Mintzer & Kneisler, Inc. v. Schwarzschild & Sulzberger Co. of America

Citations

• 55 Pa. Super. 534
• 1914 Pa. Super. LEXIS 6

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Sales—Principal and agent — Authority of agent.</p> <p>1. Where a purchaser asks the agent of a dealer for a price on goods to be delivered in the future, and the agent states that he must consult ■ his principal, and subsequently returns with a written proposition from the principal, and the purchaser persuades the agent to change the wording of the written proposition in such a way that the price was reduced, about one-half, and this is done by the agent without consultation with his principal, and without further authority from him, the purchaser cannot recover damages from the seller for failure to deliver the goods at the reduced price.</p> <p>2. Where twenty-five barrels of a particular kind of goods are purchased under a verbal agreement with an agent of the seller and subsequently the agent is persuaded to sign a written agreement, the effect of which was to reduce the price to an amount about one-half of the price which the agent alleged was fixed at the verbal sale, and the agent acts without authority from his principal to execute the written agreement, and thereafter five barrels of the goods are shipped and billed by mistake at the reduced price, but the mistake is corrected at once by the sending of a proper bill, the purchaser cannot hold the seller liable for failure to deliver the remainder of the twenty barrels at the reduced price. In such a case it is for the jury to determine what were the terms of the original verbal agreement under the disputed testimony, and whether the principal ratified the action of the agent in signing the written agreement.</p>