Cahn v. Reid

18 Mo. App. 115, 1885 Mo. App. LEXIS 311
Missouri Court of Appeals·Decided May 25, 1885·Published·Cited by 54 cases

Opinion

Opinion by

Ellison, J.

This is an action of replevin to recover possession of a stock of hair goods, consisting of switches, puffs, curls, frizzes, fronts, bangs, etc., given to defendant in exchange for eighty acres of land in Allen county, Kansas. The plaintiff bases his suit on the fraud of defendant in misrepresenting the description and value of the land; the sole issue being one of fraud. The action was dismissed as to defendant, Reid. It has doubtless been a troublesome case, as, beginning in 1878, there have been five trials, before three nisi prius judges, the plaintiff, as he states, having had two verdicts, hung two juries, and lost at the fifth and last trial. There was. evidence tending to show that plaintiff was a stranger in Kansas City, and had never seen the real estate traded him; and that he relied wholly on the representations of defendants as to the character and value of the land. That defendants had an attorney present during the negotiations, or, at least, a part of it; and that he arose several times to go [121] out and get an attorney to come and advise Mm as to the correctness of everything, but defendants and the attorney persuaded him not to, saying it was not worth while and would be a useless expense on his part, as everything was all right. That defendant represented that the land was worth from one to two thousand dollars, cash; that it was well watered and timbered, and was under fence. That the title was perfect and was free from any encumbrances. That plaintiff relied wholly on these statements.

The evidence on the part of the defendant was a denial of any representations, or any effort to prevent plaintiff going to advise with an attorney, but on the other hand defendant referred him to parties acquainted with the land. That plaintiff counseled with these parties, and upon information and representations had of them, made the trade. Plaintiff appeals to this court, assigning as errors the following, to-wit:

I. The court erred in refusing the instruction numbered one, asked by the plaintiff, which is as follows:

" 1. The court instructs the jury that even though the jury find from the evidence that the plaintiff made inquiries concerning the land of other parties before he received the deed for it, yet if they (he) believe that the defendants knowingly made false representations as to the value of the land, which were relied upon by the plaintiff and were one of the inducing causes of the purchase, then your finding must be for the plaintiff.”

II. The court erred in giving instruction numbered one on the part of the defendants, as follows :

" 1. If the jury believe from the evidence that plaintiff, before trading for the Allen county, Kansas, land with Bungardt, inquired of a real estate dealer, other than defendants, acquainted with the character and value of said land, respecting the same, and afterwards traded the goods sued for to said Bungardt upon the knowledge of said land, gained by such inquiry, and not upon the representation of defendants, they must- find for defendant, Bungardt. In such case it is wholly immaterial what representations were made respecting the value and [122] character, of said land to plaintiff by Bnngardt or Reid, or whether said representations were true or false.”

There was no evidence contradicting or impeaching defendant’s representations as to there being fences, timber, and water on the land, which leaves this case standing squarely on the representations of value of the land.

The defendant contends that the judgment should be affirmed because plaintiff has no standing in court; for that, first, replevin will not lie; second, conceding the action proper, there must have been a rescission by plaintiff and a tender back of a deed for the land before the institution of the suit; third, conceding this to be done, proof of representation as to value will not support an action grounded on fraudfourth, that plaintiff ’ s refused instruction was not the law, nor any part of the law of the case.

The plaintiff takes the opposite ground on each of these propositions, and claims that the judgment should be reversed on account of the refusal of his. instruction numbered one, wherein the law is declared .to be, that if defendant’s fraudulent representations was one of the inducements to the trade, plaintiff should prevail in the verdict.

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Cahn v. Reid, 18 Mo. App. 115, 1885 Mo. App. LEXIS 311 (Mo. Ct. App. 1885).

18 Mo. App. 115 (Cahn v. Reid) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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