Story Case

Mr. George Oberon, seed distributor, ordered and paid for ten bushels of red-top turnip seed from the Saltzer Seed Company, relying upon samples shown him by the agent of the seed concern. When the seed arrived, it was much inferior to the samples shown, and Mr. Oberon decided to return the shipment, but an inexperienced employee, instead of conveying the seed to the shipping room, mistakenly placed it in the distributing room. It was six months before the mistake was discovered, during which time a portion of the seed had been sold to retailers. Mr. Oberon now desires to return the seed, on the ground that it was not like the sample, and further, that he had not accepted it. The Saltzer Seed Company insists that Mr. Oberon had accepted the consignment, since he had kept it in his building for six months. If suit is brought, whose contention will be supported by the court?

Ruling Court Case. Hobbs Vs. Massasoit Whip Company, Volume 158 Massachusetts Reports, Page 194

The Massasoit Whip Company was engaged in the manufacture of whips at Westfield. Hobbs, on several occasions, had sent eelskins to the company, which were used by it in making whips. On each occasion, the company received the skins and paid Hobbs the customary price. On a subsequent occasion, Hobbs sent to the company, skins. The company made no answer to the shipment for several weeks, and the skins were destroyed in the meantime. Later, the company refused to pay, and Hobbs brought this action for the price.

It was contended by the company that it had never accepted the skins, and until it did, it was under no obligation to pay for them.

Mr. Justice Holmes said: "Hobbs was not a stranger to the company, even if there was no contract between them. He had sent eelskins the same way four or five times before, and they had been accepted and paid for. In such a condition of things, the plaintiff was warranted in sending the defendant company skins conforming to the requirements, and even if the offer was not such that the contract was made as soon as skins corresponding to its terms were sent. Sending them did impose on the defendant a duty to act about them, and silence on its part, coupled with a retention of the skins for an unreasonable time might be found by the jury to warrant the plaintiff in assuming that they were accepted, and thus to amount to an acceptance." The jury so found it, and judgment was given for Hobbs.

Ruling Law. Story Case Answer

If goods are sent to a firm without authority, the fact that they are retained by the latter ordinarily raises no presumption that it has accepted them. If there has been a similar course of dealings between the parties, however, and goods have been accepted before under the same or similar circumstances, retention of goods, subsequently, considered with fore-going circumstances, is strong evidence of acceptance.

Mr. Oberon, of the Story Case, had retained the seeds for so long a period of time that the seller reasonably concluded the shipment had been accepted. The buyer exercised the control of an owner when he retained the seed for six months, even though through a mistake of his clerk, and when he sold a portion of the seed. Mr. Oberon had, therefore, accepted the seed and cannot now return it. This does not mean, however, that he has no case against the seed company for damages, because of the inferior seed.