White v. Oakes

• Decision Date: 23 January 1896
• Citation: 88 Me. 367,34 A. 175
• Parties: WHITE v. OAKES et al.
• Court: Maine Supreme Court

34 A. 175

88 Me. 367

WHITE

v. OAKES et al.

Supreme Judicial Court of Maine.

Jan. 23, 1896.

(Official.)

Report from supreme judicial court, Penobscot county.

Action by Agnes White against George H. Oakes and another. Submitted on report. Judgment for defendants.

The folding bed was delivered to the plaintiff under the following writing:

"Leased of Oakes & Chandler the following articles: One folding bed, ash, thirty-eight dollars, which article is to be used by me at No. 7 Washington street, and for which I agree to pay to the said Oakes & Chandler, or order, as follows: On delivery the sum of ten dollars, and every month thereafter the sum of eight dollars, until the said Oakes & Chandler shall receive the full sum named above. It being expressly agreed that the right of property shall remain in said Oakes & Chandler until the same is wholly paid for; and, in case of failure to pay any one of said installments after the same have become due, all of said installments remaining unpaid shall immediately become due and payable; and the said Oakes & Chandler may take, or cause to be taken, the said property, either with or without process of law, from the possession of the said subscriber or other representative to whom he may have delivered the same, without recourse against said Oakes & Chandler or any money paid on account thereof. It being expressly understood that the money so paid on account shall be for the use and wear of said property. The articles leased cannot be sold or removed from the place designated in the lease without the lessors' written consent.

"Selling, conveying, concealing, or aiding in concealing, said property, will subject the subscriber to liability under the provisions of the law.

"Witness my hand, this tenth day of June, 1893, in presence of G. H. Oakes.

"Agnes White."

P. H. Gillin, for plaintiff.

Jasper Hutchings, for defendants.

HASKELL, J. The defendants, being dealers in furniture, and not manufacturers, sold a folding bed to the plaintiff, without express warranty of any kind. The bed proved dangerous to the persons using it, not from defective parts, but from faulty design. It proved to be a trap, suited to crush its occupants by shutting up like a jackknife when slept upon. The weight of its occupants, if sufficient to overcome the gravity of the upright headpiece, would trip that forward, and the bed collapse. This bed did so, injuring a man sleeping in it so that he became partially paralyzed. The defendants had no knowledge of this danger. If, therefore, the plaintiff may recover in this case, it must be from an implied warranty against the dangers of its contrivance.

The mechanism of this bed could be observed by the purchaser as well as by the vendor. Neither, unless skilled in mechanics, would be likely to discover the dangers of it, unaided by any object lesson. The hinge or flexible joint upon which the bed hung was a contrivance of folding iron straps that really brought the point of support much further front at the head than they seemed to, thereby overcoming the gravity of the headpiece, and tending to pitch it forward. The bed, when sufficiently loaded, would bring the center of gravity of the upright headpiece so far outside its base, or so nearly so, that any unusual disturbance might work that result, especially when the casters were turned under.

"In the sale...