Garst v. Wissler

Citations

• 21 Pa. Super. 532
• 1902 Pa. Super. LEXIS 403

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Sale—Reservation of title — Unreasonable restriction.</p> <p>A manufacturer may control by contract the trade sales of proprietary articles to his direct purchasers, but he cannot retain the title to his property, and impose unreasonable restrictions on its transfer after he has received the price he designates as the full purchase price therefor.</p> <p>In an action of assumpsit, it appeared that plaintiff, a manufacturer of pills, printed upon the boxes containing the pills, the following notice : “ Important Notice. — This box of Phenyo-Caffein is sold to be consumed only, and the title continues in the Phenyo-Caffein Company to prohibit a resale thereof by any purchaser at retail, except that it may be resold for not less than twenty-five cents per box or five boxes for one dollar. The acceptance of this box by any person is assent to this conditioñ of sale, and a direct agreement with the Phenyo-Caffein Company that for each violation the possession of the box may be recovered, and the party selling will pay the said company twenty-one dollars as liquidated damages,-'it being impossible to ascertain the exact damages the said company will suffer by said violation.” The plaintiff required his customers to sign a contract to the effect that in consideration of a per cent deducted from the full retail price, they would not sell for less than the prices named in the notice. The defendant refused to negotiate with the plaintiff, and purchased plaintiff’s pills from another druggist with whom he made no agreement, and from whom he received no notice of the matters contained in the contract. Defendant, however, knew the terms of the contract. Held, that the plaintiff could not recover from the defendant the amount of liquidated damages mentioned in the notice, on the theory that there was an implied contract between them.</p>