Hart v. Diggs
Hart v. Diggs
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
This action was brought by appellant on the asserted contract of appellee to pay him $600 for a house and lot in Winchester, Ky., $350 of which was due at the beginning of this action, and the balance fell due during its progress.
The defense set up is the incapacity of appellee, at the time he signed the contract, to understand its nature and effect by reason of his intoxicated condition at the time, and which condition of mind he says was superinduced by the fraud of appellant in furnishing him the whisky and making him very drunk for the purpose of selling him the house and lot at largely more than their real worth, and on which he was successful. He further states that appellant has not a good title to the land.
The suit was brought at law, but was properly transferred to equity because it was substantially a suit for specific execution of the contract by the appellant and of' rescission of the contract by the appellee. On these issues much evidence was taken, and on hearing the lower court dismissed the plaintiff’s petition, and he appeals.
The evidence as to the mental condition of appellee, or as to whether he was intoxicated at the time the contract was executed, is conflicting; but the evidence does establish the fact that appellant
Before the court was authorized to enforce a specific execution of the contract the appellant should have shown a derivation of title from the commonwealth, or such a length of possession, claiming the property as his own, as would place his title beyond dispute. This he did not do.
The lower court dismissed appellant’s action with far superior advantages to this court as to the character and standing of the witnesses who testified, most of whom were colored people, and we cannot say that the judgment was erroneous on either issue made by appellee. The sale of the house and lot to an ignorant colored negro at twice their worth so soon after keeping open house and entertaining and making the colored boy very drunk, together with the evidence of appellee’s condition at the time of the contract, fully authorized the court to refuse the relief asked by appellant, and on the other hand to dismiss his action.
Wherefore the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.