50 So. 136 | Ala. | 1909
The contestation between the parties to this record arises out of variant interpretations given by them to the contract between them. Unquestionably the object of all exposition of Avritten instruments is to determine the expressed intention of the parties. Appellant owning a locomotive which had been injured in a wreck, and appellee having facilities and being engaged in the business of repairing machines of the kind, entered into an undertaking for the repair and sale of the locomotive on joint account. Appellee’s theory of the contract, advanced in pleas 3 and 4, is that the stipulation for the repair of the engine at a cost of $1,250 intends that said sum- is the maximum expenditure required to be made for that purpose. In this we think the appellee misconceives the meaning of the contract. The unconditional requirement of the contract is that the appellee should put the engine in first-class running order, furnishing all the necessary material, labor, and whatever other incidental items may be necessary to make it a complete and salable machine, for the sum of $1,250, which amount shall be borne share and share
On the interpretation of the contract which we have adopted, all those questions propounded by the appellee to the witness Clark, with the purpose and effect of showing that the locomotive had defects not discoverable by an ordinarily careful inspection, the cost of making it a complete and salable machine, and appellee’s reason for not completing the repairs as provided in the contract, were, in the presence of the conceded fact that the machine had not been made complete and salable,
Reversed and remanded.