Continental Waste Co. v. Henderson Bros.

17 S.E.2d 519, 220 N.C. 438, 1941 N.C. LEXIS 560

• Court: Supreme Court of North Carolina
• Decided: November 26, 1941
• Status: Published

Opinion

Stacy, C. J.

What quantum of proof is required to reform a written instrument on the ground of the mutual mistake of the parties? The law answers “clear, strong and convincing.” Johnson v. Johnson, 172 N. C., 530, 90 S. E., 516.

It is true that ordinarily in civil matters the burden of proof is carried by a preponderance of the evidence, or by its greater weight, albeit in a number of cases, as where, for example, it is proposed to correct a mistake in a deed or other writing, to restore a lost deed, to convert a deed absolute on its face into a mortgage, to engraft a parol trust upon a legal estate, to impeach the probate of a married woman’s deed, to establish a special or local custom, and generally to obtain relief against the apparent force and effect of a written instrument upon the ground of mutual mistake, or other similar cause, the evidence must be clear, strong and convincing. Ins. Co. v. Morehead, 209 N. C., 174, 183 S. E., 606; Lloyd v. Speight, 195 N. C., 179, 141 S. E., 574; Speas v. Bank, 188 N. C., 524, 125 S. E., 398; Montgomery v. Lewis, 187 N. C., 577, 122 S. E., 374; Sills v. Ford, 171 N. C., 733, 88 S. E., 636; Lamb v. Perry, 169 N. C., 436, 86 S. E., 179; Glenn v. Glenn, 169 N. C., 729, 86 S. E., 622; Penland v. Ingle, 138 N. C., 456, 50 S. E., 850; Williams v. Building and Loan Asso., 207 N. C., 362, 177 S. E., 176.

The defense set up in the instant case falls in this special class, and the burden is on the defendants to establish it by evidence clear, strong and convincing. Williams v. Ins. Co., 209 N. C., 765, 185 S. E., 21. There was error, therefore, in the instruction to the jury that the burden of the defense would be met by the greater weight of the evidence, for which a new trial must be awarded. Hubbard & Co. v. Horne, 203 N. C., 205, 165 S. E., 347.

New trial.