Hoxie v. Iiams

42 N.W. 711, 26 Neb. 616, 1889 Neb. LEXIS 160
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 31, 1889
StatusPublished

This text of 42 N.W. 711 (Hoxie v. Iiams) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Nebraska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoxie v. Iiams, 42 N.W. 711, 26 Neb. 616, 1889 Neb. LEXIS 160 (Neb. 1889).

Opinion

Cobb, J.

This was an action brought in the district court of Lancaster county by the defendant in error against the plaintiff in error on a written contract set out in the petition. The plaintiff in said action alleges in his petition that on July 6,1885, he entered into a contract with the defendant therein for an exchange of certain property, by the terms of which [618]*618the said plaintiff, for the consideration thereinafter expressed, agreed to convey to the said defendant certain real estate in the city of Lincoln, and in consideration therefor defendant on his part contracted to convey to the plaintiff twd certain school-land certificates for the east half of section thirty-six, in township fourteen, of range seventeen, in Custer county, and his interest therein; that pursuant to the terms of said contract, and in consummation thereof, plaintiff- did convey, by request of defendant, by good and sufficient deed, to one Mary M. Hoxie, the real estate mentioned in said agreement, and defendant on his part assigned to plaintiff the said leases and his interest in the said east half of section thirty-six, in township fourteen, range seventeen; that the said defendant, to induce plaintiff to make the said sale and exchange and to accept the said leases to said land in trade for his property, in Lincoln, falsely and knowingly represented to plaintiff that two-thirds of said land was good, fair, tillable land, he, the said defendant, well knowing that said land was not as he represented; and on the date of said trade and exchange defendant executed and delivered to plaintiff a written guaranty in words and figures following ;•

“Lincoln, Neb., July 6, 1885.
“ This is to guarantee to Richard Iiams that two-thirds of east half of section 36, town 4, range 17 west, is good, fair, tillable land; and should it not so prove, I agree to take it off his hands at six hundred dollars.”

And relying upon said representations, and said guaranty, plaintiff made the said trade. He further alleges that the said land is not as defendant falsely represented and warranted it to be; that two-thirds of the same is not fair, tillable land, as defendant well knew, but instead, the whole of said land is rough and broken, and is not tillable land, to plaintiff’s damage in the sum of six hundred dollars ; that immediately on learning that the said land was [619]*619not as represented, plaintiff tendered to defendant a reassignment to him of the said leases, and demanded in return the payment óf the sum of six hundred dollars, and defendant then promised to pay plaintiff the said sum, yet defendant has since refused to take the said land and refused and still refuses to pay the said sum of six hundred dollars, and plaintiff is now ready to reassign to, defendant the said leases on payment to him of the said sum; and that since the said trade and exchange, plaintiff has paid interest on the said land, as provided by the leases, in the sum of $22.50, etc.

The defendant for answer denied each and every allegation in the said petition contained.

There was a trial to a jury, with a verdict and judgment for the plaintiff. The defendant brings the cause to this court on error.

I do not understand this to be an action for specific performance of a contract to purchase and pay for land. It certainly was not so understood by either of the parties, nor by the court in which it was tried. Neither do I understand it to be an ordinary action for the recision of a contract; but rather an. action for the breach of a contract. Recision contemplates the placing of both parties to the contract in statu quo. Neither the petition nor the contract sued on in the case at bar contemplates this.

The contract is very short, and it seems to me easy to be understood, especially so in the light of the undisputed parol evidence. In a trade between the parties, the defendant for a consideration sufficient in law, but which need not be further described, assigned to the plaintiff certain leases of school lands. The plaintiff being unacquainted with the character of the land covered by the leases, and the same being situated in a distant part of the state, was unwilling to accept of the said leases in the progressing trade without a personal guaranty that the land was, two-thirds of it, good, fair, tillable land, and that if he took the [620]*620leases in the trade, and the land did not prove to be of that character, the defendant would take it back, or off his hands, and pay him six hundred dollars, which sum seems to have been mutually considered the value of the land, if it proved not to be as represented by the defendant. To meet this requirement of the plaintiff, the written instrument sued on was executed and delivered to him by the defendant.

Now let us examine this instrument as set out in the petition, it being the same as that introduced in evidence on the trial. It makes no reference to the leases, but its terms are confined to the land itself. It makes no guaranty that the plaintiff will be satisfied with the land, nor that he shall find it to be of the character named; but it guarantees the fact that the land is of such a quality, and should it not so prove, that the defendant will take it off of the plaintiff’s hands at such a sum. No limitation is placed upon this obligation as to the time when the defendant will discharge the obligation to take the land off of the plaintiff’s hands, should it not prove as guaranteed.

There was parol evidence upon the trial both on the part of the plaintiff and on that of the defendant, a§ to some understanding or agreement as to the plaintiff’s going upon or examining the land. It was received without objection, hence no question of its admissibility arises here. Plaintiff in error, in the brief, contends that the question arising upon this evidence whether there was a parol agreement between the parties that the plaintiff should go upon the land, inspect it, and decide whether it proved to be of the quality as represented or not, and the further question whether the plaintiff did make such examination and decide within a reasonable time, was a question or were questions of law, which the court erred in submitting as questions of fact to the jury.

In the case of Gilbert v. Moody, 17 Wend. 354, cited by counsel for plaintiff in error, it was held that “Where [621]*621there is no dispute as to the facts, it is for the court and not the jury to say what shall be deemed a reasonable time ” in which for a purchaser of chattels at a public vendue to remove them without being chargeable for storage. Also in the case of Pratt v. Farrar, 10 Allen, 519, cited by counsel, it was held that, there being no dispute as to the facts, it was a question for the court whether forty-eight hours was a reasonable time to allow for a tenant at sufferance to remove from the lower story of a house after notice. These cases and others of like holding turn upon the point that there is no dispute as to facts. In the case at bar there is a sharp conflict of evidence, and a dispute as to the facts; therefore, in so far as the question arose upon the parol evidence, it was a question for the jury. Had the question arisen upon the written instrument, it would have been one for the court to decide; but so far as the face of the instrument is concerned, no question of reasonable time is presented. Upon the whole, I think that the following instruction given by the court on its own motion is correct, and sufficient on that subject:

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Related

Gilbert v. Moody
17 Wend. 354 (New York Supreme Court, 1837)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
42 N.W. 711, 26 Neb. 616, 1889 Neb. LEXIS 160, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoxie-v-iiams-neb-1889.