Walker v. Burch

178 N.W. 209, 104 Neb. 592, 1920 Neb. LEXIS 216
CourtNebraska Supreme Court
DecidedMay 15, 1920
DocketNo. 20617
StatusPublished

This text of 178 N.W. 209 (Walker v. Burch) 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
Walker v. Burch, 178 N.W. 209, 104 Neb. 592, 1920 Neb. LEXIS 216 (Neb. 1920).

Opinion

Day, J.

The plaintiff seeks a rescission of a land trade between herself and defendants Burch, also a quieting of the title in the land deeded by her, and for an accounting. She bases her right to the relief prayed for upon the ground of fraud. In the district court there was a decree in favor of the plaintiff, to review which the defendants have appealed.

Two main questions are presented by the record for determination: First, was fraud practiced by the defendant Milton Burch in procuring the exchange of the lands? and, if so, second, was there a rescission of the trade by the plaintiff within a reasonable time after the discovery of the fraud?

The record shows that on and prior to Jume 26, 1915, the plaintiff was the owner in her own right of a 280-acre tract of land in Pierce county, Nebraska, and the defendants Burch were the owners of about 70 acres situated in the lower Rio Grande valley, in Hidalgo county, Texas. The Burch land was improved with a brick house, built in bungalow style, with other necessary and convenient buildings, and is described by some [594]*594of the witnesses as being one of the “show places” of the valley. Mr. Burch had lived upon this place for a period of over two years, but had not been there, however, for about a year prior to the trade. The plaintiff had never been in Texas, and knew ngthing of the value of such land, and was unacquainted with the general conditions.

On June 26, 1915, the plaintiff traded her Nebraska land for the defendants’ Texas land. In the trade the plaintiff’s land was valued at $80 an acre, and the defendants’ land at $350 an acre; There was a mortgage of $4,400 upon the plaintiff’s land, and to equalize the difference in values of the respective tracts, the plaintiff and her husband executed to the defendants vendor’s lien notes, aggregating $7,300 payable in annual instalments from March 1, 1916, to March 1, 1922.

It further appears that the plaintiff’s husband, Myron D. Walker, had, for some time prior to the trade, been in the employ of certain land companies, engaged in selling land in the lower Rio Grande valley, and in the vicinity of the Burch place, and had on several occasions iccompanied the crowd of prospective purchasers to view the lands offered for sale, aUd had frequently visited the Burch place. In this manner he became acquainted with Mr. Burch,, and more or less familiar with the Burch land and the general conditions of the country.

A few days prior to the trade Walker, without the knowledge of his wife, entered into negotiations with defendant Milton Burch for an exchange of the Pierce county land for the defendants’ Texas land. Mr. Burch examined the Pierce county land, and negotiations were carried so far that Burch and his wife executed a deed to the Texas land, naming the plaintiff as grantee therein. Burch and Walker then went to Sioux City, Iowa, where the plaintiff resided, to have the plaintiff execute a deed to the Nebraska land and complete the trade. There is a sharp conflict in the evidence as to what was [595]*595said between the parties at the time the trade was consummated. Burch’s version of the transaction was that he told Mrs. Walker that he and Myron (plaintiff’s husband) had been talking of exchanging lands, and that Myron knew more about the Texas land than he did, and that' Mrs. Walker then stated that she was willing to rely upon her husband’s judgment in the matter, and, acting thereon, she executed and delivered the deed. We are convinced, however, that the preponderance of the testimony supports the plaintiff’s version of the transaction. Her testimony, and which is corroborated by her son, is to the general effect that Burch represented to her that the Texas land was worth $350 an acre; that he had refused a cash offer of $26,000 for it; that the property would rent for from $1,000 to $1,200 a year; that it was a peaceable, quiet neighborhood, composed mostly of Americans; and that the newspaper stories with respect to trouble on the border were “hot air.” The plaintiff testifies that in making the trade she relied upon the representations made to her by defendant Milton Burch, and believed them to be true. Undoubtedly Mr. Walker was in sympathy with the trade, and was desirous that the deal should go through, and, but for the positive assertion of Mrs. Walker that she relied upon the statements of Mr. Burch, we would incline to the view that she was relying upon her husband’s judgment in the matter. Usually the wife accepts the judgment of the husband in matters pertaining to business, both with respect to his as well as her own property; and yet it is common knowledge that this is not always the case. Numerous cases are found in our own reports where the wife has refused to sign a deed'to carry out a contract of sale made by the husband.

The testimony shows that the representations made by defendant Milton Burch with respect to the value of the land and the amount for which it would rent were greatly exaggerated. It was shown that the fair rental of the Texas land was about $700 a year, out of which the [596]*596owner paid the water rent, ranging from $4 to $6 an acre, depending upon the character of the crop. Upon the question of the value of the land, there is a wide difference of opinion between the several witnesses, but we conclude the value of defendants’ land to be from $200 to $225 an acre.

It is the defendants’ contention that the trade was made by Mr. Walker, and that he was acting as the agent of his wife in the transaction. Upon this question the plaintiff testifies that she had never authorized her husband 'to sell or trade her land, and knew nothing about it until Mr. Burch appeared at her home to close up the trade. The agency of the husband to deal with the separate property of the wife is a question of fact to be determined like all other questions of fact, and will not be presumed from the marital relations alone. Rust-Owen Lumber Co. v. Holt, 60 Neb. 80. We conclude that the testimony fails to show that Mr. Walker was the agent of his wife in making the trade. Upon this phase of the case, we are of the opinion that the facts establish fraud such as vitiates the transaction.

Did the plaintiff rescind the contract within a reasonable time after the discovery of the fraud? It appears that in September, 1915, the plaintiff requested her husband to look after the rental of the Texas property for her for the year 1916, and shortly thereafter she learned from him that the land could not be rented for the sum named by Burch; that the amount of rent obtainable was only $700 a year, the owner to pay the water tax, which amounted approximately from $4 to $6 an acre, depending upon the character of the crop. By failing to act within a reasonable time upon receiving this information from her agent, the plaintiff no doubt waived her right to rescind the trade' based upon the misrepresentations in regard to the rental value of the land. There is no testimony, however, that at that time she ascertained that the value of the land was not as represented by Mr. Burch. Conceding that Walker -may [597]*597have known that the value of the land was not as represented, his knowledge with respect to that subject could not be imputed to the plaintiff upon the doctrine of agency alone, and there is no proof that Walker ever actually communicated this fact to her. He was employed to rent the land.

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Related

Delorac v. Conna
46 N.W. 255 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1890)
Ross v. Sumner
78 N.W. 264 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1899)
Rust-Owen Lumber Co. v. Holt
82 N.W. 112 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1900)

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Bluebook (online)
178 N.W. 209, 104 Neb. 592, 1920 Neb. LEXIS 216, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/walker-v-burch-neb-1920.