Hill v. Harriman

32 S.W. 202, 95 Tenn. 300
CourtTennessee Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 24, 1895
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 32 S.W. 202 (Hill v. Harriman) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Tennessee Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hill v. Harriman, 32 S.W. 202, 95 Tenn. 300 (Tenn. 1895).

Opinion

Caldavell, J.

The original Hill in this cause was filed for rescission, the amended bill was filed for rescission primarily and for damages in the alternative.

The Chancellor dismissed the original bill on' demurrer, and, upon motion of defendant, struck the amended bill from the files. On appeal, the Court of Chancery Appeals modified and affirmed .the decree of the Chancellor, so as to dismiss both bills without prej udice.

Without attempting to state the very elaborate pleadings at any great length, it is sufficient, for present purposes, to say, briefly, that complainant [302]*302alleged' in his original bill (to which he made oath), that on the sixth day of October, 1891, he sold and conveyed to the defendant a certain dwelling house and three lots of ground, in Harriman, Tennessee, at the agreed price of $8,200, taking in exchange therefor 276 shares of stock in the East Tennessee Land Company, represented by defendant to be of like value; that, long thereafter, he learned that defendant had perpetrated a fraud upon him by representing said stock as full paid and good, when, in truth, it had been fraudulently issued, and was of no value; that, with due diligence, he approached the defendant January 21, 1895, and asked a- cancellation of their trade, at the time tendering to the defendant a certificate of stock in the East Tennessee Land Company for 285 shares, of the par value of $14,250, and demanding therefor the surrender and reconveyance of the aforesaid house and lots; that the 285 shares so tendered were the same in amount, “together with the stock of scrip dividend thereon,” as the shares received by him from the defendant, and were ‘ the same stock ’ ’ so received, ‘ excepting a few shares — not exceeding ten— of the par value of $50 each, which the complainant disposed of before becoming aware of the frauds herein alleged;” that the defendant refused the proposed cancellation, and persisted in holding possession of the house and lots, thereby forcing complainant to resort to a Court of Equity for a rescission upon the ground of fraud, and, with the bill, [303]*303was tendered, in Court, the same shares of stock alleged to have been tendered to the defendant, previously, in private.

In detailing at great length the different transactions in which the defendant became possessed of the 276 shares of stock used by him in the exchange of property, complainant alleges, among other things, that the defendant acquired 250 shares, of the par value of $25,000, in a certain issue of $500,-000, and that he acquired 100 shares of the par value of $5,000 in a certain other issue of $100,000. An examination of these figures, taking them to be true as alleged, shows that the defendant acquired 350 shares, of which 250 were of the par value of $100 each, and 100 of the par value of $50 each, in all $30,000. Of these 350 shares, 276 are alleged to have been transferred to complainant, in exchange for his house and lots. Which of said shares, how many of the one class and how many of the other were so passed, is not stated in any part of the bill, yet, it is entirely manifest that at least 176 of them must have been of the par value of $100 each, representing in all $17,600. To this, add the 100 shares of the par value of $50 each, representing in all $5,000, and a total of $22,600 is produced as the least amount of stock that could have been represented by the whole 276 shares.

By his own showing, the complainant must have received at least that amount of stock from the de-, 'fendant, and yet, he does not pretend in his bill [304]*304to tender, or to be a])le to return . so much, bjr $6,350. Pie offers to return $14,250 of stock, which he alleges. is the same amount he received, excepting a few shares — not exceeding ten — of the par value of $50 each. Notwithstanding that allegation, it is but air easy matter of calculation to ascertain, from figures elsewhere sot out in his bill, that the amount tendered is certainly as much as $6,350 ($22,600 — $14,250) short of what, in fact, ho received. Indeed, it is great indulgence to him to estimate the difference as so small. For aught that appears from the bill, the 276 shares received by the complainant may have included the whole of the 250 shares of the par value of $100 each ($25,-000), and only twenty-six shares of the par value of $50 each ($1,300), in all amounting to $26,300, in which case the difference between the amount received and the amount offered to be returned ($26,-300 — $14,250), would be $12,050.

It results, furthermore, from the figures used in the bill, that not less than 176 of the shares tendered to the defendant must be different from the shares transferred by him to the complainant, because the whole 285 shares tendered are of the par value of $50 each, when not more than 100 of the 276 transferred could have been of that denomination, the others being for $100 each. So, it appears, that complainant, though tendering defendant 285 shares when he received only 276, is, nevertheless, offering to return from $6,350 to $12,050 less in [305]*305amount,, at par value, than he received, and that at least 176 oí the shares tendered are different from those received.

THth this interpretation of the bill, which seems to us unavoidable, we have no hesitation in holding that the complainant makes no case for a rescission. He offers to return, at most, only a little more than two-thirds in value of what he received from, the defendant, and more than half of that tendered is different from that received, when the general rule of rescission requires, as a condition precedent, that the complaining party shall return the same, and all, the property that he received — that he shall place the other party in statu yuo. Adams’ Equity, 191; 21 Am. & Eng. Ene. L., pp. 84-87 inclusive, and citations there made; 2 Warville on Yendors, § 29; Farmers’ Bank v. Graves, 12 How., 51; Gay v. Alter, 102 U. S., 79; Coffee v. Ruffin, 4 Cold., 516.

The result would be the same, if, in ascertaining the amount of stock received and offered to be returned by the complainant, we should look alone to the allegation that the 285 shares tendered to the defendant were the same in amount (with ‘ ‘ scrip dividend” added), and were “the same stock” as the 276 shares received from him, ‘ ‘ excepting a few shares, not exceeding ten, of the par value of $50 each, -which complainant disposed of before becoming aware of the frauds ’ ’ alleged. Looking to that allegation alone for the amount of stock received and tendered back, rescission would be refused, because [306]*306the “few shares,” admitted to have been disposed of could not bo restored. The general rule, requiring that defendant be placed in ntatu quo, would apply if only ‘‘ a few shares, not exceeding ten, ’ ’ were wanting.

Some of the authorities, in one form and another, make an exception to the general rule, and say, in substance and effect, that rescission for fraud may be allowed in a given case, upon condition that the defrauded party, who, in good faith and before discovery of the fraud, disposed of a part of the property received by him in the transaction, shall pay full compensation for the part disposed of, and restore the balance in specie. Kerr on F. & M. (Bump’s Ed.), 336; Maturin v. Fredinnick, 10 Law Times, N. S., 331 (S. C., 13 Morrison’s Mining Reports, 15); Henninger v. Heald, 29 At. R., 191; Warville on Vendors, Sec. 30.

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Bluebook (online)
32 S.W. 202, 95 Tenn. 300, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-harriman-tenn-1895.