Writing for the Court: [62 Mich. 216] SHERWOOD, J.
• Citation: Osborne & Co. v. Bell, 62 Mich. 214, 28 N.W. 841 (Mich. 1886)
• Decision Date: 01 July 1886
• Parties: OSBORNE & CO. v. BELL and others.

28 N.W. 841

62 Mich. 214

OSBORNE & CO. v. BELL and others.

Supreme Court of Michigan

July 1, 1886

Error to Hillsdale.

E.L. Coon, for defendants.

Weaver & Shepard, for plaintiffs.

SHERWOOD, J.

The complainants are a corporation organized under the laws of the state of New York, and on the thirteenth day of March 1883, were doing business in this state. Their business was making and vending a farm implement known as the "Osborne Harvesting-machine," used for cutting and binding wheat. At that date they had an agent for the sale of their machine at North Adams, in the county of Hillsdale, who had his place of business at that place, and whose name was Knowles. The company's home office was at Auburn, New York. It also had a branch office at Cleveland, Ohio. On the said thirteenth day of March, 1883, the company, by its agent, Knowles, sold by contract one of its No. 11 twine-binders, six-foot cut, to the defendants. The contract is as follows:

"ORDER FOR OSBORNE HARVESTING-MACHINE.

"DATED NORTH ADAMS, March 13, 1883.

"Messrs. D.M. Osborne & Co., 52 and 54 River Street, Cleveland, O.: We have this day ordered of E.S. Knowles, agent, one of your machines, described as 'No. 11 Osborne Twine-binder,' six-foot cut, to be delivered at North Adams on or before June 1, 1883, for which we agree to pay the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars, in manner as follows: Cash in hand, $______; an approved note, due October 1, 1883, $100, without interest, at __ per cent.; an approved note, due October 1, 1884, $150, with interest at 7 per cent.; an approved note, due ______ 1, 188__, $______, with interest at __ per cent; notes to be made payable to the order of D.M. Osborne & Co., and to bear interest from October 1, 1883. I have also bought of the above- named agent--boxes, of 100 lbs., for No. 11 binder, twine at 20 cents per pound, for which I agree to pay cash upon delivery of twine at ______.

"This machine is hereby purchased and sold subject to the warranty and agreement printed on the back of this order, and no one has any authority to add to, abridge, or change it in any manner.

[Signed] "MILO BELL.

"W.J. BELL."

On the back of said order, agreement, and contract there is the following indorsement:

"WARRANTY.

"The machine named in this order is hereby purchased and subject to the following warranty and agreement, and no one has any authority to add to, abridge, or change it in any manner. All our machines are warranted to be well built, of good material, and capable of cutting, if properly managed, from ten to fifteen acres per day. If, on starting a machine, it should in any way prove defective, and not work well, the purchaser shall give prompt notice to the agent of whom he purchased it, and allow time for a person to be sent to put it in order. If it cannot then be made to do good work, the defective part will be replaced, or the machine shall immediately be returned to the agent of whom it was purchased, at his place of business, and the payment of money or notes returned. Keeping the machine during harvest, whether kept in use or not, shall be deemed conclusive evidence that the machine fills the warranty."

Under this order or contract the defendants took the machine to their farm, where it was set up and started by one of the plaintiffs' men, and, as the defendants claim, after a fair trial by them, the machine could not be made to do good work, and they returned it to the agent, Knowles, at North Adams, when they were about half through with their harvesting, and the plaintiffs claim refused to give their notes, or pay for the same when asked by the plaintiffs so to do. The case was tried in the Hillsdale circuit by jury, and a judgment was rendered for the plaintiffs for the value of the machine stated in the contract. The defendants bring error.

The errors assigned relate to the...