Batcheller v. Hulme

Citations

• 76 Wash. 97
• 135 P. 802
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 1792

Syllabus

<p>Contracts — Performance or Breach — Evidence — Sufficiency. An agreement by a practical manufacturer of machinery to build a motor and pump to demonstrate the feasibility of a scheme, the success of which was problematical, in consideration of a half interest in the profits and of a conveyance of land as security for the expenses incurred, the land to become his absolutely in case the machine was a failure, is not performed upon his part and the evidence is sufficient to support findings that it was not shown to be a failure so as to entitle him to the land, where the machine when set up 'did not work to the satisfaction of either party, and there was evidence that the gears were out of alignment and did not mesh properly, and were cast when good construction called for cut gears, that there was a fault in the sleeve shaft of the pump, and that the machine pounded and stopped frequently and was so noisy that it could be heard half a mile away; notwithstanding he might have been justified, under the contract, in his refusal to salve and repair it after it had been torn from its moorings by a passing steamer; since he was bound to construct a machine free from mechanical and structural defects.</p> <p>Same. In such a case, the manufacturer cannot shield himself by a reference to the plans and specifications for the machine, since the defects shown depended upon the skill of the workman rather than written plans, and the plans, if defective, would have been rejected.</p>