Breach of contract. On September 24, 1970, Eastern Foods, Inc. (Eastern) executed a truck rental and service contract with Pepsico Truck Rental, Inc. (Pepsico). The contract provided for cancellation by either party, pursuant to certain specific procedures, and further, that upon cancellation of the contract within the first three years of its inception, Eastern would purchase the vehicles covered by the contract, in accordance with valuation procedures contained therein. Trucks and service were thereafter provided by Pepsico, which, on July 29, 1972, purported to terminate the contract; Eastern refused to purchase the vehicles. Pepsico took possession of the vehicles, as authorized by the contract, sold them to one of three private bidders, and sued Eastern for a deficiency arising out of Eastern’s refusal to purchase the vehicles in accordance with the contract. From an adverse jury verdict, Pepsico appeals. Held:
1. Eastern affirmatively alleged as a defense, inter alia, total failure of consideration. The trial court charged as follows: "Members of the jury, I charge you that in every contract there must be consideration flowing to both parties to the contract. That is to say that each party must derive some benefit from the contract. I charge you that in this case if you find that as part of the consideration for the contract the plaintiff represented and promised to the defendant certain hours of service or other specific benefits, and if you further find that the plaintiff failed to provide the promised benefits to the defendant, then you would be authorized to find that there has been a failure of consideration and would be authorized to find in favor of the defendant Eastern Foods, Inc.” Proper objection to this charge was made by appellant.
Initially, we note that any oral representations allegedly made by appellant as inducements to the contract are "inadmissible to add to, take from, or vary a
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written contract.” Code Ann. § 20-704 (1). See Code Ann. § 38-501;
Cristal v. Harmon,
As to the defense of total failure of consideration, the burden of proof is upon the defendant.
Delay v. Galt,
"It is error for the trial judge to charge the jury as to issues which are made by the pleadings but unsupported by the evidence. [Cits.]”
White v. Hammond,
2. Appellee contends that the lease arrangement was in reality a sale and therefore subject to the provisions of the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC), Code Ann. Ch. 109A-1 et seq. In support of this proposition, appellee relies upon a factually similar case,
Redfern Meats v. Hertz Corp.,
3. In view of our holding in Division 1, appellant’s remaining enumerations of error need not be considered.
Judgment reversed.
