Associates Loan Co. v. Walker

The Walkers (defendants) orally agreed with seller Partin to a trial run of a water softener before any purchase obligation would arise, then signed a written sales contract; Partin assigned the contract to Associates (plaintiff) during the trial period, the trial run failed, and Associates sued for payment despite the unsuccessful trial run.

Whether, where the parties to a written sales contract orally agree to a trial run of the product prior to consummation of the sale and the product fails in its trial period, the buyer is obligated to pay a third party to whom the seller assigned the sales contract.