Nester v. Michigan Land & Iron Co. case brief

Nester v. Michigan Land & Iron Co. case brief summary
37 N.W. 278 (1888)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Defendant seller sought review of a decree from the Wayne County Circuit Court (Michigan), which was entered in favor of complainant buyer and enjoined the seller from prosecuting its replevin action against the buyer and compelled the seller to accept less than one-half of the amount the buyer had agreed to pay for the purchase of all of the seller's merchantable pine.

CASE FACTS
The parties entered into a contract for the sale of all of the seller's merchantable pine. The buyer made one payment and then cut and carried away all of the pine, and the seller brought a replevin action against the buyer. The buyer filed a bill in equity seeking to enjoin the seller from prosecuting its replevin action and to compel the seller to accept one half of the amount the buyer agreed to pay for the pine, claiming that both parties overestimated the quality and the quantity of the pine. The circuit court entered a decree in favor of the buyer, and the seller appealed.

DISCUSSION

• The court reversed, holding that as the seller's agent told the buyer that the seller would not sell the pine at the estimates which it made of the pine for its own purposes and that the buyer had to purchase upon his own estimate, the circuit court's holding constituted the making of a new contract rather than the enforcement of the one made by the parties. 
• The court found that the buyer knew any estimate was uncertain, that the seller made no representation as to the quantity or quality of the pine which it intended the buyer to rely upon, and that the buyer made the purchase upon his own estimate.

CONCLUSION
The court reversed the circuit court's decree, which was entered in favor of the buyer, and dismissed, with costs of both courts, the buyer's bill in equity seeking to enjoin the seller from prosecuting its replevin action against the buyer and to compel the seller to accept less than one-half of the amount the buyer agreed to pay for the purchase of the seller's merchantable pine.

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