Ogden v. Beatty

Citations

• 137 Pa. 197
• 20 A. 620
• 1890 Pa. LEXIS 969

Syllabus

<p>1. When goods sold with a warranty .of quality* are retained by the purchaser, the measure of damages for a breach of the warranty is the difference between the market value of the goods contracted for and that of the goods delivered, and in an action for the price the purchaser may interpose this difference as a defence pro tanto.</p> <p>2. An affidavit of defence, setting up a breach of the warranty, in such a case, should contain a clear and concise statement of the facts constituting a basis for an assessment of damages under the legal rule by which they are measured; and if it does not set forth all the elements of a defence with reasonable certainty, it is insufficient.</p> <p>(а) In an action upon a book account for yam sold, and also upon four promissory notes, the affidavit of defence averred that the notes were given for yam purchased; that said yam, and also the yam covered by the book account, were bought by sample, the defendant exhibiting a sample to the plaintiffs at the time of the purchase.</p> <p>(б) That the yarn delivered was inferior in grade and quality to the sample, and by reason thereof the defendant lost, through claims made on him by his customers and their cancellation of contracts with him, in consequence of the poor quality of cloth manufactured from said yarn, many thousands of dollars in excess of the amount sued for:</p> <p>3. The affidavit was deficient in not stating specific facts on which to rest the legal conclusions invoked; and, as it stated nothing which would render the alleged claims of the defendant’s customers, or their cancellation of contracts with him, proper items of damage, and its inferences and conclusions were unauthorized by its facts, it was insufficient to prevent judgment.</p>