Whitehill v. Schwartz

Citations

• 27 Pa. Super. 526
• 1905 Pa. Super. LEXIS 96

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Variance for written contract — Subsequent parol agreement— Consideration.</p> <p>A party to whom money is owing under a written contract, may enter into a parol agreement, founded upon a sufficient consideration, modifying the terms of payment. If there is between the parties a dispute in good faith as to the representations which have been made with regard to the contents of the written agreement at the time of its execution, the settlement of that dispute and the affirmance of the other provisions of the contract, is a sufficient consideration to support the parol modification. The parol modification will draw to its nature the written stipulation of the old contract, and determine the character of the action which might have been brought upon the contract at common law. While an action could not have been brought as upon a contract under seal, the written contract is not to be treated as wholly abandoned, unless the parol contract so stipulates, and it is still to be used to mark the terms and extent of the new stipulations. When a parol agreement relates merely to one of several covenants of the written contract, both must be considered in determining the rights of the parties.</p> <p>Where a contract of bailment of personal property is modified so as to effect only the time for payment of installments of rental, a failure to pay the installments under the modified agreement involves all the consequences stipulated for in the written agreement.</p> <p>Replevin — Damages—Action prior toActof April 19, 1901, P. L. 88.</p> <p>Where an action of replevin is brought prior to the Act of April 19, 1901, P. L. 88, the verdict should be, not for damages for the value of the goods, but a general finding for defendant, and damages for the detention, on which the proper judgment is pro retorno habendo, and for the damages. Where the verdict and judgment is for damages generally, the appellate court has no way of ascertaining how much is for the value of the g