Glaspell v. Northern Pac. R.

43 F. 900, 1890 U.S. App. LEXIS 1782
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of North Dakota
DecidedNovember 3, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 43 F. 900 (Glaspell v. Northern Pac. R.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of North Dakota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Glaspell v. Northern Pac. R., 43 F. 900, 1890 U.S. App. LEXIS 1782 (circtdnd 1890).

Opinion

Thomas, J.,

(after stating the facts as above.') The bill of exceptions states that the court charged the jury as to the measure of damages that if they found for the plaintiff it must be in a sum equal to the difference between the actual value of the lands and the value of the said lands as they would have been had they been as represented at the time of the sale. The defendant excepted to this instruction, and now contends that it is erroneous, and was prejudicial to the defendant. Did the court give to the jury the correct rule for the measurement of damages as applicable to the facts of this case? The action is for the recovery of damages resulting to plaintiff from alleged false and fraudulent representations. The lands were wild and uncultivated, and at the time of the sale there were only a few settlers, if any, in the vicinity where this land was situated. In an action to recover damages which the plaintiff had suffered by reason of the purchase of stock in a corporation which he was induced to purchase on the faith of false and fraudulent representations made to him by the defendant, the supreme court of the United States, in Smith v. Bolles, 132 U. S. 125, 10 Sup. Ct. Rep. 39, held that the measure of damages is the loss which the plaintiff sustained by reason of such representations, such as the amount which he paid out, and interest, and all outlays legitimately attributable to the defendant’s fraudulent conduct, but it does not include the expected fruits of an unrealized speculation. The rule thus enunciated by the supreme courf is binding on this court if applicáble to the facts of this case. Counsel for the plaintiff contends that the rule laid down in Smith v. Bolles, supra, applies only to the purchase of personal property of a speculative character, and that it does not apply to the purchase of land induced by fraud, and refers to Horne v. Walton, 117 Ill. 130, 141, 7 N. E. Rep. 100, 103, which is one of the cases cited by Chief Justice Fuller in Smith v. Bolles, on page 130 of the opinion. In that case the supreme court of Illinois states that “where the sale of land is made by false and fraudulent representations as to its value, quality, or condition, the measure of damages in any action by the purchaser is the difference between the actual value of the land and its’value as represented to be at the time of the sale.” But that question was not involved in the casé, and it was unnecessary to give the rule of damages on the sale of land induced by fraud. It appears in that case that the party procured a loan of $2,000 through fraud and deceit upon representations that the security was good, the security being land, when as a matter of fact it [905]*905was worthless. The court held that the actual loss to the party was the amount he had borrowed, with interest thereon while he was kept out of the possession of it. The court say, on page 135 of the opinion. “We think the true measure of damages in this case was the amount of such loss, to-wit, $2,000, and interest.” In the opinion in Smith v. Bolles is cited also the case of Crater v. Binninger, 33 N. J. Law, 513, and it will be found in that case that the New Jersey court laid down an entirely different rule as to the measure of damages on the sale of lands induced by fraud. Courts have sometimes made a distinction as to the rule of damages in the sale of personal property and real property when effected or induced by fraud and false representations, but the supreme court of the United States, in Smith v. Bolles, seem to have laid down a rule applicable to the measure of damages in the sale of both classes of property coming within the line of facts applicable to that ease. Judge Huleas has applied this rule in the ease of the sale of pine lands, induced by false and fraudulent representations. Atwater v. Whiteman, 41 Fed. Rep. 427. The statute of this stale, (section 1967,) which was in force also in the territory of Dakota at the time of the trial of this action, and for a long time prior thereto, is declaratory of the common-law rule as to the measure of damages as enunciated, explained, and applied in Smith v. Bolles. It reads as follows:

“For a breach of an obligation, not arising from contract, the measure of damages, except where otherwise expressly provided by tin's Code, is the amount which will compensate for all the detriment proximately caused thereby, whether it could have been anticipated or not.”

The latter part of the section “whether it could have been anticipated or not” is new, but as there is no question of remote damages in this ease it is not necessary to attempt to define the meaning of these words. The balance of the section, as I have stated, is declaratory of the common law. Fairbanks v. Williams, 58 Cal. 241, 242; 2 Greenl. Ev. § 256; Walrath v. Redfield, 11 Barb. 368-371. Upon this statute and the cases of Smith v. Bolles and Atwater v. Whiteman, supra, I am of the opinion that the court, upon the trial of this action, should have instructed the jury that if they found for the plaintiff upon the other issues that as to the measure of damages they should find the cash value of the land in the condition it actually was at the time of the sale, and deduct such value from the sum of money invested by the plaintiff in the land, and that difference, with interest added, in the discretion of the jury, would be the proper amount which the plaintiff was entitled to recover. It follows that the instruction given by the court as to the measure of damages was erroneous, lor which error a new trial must be granted, unless it appears that the error was harmless, and worked no injury to the defendant.

It is apparent that the case was tried by both parties upon the theory that the rule for the measure of damages as given by the court was the correct rule, and it must be presumed that the jury followed the instructions of the court, and applied the rule given in making up and return[906]*906ing their verdict. The jury were the judges of the credibility of the witnesses' and of the weight of the evidence. They were instructed in fact that if they found for the plaintiff they should find the actual value of the property at the time of the sale,- and also that they should find what the value would have been if it had been as represented, and the difference would be the correct measure of damages. The evidence tended to show on the part of the plaintiff that the lands were of no value whatever, but that they would have been worth from $5 to $7 per acre if they had been as represented. The'evidenee on the part of the defendant, given by the witness Atkinson, was to the effect that thej^ were of some value, or, in other words, the jury were at liberty to find from his evidence that the lands were of some value. The witness Nichols testified that they were worth about §3 per acre.

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Bluebook (online)
43 F. 900, 1890 U.S. App. LEXIS 1782, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/glaspell-v-northern-pac-r-circtdnd-1890.