Leland v. Goodfellow

47 N.W. 591, 84 Mich. 357, 1890 Mich. LEXIS 593
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 24, 1890
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 47 N.W. 591 (Leland v. Goodfellow) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Leland v. Goodfellow, 47 N.W. 591, 84 Mich. 357, 1890 Mich. LEXIS 593 (Mich. 1890).

Opinion

Cahill, J.

The plaintiff brought suit in the Genesee circuit court, and the defendant comes to this Court on demurrer to the declaration, which was overruled in the court below.

The plaintiff's declaration is in two counts. The first count sets out substantially that in September, 1885, plaintiff was engaged in farming in the township of Rose, in Oakland county; that some time in that month defendant came to plaintiff's farm, and brought with him 25 [358]*358bushels of so-called “Bohemian Oats,” which he offered to sell to plaintiff, and also to give him a bond from the Bohemian Oat Company, in words and figures as follows:

“222. A bond from the Bohemian Oat Company, to be signed by our superintendent, J. M. Orcutt.
“ Rose township, Oakland county, State of Michigan,. Sept. 28, 1885.
“We do hereby agree to sell 50 bushels of Bohemian oats for Mr. A. J. Leland, at ten dollars per bushel, in cash or by note, for which the said A. J. Leland is to pay 25 per cent, commission for selling. Said oats to be-sold on or before December, 1886.
[Signed] “ J. M. Orcutt, Sup’t.”

That the defendant offered to take in payment for such-oats,—

“And the bond, above set forth, which was to accompany them, and which was to be delivered to plaintiff with said oats should plaintiff purchase them, said plaintiff’s note for the sum of $250, payable in February, 1887, so that plaintiff should not be called upon to pay said note until said Bohemian Oat Company had sold for plaintiff' said 50 bushels of ‘Bohemian Oats,’ so called, as provided' for in said bond, and plaintiff had had time to realize from the proceeds thereof sufficient money to pay such note. And plaintiff says that he believed that, if he purchased said oats of defendant, said Bohemian Oat Company would perform all the conditions of said bond, above set forth, and that, relying upon the fulfillment of the conditions of said bond, and believing that they would be performed, and that he would thereby be enabled to obtain sufficient money to pay for such oats, he accepted the offer of defendant, and then and there received from defendant the bond and 25 bushels of oats, and gave defendant in payment therefor his note for $250, payable in • February, 1887.”

Plaintiff further says that the Bohemian oats are and' then were but little, if any, more valuable than common-oats for any purpose whatever, and are not, and at that time were not, worth to exceed 30 to 35 cents per bushel. And the plaintiff says that the consideration which [359]*359induced him to give said note was not the 25 bushels of so-called “Bohemian Oats,” but such consideration was the bond which formed a part of the contract, and that he would not, and defendant well knew he would not, have made said purchase and executed his note if it had not been for the agreements contained in the bond, on which plaintiff relied, that the company would, before December, 1886, sell for plaintiff 50 bushels of oats, so that he, plaintiff, Would be enabled to pay his note in February following from the money that he would have received on the fulfillment of the conditions of said bond.

The declaration further states that although plaintiff raised the oats, and had them on hand at the time set for the fulfillment of the bond, neither defendant nor the Bohemian Oat Company ever sold or offered to sell 50 bushels of Bohemian oats, and that none of the conditions of the bond were ever performed in any manner. The declaration further says that the bond was a part of the contract on which the note was given; that defendant obtained no right to enforce the collection of said note until the Bohemian Oat Company had fully performed the conditions of the bond, and had sold for plaintiff 50 bushels of so-called “ Bohemian Oats,” at $10 per bushel, yet the said defendant did, a short time after obtaining such note, and before it became due, wrongfully and fraudulently dispose of said note to the First National Bank of Holly, a Iona fide purchaser without notice, and that the plaintiff had been compelled, when the note fell due, to pay it.

It will be noticed that this count contains no allegation of fraud on the part of the, defendant in the procuring of this note except such as may be said to be naturally inferred from the transaction itself. Neither is there any allegation that the plaintiff was ignorant of the nature, of this transaction, or that he was misled or deceived in [360]*360any way by the defendant. The sole allegation of fraud against the defendant relates to his transfer of the note, which, it is claimed, he had no right to dispose of to a bona fide holder until after the Bohemian Oat Company had performed the conditions of the bond. But it is not alleged that defendant agreed not to transfer this note, nor that defendant agreed that plaintiff should not be called upon to pay his note, until the company had performed the conditions of the bond, and until the plaintiff had had time to realize from such performance sufficient to pay his note. That clause of the plaintiff’s declaration which commences as follows:

“So that plaintiff should not he called upon to pay said note until said Bohemian Oat Company had sold for plaintiff said 50 bushels of Bohemian Oats,”—

and what follows, is not the averment of a fact, but is an obvious inference drawn by the pleader from the fact that the bond was, by its terms, to be performed before the note fell due. So far as anything appears from this count, the defendant was as innocent of any wrong in the transaction as was the plaintiff himself. Under such circumstances, it was not wrongful or fraudulent for the defendant to dispose of the note. It. follows from this that the first count alleges no cause of action.

The second count was like the first, except that, in addition thereto, it is alleged that, a. few days before the defendant called upon the plaintiff, one Alfred W. Hanmer came to the plaintiff’s farm, and represented himself to be the agent of the Bohemian Oat Company, which he represented to plaintiff was a company incorporated under the laws of Michigan, with a capital stock of $100,-000, for the purpose of selling Bohemian oats, which Hanmer represented were much more valuable than any of the varieties of oats commonly raised by farmers; that said oats would be worth in the market $1 per bushel [361]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
47 N.W. 591, 84 Mich. 357, 1890 Mich. LEXIS 593, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/leland-v-goodfellow-mich-1890.