Cincinnati, Union & Fort Wayne Railroad v. Pearce

28 Ind. 502
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1867
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 28 Ind. 502 (Cincinnati, Union & Fort Wayne Railroad v. Pearce) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Cincinnati, Union & Fort Wayne Railroad v. Pearce, 28 Ind. 502 (Ind. 1867).

Opinions

Gregory, J.

— Suit by the appellant against the appellee for a breach of covenant of warranty. The deed contained a stipulation that the conveyance was a conditional sale; that the grantor should have four years to rc-purchaso the land, by the re-payment of the purchase money, and in the meantime should retain the possession of the granted premises, without rent, paying the taxes and keeping the premises in good condition, &c.

The breach complained of is that the grantee failed to have the deed recorded, and that the grantor conveyed the premises to another; that by the laws of Ohio, where the lands are situated, the latter holds the premises, and that he has taken possession thereof, and evicted the appellant therefrom.

The appellee answered in six paragraphs. The first avers that the deed was executed in connection with a subscription by the defendant of §3,100 to the capital stock of said company; that at the time of the subscription and the execution of the deed, it was agreed between the plaintiff and defendant (which agreement on the part of the plaintiff was part of the consideration moving from the plaintiff to the defendant for the execution of the deed), that the company should not expend any portion of her capital stock in the construction of the railroad proposed to be built by the company, or commence work on the road, until enough stock should be subscribed to build the road ready for the cars, and that if the company should fail within a reasonable [504]*504time to procure enough, stock for that purpose, the defendant should be permitted to retract his subscription, and should receive a re-conveyance of the premises; that the plaintiff' violated the agreement in this, to-wit: that without having procured near stock enough to complete the road, the plaintiff proceeded to expend large amounts of work and money thereon without being able to finish the same, whereby the road was loft unfinished, and the capital stock of the company was lost and wasted; that if the company had procured stock enough to complete the road before proceeding to work thereon, the road might have been finished, or, not having stock enough to finish the road, had forborne commencing work thereon, in either case, the stock which the defendant was to receive would have been worth a large sum of money, to-wit, $3,000. Wherefore the defendant, by the wrongful acts of the plaintiff, is damaged, &c., which he offers to recoup.

The second alleges that the defendant sold the premises as stated in the complaint, but did so by the special leave, license and permission of the plaintiff.

The third avers that the defendant sold the premises as charged, but did so by the special leave and license of the plaintiff, obtained by the defendant from Samuel S. Mickle, then and there one of the managing board of directors of the company, and the same person who had acted as agent for the company in procuring the conveyance from the' defendant.

The fourth sets up that the defendant executed the conveyance in connection with a subscription by him of $3,100 to the capital stock of the company; that at the time of the execution of the conveyance, and in consideration thereof, the plaintiff' promised to issue and deliver to the defendant at the clerk’s office in Decatur, Adams county, Indiana, certificates of stock in the company to the amount of $3,100; that the plaintiff' utterly failed to issue and deliver the stock at said clerk’s office, or elsewhere; that the defendant often demanded the certificates there, and of the officers of the [505]*505company elsewhere, but has never received them; that at the time and for four years after the execution of the conveyance, and when the certificates were to have been issued and delivered as aforesaid, the stock of the company was valuable and worth its face; that the defendant’s stock could have been disposed of by him, if he had had proper certificates therefor, for a large sum, to-wit, $3,100, but that the stock was of no value to the defendant, and could not be disposed of by him, because of the failure and refusal of the plaintiff to issue to the defendant certificates therefor, agreeably to the contract; and that the stock of the company is now entirely worthless. Wherefore the defendant is damaged by the failure of the plaintiff to perform its contract in the sum of $4,000, which he offers to recoup.

The fifth avers that the plaintiff" never paid the defendant anything whatever for the lands mentioned in the complaint.

The sixth alleges that the plaintiff never paid him anything for the lands, and that at the time when the plaintiff was by the terms of the deed entitled to the possession of the premises, the same were worth as much as the plaintiff" had had to pay the defendant for them.

The appellant demurred separately to each paragraph of the answer. The court overruled the demurrers to the first, second and fourth, and sustained the demurrers to the third, fifth and sixth.

The defendant amended the fifth paragraph by pleading the same matter in defense of the plaintiff's demand, except nominal damages. A demurrer to this amended paragraph was overruled. Issues were then formed on the first, second and fourth, and the amended fifth paragraphs, by the general denial. Trial by jury; verdict for the defendant; motion for a new trial overruled, and judgment.

The evidence is in the record. On the trial, at the proper time, the plaintiff offered to prove that the certificate of stock for the $3,100 was issued by the company, signed by its president and countersigned by its secretary, of the date [506]*506of the deed, upon which was indorsed, of that date, a certificate of full payment. The court excluded the evidence and the appellant excepted. This is one of the reasons assigned for a new trial in the motion therefor.

The ei’rors relied on by the appellant are the overruling of the demurrers to the first, second, fourth and the amended fifth pai’agraphs of the answer, and the overruling of the motion for a new trial for error of law occurring at the trial.

It is claimed by the appellee that the oral agreement set up in the first paragraph of the answer does not contradict or vary the terms of the subscription of stock, or of the deed. "When a contract is reduced to writing, the legal presumptioir is that the entire contract as finally settled is embraced therein, and all oral negotiations or stipulations between the parties which preceded or accompanied the execution thereof are to be regarded as merged in it, and it is to be treated as the exclusive medium of ascertaining the contract by which the parties bound themselves. Oiler et al. v. Gard et al., 23 Ind. 212.

The written subscription to the capital stock of the company by the defendant, and the deed of the latter to the former, must speak in fixing the rights and liabilities of the parties in this case. They constitute the entire contract between the parties in legal contemplation. By the subscription, the defendant became a stockholder in the company, with the right to participate in the election of its directory. The legal effect of his contract of subscription threw around him all the protection to which he is entitled. That the subscription and deed were signed by the appellee, and not by the appellant, can have no bearing on this question. The acceptance of the writings bound the company to the same extent as though they had been signed by it. In Rawson’s Adm’x v. Copland, 2 Sanford’s Ch.

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Bluebook (online)
28 Ind. 502, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/cincinnati-union-fort-wayne-railroad-v-pearce-ind-1867.