Phillips v. Bush
Phillips v. Bush
Opinion of the Court
The opinion of the Court was announced by—
This case has once before been in this court upon an appeal from the judgments of the court below, sustaining a demurrer to the petition. This court then reversed that judgment and held that the petition contained such averments of false and fraudulent representations as to the location and quality of the land, in addition to the averment of parol warranty of such location and quality, as were suffi- ' cient to maintain an action. 15 Iowa, 64.
The case has since been tried by a referee who found the special facts proved to be, in substance, that there was a parol warranty, of the location and quality of the land, of which there was a breach to the plaintiff’s damage of two hundred and forty dollars. There was no finding of fraud or false representations, and the evidence which is before us, very clearly negatives any such claim. The court rendered judgment upon the report of the referee and the defendant appeals.
The question as to whether an action can be maintained by a purchaser of land, who accepts a quit-claim deed, upon a parol warranty, as to the location and quality of the land thus sold and conveyed, is one which has not been decided by this court, and upon which it is probable we could not be united in opinion, and since the judgment must be reversed upon its merits, it becomes unnecessary to decide that question here.
The finding of facts by a referee is like the verdict of a jury, and .in order to justify a court in setting it aside as being contrary to evi
The report of the referee was for two hundred and forty dollars for plaintiff, and that too, while the proof, taking the average estimate, shows the consideration received for the whole eighty acres, the value of the mares, to have been less than that sum. The whole case shows the utmost good faith on the part of the defendant, and even less than ordinary commendation of his property which he was solicited to exchange, and an absence of actual warranty which was either made or received, and relied upon as such.
The judgment is therefore reversed, and the cause is remanded with instructions to set aside the report of the referee, and grant a new trial, costs of the District Court to abide the event, and the appellee to pay costs in this court.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.