71 So. 666 | Ala. | 1916
The suit was by plaintiff, appellee here, for the recovery of the purchase price of a bale of cotton sold to him by defendant. The gravamen of count 3 was that said bale of cotton was “water-packed,” that this fact was unknown to plaintiff buyer at the time of the purchase, and that on account of such condition plaintiff suffered the damages. The cause was tried by the court without the intervention of a jury. The special finding of fact was “that .the bale of cotton in controversy was water-packed,” and judgment was entered for plaintiff.
The law does not presume fraud, and, when a charge of fraud is made as a fact, and it is denied, it must be established by the evidence before relief can be had. If the facts and circumstances from which the alleged fraud is supposed to arise may be reasonably consistent with honest, intentions, fraud will not be imputed.—Thames v. Rembert, 63 Ala. 561; Harrell v. Mitchell, 61 Ala. 270, 281; Allen v. Riddle, 141 Ala. 621, 37 South. 680; Morris & Co. v. Barton & Allen, 180 Ala. 98, 60 South. 172; Henderson v. Gilliland, 187 Ala. 268, 65 South. 793.
A “water-packed” bale of cotton is one to the lint of which water was added in such manner that the weight was increased, or in which water-damaged cotton was placed, or the sampling sides of which were plated with lint cotton not so wet or water-damaged. In other words, if water was added to the lint cotton before or at the time it was pressed into a bale, or wet or water-damaged cotton was concealed therein, such a bale ,is water-packed. If, however, the seed cotton entering into the bale was
We have carefully followed the evidence on which the special finding of the trial court was rendered. With frankness of statement the plaintiff, the ginner of the bale of cotton in question, and the defendant, have detailed the facts. There is little if any, conflict in the testimony. The cotton was ginned at Moulton, placed on defendant’s wagon, and immediately sold to plaintiff, who was an experienced buyer. Plaintiff states that he bought the cotton on his own judgment, from the samples that he took from the bale; that he knew it was bad when he bought it; that the defendant did not bring him a sample, and made no representations concerning the cotton; and that after its purchase he allowed it to lie on the platform, without shelter, for 35 or 40 days, when he sold it to Mr. Jones, who “some time after” resold it to a factor in Decatur, who “later” discovered its damaged condition. The record does not disclose the length of time that elapsed from its purchase by plaintiff to the discovery of its condition at the compress in Decatur.
The seed cotton was “bad and damp” when offered to Mr. Prince to be ginned. The defendant then carried it, to Moulton, where it was ginned by Mr. Long, who testified that the cotton was ginned from defendant’s wagon, and just as other cotton was ginned; that it was conveyed by suction pipes to the gin, and that the lint was conveyed by machinery to the press; that it was not handled other than by machinery in this process; that the bale could not have been “water-packed” without stopping the gin and subjecting it to water while the machinery was standing ; that he did not water-pack the bale of cotton; and that defendant “did not handle or have anything to do with the bale of cotton from the time it left the wagon until it was rolled out from the press, when he put it on the wagon and drove away.”
The counts for deceit were unsupported by the evidence, and judgment thereon must be for the defendant.—Scott v. Holland, 132 Ala. 389, 31 South. 514.
After a careful consideration of the evidence we are of opinion that the great weight of the evidence shows there was no deceit or breach of warranty or bad faith on the part of the seller towards purchaser, and that the bale of cotton was not, in
The court committed error in finding from the evidence that the bale was water-packed, and in rendering judgment for the plaintiff.
Judgment is here rendered for the defendant, and the appellee is taxed with the costs in this court and in the lower court.
Reversed and rendered.