136 Iowa 279 | Iowa | 1907
In April, 1902, the defendants, a co-partnership, sold and delivered to the six plaintiffs named herein and to four of their neighbors, for the sum of $3,000, a stallion, known in the record as “ Gambetta V.” In their original petition, the plaintiffs alleged that the sale was made by a written contract, a copy of which was attached to the petition, marked Exhibit A, and made a part thereof. The following is a substantial copy of the same so far as material to the questions involved herein: “ Guarantee.— If the above named stallion • does not get sixty per cent, of the producing mares with foal, with proper care and handling, we agree to replace him with another stallion of the same price, upon delivery to us at any one of our established offices where any one of us reside if the said stallion is in as sound and as good condition as he is at present. This is the only contract or guarantee given by us, and it is not to be changed or varied by any promises or representations of the agent. [Signed] McLaughlin Bros.”
It will be noticed that this written contract provided that, if the stallion did not prove of certain breeding capacity, the defendants agreed to replace him with another stallion of the same price, upon delivery to them of Gam-betta V. in as sound and as good condition as he was at the time of sale. Shortly after the delivery of Gambetta V. to the plaintiffs, they became dissatisfied with him, and exchanged him with defendants for a stallion called “ Chan
The trial court was clearly in error in directing a verdict for the defendants. There was much testimony on the part of the plaintiffs tending to show that all of these horses were sold and delivered to the plaintiffs upon an express oral warranty that they possessed a certain standard of breeding quality, and that, if they failed in this respect, a change could be made at the option of the plaintiffs. While the plaintiffs admit in their pleadings that the written exhibits were delivered to them at the time of the delivery of the horses, there was still testimony in the record tending to show that these writings, with the exception of Exhibit A, had never been assented to by the plaintiffs, or any of them, and that they were not therefore contracts between the parties. It requires no citation of authority to sustain the proposition that, if oral warranties were in fact made at the time of the sale and the delivery of the horses to the plaintiffs, and no writing was then ’ executed and accepted by them, evidence of the oral warranty is competent, and does not tend to enlarge or vary the terms of the writing. The rule that oral testimony is not admissible for the purpose of enlarging or varying the terms of a written contract can only be applied where there is in fact a written contract, and it is elemental that to constitute a contract, either written or oral, there must be a meeting of the minds of the contracting parties. In this case, as we have seen, there was, perhaps, a slight conflict in the evidence as to whether these writings were accepted by the plaintiffs as containing the
Other questions are discussed in tbe appellant’s brief, but we do not find it necessary to consider them, because of our conclusions on tbe questions which have already been discussed. There was manifest error in directing a verdict for tbe defendants, and in rendering a judgment thereon, and tbe case must be reversed.— Reversed.