Koehler v. Dennison

143 P. 649, 72 Or. 362, 1914 Ore. LEXIS 42
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 28, 1914
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 143 P. 649 (Koehler v. Dennison) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Koehler v. Dennison, 143 P. 649, 72 Or. 362, 1914 Ore. LEXIS 42 (Or. 1914).

Opinions

Mr. Justice Moore

delivered the opinion of the court.

It is contended that errors were committed in denying the motion and in overruling the demurrer. The averments of the complaint as hereinbefore given are [366]*366not arranged in the same order as. originally set forth, but it is believed that the allegations of the pleading thus assailed are substantially stated, and that the facts narrated -are not so vague or uncertain that the meaning thereof could not have been readily comprehended, or that any parts of the complaint should have been stricken out.

1. For a redress of his grievance the plaintiff had a concurrent remedy at law and in equity. In an action at law for affirmative relief he might have treated the transaction as rescinded and recovered back the consideration paid for the property. By this means he would still have held the written evidence of a transfer of the title to the goods, to cancel which bill of sale, though not under seal, the remedy at law was not so adequate and complete as that which equity affords: Benson v. Keller, 37 Or. 120 (60 Pac. 918); Olston v. Oregon Water Power & Ry. Co., 52 Or. 343 (96 Pac. 1095, 97 Pac. 538, 20 L. R. A. (N. S.) 915). What is here said is not intended to contravene the rule which permits a party who seeks defensive relief at law to set up in his answer the plaintiff’s fraud, and thereby defeat an action brought to enforce the alleged fraudulent obligation: Mael v. Stutsman, 60 Or. 66 (117 Pac. 1093). No error was committed in overruling the demurrer.

Considering the case on its merits, the testimony shows that at the time of the trial the plaintiff was 73 years old. He was not a barber. He had been engaged in raising fruit, but, having lost a leg, he was obliged to seek other employment, which he found in conducting at Portland a confectionery store. Having sold that business, he tried to find a new location where he could pursue the same occupation. While seeking another place he on February 15,1913, met the defend[367]*367ant Hull, a barber, wbo said he was engaged in securing for others business locations, and could find a place for him, if he would wait, thereupon taking him into a barber-shop conducted by Dennison, where the latter told him he intended to quit the business in order that he might deal in horses. The plaintiff testified that Dennison then said to him:

“If you buy this shop you can make from $5 to $10 a day clear. All you have to do is to sit here and count your money. ’ ’

This witness, referring to the defendant Hull, said:

“I told him that if I bought it [the shop] I should want a lease. Well, he asked Mr. Dennison and Mr. Dennison asked Mr. Soloman [the lessee of the premises]. They had talked it over, and Mr. Soloman said: ‘Why, of course, you will get a lease whenever you ask for it.’ He said: ‘Whenever you ask for a lease there will be a lease forthcoming.’ ‘I don’t want to cheat a cripple like you.’ I said: ‘I don’t want to be cheated either. ’ When I made up my mind to buy this barber-shop I made up my mind never to buy it without a lease, and I bought it with that understanding.”

The sale was concluded February 17, 1913, whereupon plaintiff paid the sum agreed upon for the property, took possession of the shop, and paid Mr. Soloman $90, as the rent in advance for a month. The plaintiff, during that time, was offered $800 for the property which he had secured from Dennison, and, desiring a lease of the premises, he applied to Soloman, who refused to grant the request, and on March 15, 1913, two days prior to the expiration of the term for which he had paid the rent, Soloman commenced an action against him to secure possession of the shop. This action, however, was subsequently dismissed.

[368]*368The plaintiff, referring to one of the defendants, who at the time the sale was made promised to remain in the shop and assist in condncting the business, testified as follows:

“And this Joe Hull, he was trying all the time to get me out of there, to get another place; and then him and another man they went up and they rented a place on Sixth and Burnside, and I went up there, and I didn’t make anything up there neither. I didn’t make the rent on either place.”

The value placed by Hull on the entire property was only $700, while another man who knew the worth of the goods estimated it to be not mom than $300. The profits of the business were not what the defendants had represented. Their witnesses, explaining the reason therefor, stated that the plaintiff increased the price of shaving from 10 cents, the cost prevailing when, he secured the property, to 15 cents, and that he permitted five of the eight barbers employed by Dennison to leave the shop, and did not get others to take their places.

The plaintiff did not make any demand upon Dennison to repay any part of the money which he had received before bringing this suit. He testified that he told Dennison that he'had misrepresented the property and the yalue of the business, whereupon the latter remarked that, having sold the goods, he paid Hull a commission for finding a purchaser, and he would not return the money.

It appears that after plaintiff quit the shop the premises were immediately leased to another barber. Dennison, soon after concluding the sale with the plaintiff, obtained another barber-shop and conducted that business, though it will be remembered he told Koehler [369]*369when he made the hill of sale that he was retiring in order to deal in horses.

Soloman, as defendants’ witness, admits that he told the plaintiff he did not desire to cheat a cripple. The defendants deny nearly all the testimony given by the plaintiff, and each asserts upon oath that no commission was paid to Hull.

2. No testimony was offered tending to show that when the bill of sale of the property was concluded the plaintiff was ill or weakened in body or mind. A perusal of his testimony, however, shows that he is peevish and irascible, evidencing senility. Neither of the defendants made any representations respecting the value of the goods sold, but only as to the future profits that could be obtained by conducting the barber business. Nor did they in any manner do anything to prevent the plaintiff from making a careful examination or due inquiry as to the value of the property or the receipts obtained from the prior management of the shop. It will be assumed, without deciding the question, that the representations about the profits were not statements of past or present material facts, amounting to a warranty, and that they were nothing more than expressions of opinion relating to' uncertain future gains; yet it is believed that the relation existing between the plaintiff and Hull, who assumed to act as a broker, was confidential, requiring from the latter a full disclosure, and that Hull’s connection with Dennison makes them legally responsible for the consequences resulting from the failure to obtain a lease of the premises.

The plaintiff’s testimony on this subject is as follows : '

“This spring when I was looking for a confectionery store I ran across Joe Hull, and he said that he was [370]*370engaged in that kind of business, and that he would find me one. If I would wait he would help me find one.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
143 P. 649, 72 Or. 362, 1914 Ore. LEXIS 42, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/koehler-v-dennison-or-1914.