Court Opinion

ID: 9829572
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-01 19:26:30.780383+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T07:43:03.074692
License: Public Domain

On Motion for Rehearing.
After carefully re-examining the record herein in response to the motion of plaintiff in error for rehearing, we conclude that we formerly overlooked one element of damage plaintiff in error intended to declare upon as a result of the alleged failure of defendant in error 'to furnish him six cows; that is, the value of his work and services on the place for the four months he was down there. The cause was determined here on the idea that he only alleged two elements of damage: What he would have made out of the milk, and the rental value of the wagon and mules for the balance remaining of the contract year after he left the farm. As no case was made on either of these counts, the appeal was decided adversely to him.
Now, however, giving his much involved petition the benefit of every reasonable intendment, we think it also charged liability to him for the; reasonable value of *529his time and labor for the four months’ period, and that the evidence likewise raised an issue touching that matter. This being one of the aveirred consequences of the claimed failure to furnish the cows, and, as we originally concluded, the evidence being sufficient to further raise a question for the jury as to whether a contract to furnish' them was made, it follows that the trial court’s action in giving the peremptory instruction against plaintiff in error .deprived him of his right to have the jury pass upon this feature of the case.
In these circumstances, if Boss first breached the contract between them by a refusal to provide the cows he had agreed to, Burton’s leaving would then not have amounted to an abandonment, as the right would thereby have accrued to him to quit the place and sue upon quantum meruit for the time and labor he had expended while there.
The motion will be granted, our former judgment of affirmance will be set aside, the trial court’s judgment will be reversed, and the cause remanded for another trial.
Motion for rehearing granted.