Evans v. Hartman

286 S.W. 326, 1923 Tex. App. LEXIS 1178
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided March 10, 1923·No. No. 6550.·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

BLAIR, J.

This suit was instituted by appellees for a rescission of a contract in. ex■change of properties,,because .of a breach of warranty, in that fraudulent representations were made as to the condition and fitness of the property exchanged; and, in the alternative, for the value of the property which ap-pellees traded to appellant, if the property was not forthcoming. Judgment was rendered in favor of the appellees against appellant for the possession of the property described, and, in the event it was not forthcoming, for its value; also for judgment on a replevy bond made by appellant upon the property being sequestered by appellees.

Appellees- alleged that certain material statements were made by appellant, and that they were false, and that appellees were induced to exchange the property in question by reason of said representations, and that they were ignorant of the falsity of said statements, and relied on the same and believed them to be true; that said statements were intended to induce ap>pellees to exchange their property, and they did act upon said statements and exchange their property for the Overland automobile, and that the same was worthless, and they were damaged in the sum of $325, the value of the property so exchanged by them.

Appellant answered by a general demurrer, general exception, and general denial.

. Appellees caused a writ of sequestration to be issued by the clerk and delivered fjo the sheriff for said property, at the time of the institution of the suit, and appellant replev-ied the same by giving a bond, with B. E. Webster and R. W. Sheffield as sureties.

The cause was heard before a jury and submitted to them upon special issues, and judgment entered in compliance with their findings that appellees recover said property from appellant, and requiring him to deliver the same forthwith, and, in the event of his failure to do so, that appellees recover of the appellant and the sureties on his replevy bond judgment for the sum of $325, being the amount found by the jury to be the value of the property which appellees traded and delivered to appellant.

After the trial of said cause, without' any notice to appellees and without their consent or knowledge, the appellant requested the court to make certain findings of fact, which he had prepared in the nature of questions and answers on issues which were not requested by appellant to be submitted to the jury.

On July 22, 1921, appellant and appellees entered into a contract for the exchange of certain properties, appellees trading or exchanging one Kimball piano, one large yellow part Jersey cow, 7 years old, and her heifer calf, one top buggy and harness, one zinc cistern tank, and $12 worth of sweet potatoes for appellant’s Overland automobile. All of said property exchanged by appellees was delivered to appellant, except the. zinc *328 cistern tank, the sweet potatoes, and the hole in the ground for the zinc tank; and appellant delivered to appellees the Overland automobile.

Appellees knew nothing about an automobile. They had known appellant for a number of years. Appellee W. Hartman, who owned the principal part of the property, was 72 years of age, and trusted appellant, and relied upon his statements about the condition of the car; that the representations induced him to make the trade and to deliver the property in question in exchange for the automobile. Appellant represented the car to he in good condition, and that it would give good service, and that he bought the same new about four years previous and had paid therefor the, sum of $1,200; that a day or two after receiving the car, appel-lees brought it back and requested a cancellation of the contract, because the car was not in good conditiomandwasnot serviceable. Appellant urged them to accept the car and agreed to have certain work done on it, for which he would pay. The car remained in the garage some three or four days for repairs, and the parties startled home with it, and it would not run. They again left the car and returned later, and attempted to again drive the car to their home in the country, but were unable to do so, and had to leave it over night. Appellees again asked appellant to fake the car back; that it was not in good condition and unserviceable, which he refused to do. About one week after the trade, appellees pulled the car behind a wagon to appellant’s house, and left it. Appellant refused to take or accept the car from them and return their property. The car, at the time of the trial, was still in the possession of appellant, and had been in his possession and not used since being so left by appellees. Appellant knew the car was in bad condition at the Dime he made the representations He did not purchase the same new and pay $1,200 therefor about four years previous, but two other parties had owned the car and had run the same for several years before he purchased it, and he only gave $650 in notes for the car; that the engine was broken and the starter was broken, and the bolts were worn, and the threads were worn to the extent that the bolts would not hold, and had to be wired in and were constantly coming loose, and that the fly wheel for the starter on the car had several cogs broken — all of which appellant knew at the time he made the representations, and knew the representations to be false, but nevertheless stated that the car was in good condition, and that it would give good^ service, and in the written contract stated: “The car is all right except the batteries.”

Appellant’s principal grounds of this appeal are based upon the alleged insufficiency , of plaintiffs’ pleading to establish a cause of action entitling tlhem to a rescission of the contract and return of the property so exchanged. That portion of plaintiff’s petition relating to rescission because of breach of warranty of contract, induced by fraudulent representations, is short, and we will copy the same in full:

“That heretofore, to wit, on or about July 20, 1921, the defendant, T. N. Evahs, falsely and fraudulently represented to plaintiffs that he was the owner of an Overland automobile in good running condition and that he had bought sgid ear new about four years previous and paid therefor the sum of $1,200 and guaranteed to plaintiffs that said car was in good condition and would give good service. That plaintiffs, relying upon said representations of the defendant, and not knowing the true condition of the car aforesaid, agreed with the defendant to deliver to defendant in exchange for said car the personal property aforesaid, and one zinc cistern and $12 worth of sweet potatoes, and in compliance with said agreement delivered to the defendant all of the personal property described in the first paragraph hereof, and the defendant delivered to plaintiff the car aforesaid. That shortly thereafter the plaintiffs ascertained that said car was not in good condition and would not give good service, and that the defendant had not bought same new four years ago, and that he had not paid the sum of $1,200 therefor, and that said car was worthless for any-purpose, and they thereupon returned said ear to defendant, T. N. Evans, and demanded a cancellation of said contract and that the defendant redeliver to them the personal property aforesaid, but the .defendant unlawfully and wrongfully failed and refused to deliver and return said property to the plaintiffs, to their damage the value of same, to wit, the sum of $325.

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Evans v. Hartman, 286 S.W. 326, 1923 Tex. App. LEXIS 1178 (Tex. Ct. App. 1923).

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