Mobley v. Harrell
Mobley v. Harrell
Opinion of the Court
Harrell sued Mobley in the city court of Whigham. Mobley demurred generally and specially, the court sustained the demurrer and dismissed the petition, and by certiorari Harrell carried the case to the superior court, where the judgment of the city court was reversed and the case remanded for trial. Mobley excepted to this judgment of the superior court. The suit in the city court was for money had and received, and the allegations of the ■petition made the following case: On October 30, 1911, Harrell bought from Mobley a certain- tract of land containing 150 acres, more or less, in the southwestern portion of lot No. 185 in the 19th district of Decatur county, Georgia, at the fixed price of $11 per acre of whatever the tract would measure, to be paid on or before November 1 thereafter. Harrell and Mobley, acting together, procured the county surveyor to survey and measure this tract for the purpose of ascertaining the exact number of acres, and he reported to them that the tract contained 133.66 acres, including a 7-acre tract that there was some dispute about. Harrell, assuming that this survey and measurement was correct, paid to Mobley the sum of $1,470.25, which was at the rate of $11 per acre, according to the survey and* measurement, and Mobley executed his deed to Harrell accordingly. Very soon thereafter Harrell received a letter from the surveyor, notifying him that after carefully looking over his figures relating to the survey and measurement, he found that he had made a mistake of fact; that the tract of land which Harrell
We think the judgment of the superior court sustaining the certiorari and remanding the case for trial was right. If the plaintiff establishes on the trial the allegations of the petition, he will be entitled to recover the money paid to the defendant in excess of the agreed price for the land. According to the allegations of the petition, the land was not sold by the tract, but was expressly sold by the acre, at a stipulated price of $11 per acre. The case, under the allegations, is not one in which the vendor is charged with having made a fraudulent statement about the number of acres, to induce the vendee to buy the land; there is no allegation that the vendee was deceived by any statement of the -vendor; nor is it a case in which’ the vendee himself was guilty of negligence in ascertaining the facts, and, because of his own laches, would not be allowed any relief. In other words, it was not a case in which the purchaser relied upon the guaranty of the vendor as to the number of acres and was deceived; and there was no allegation of actual fraud upon the part of the vendor. If the facts were as stated, there could be no recovery. King Lumber Co. v. Cowart, 136 Ga. 739 (72 S. E. 37). It is not a case in which the vendee had sufficient opportunity to inspect the property and was prevented by the seller’s
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.