Jones v. Middlesborough Town Lands Co.
Jones v. Middlesborough Town Lands Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion oe the court.
During the boom days oí the city of Middlesborough, the Middlesborough Town Company sold and conveyed to Isaac T. Woodson and others certain lots in that city.
In his pleadings Jones avers that, preceding a public sale of lots in the city of Middlesborough, the Middlesborough Town Company, by a prospectus, publications in the newspapers, ' and in various
It, is unnecessary to enumerate the various manufacturing establishments and business enterprises which were to be brought to Middlesborough. It is averred that some of them came, but none of them were of the proportions as represented; that they did not employ the number of men which it was represented they would employ; that nearly all the enterprises which it was represented would come there failed to come, etc.
He also avers that certain persons, representing his vendors as agents, repeated these representations, and that he entered into the contract of purchase relying upon the representations as true. It is denied by his vendors that any fraudulent representations were made to him by themselves or agents, or that he was induced to enter into the contract by reason of any fraudulent representations. We see no connection between the representations of the Middlesborough Town Company and those of Dodge and his associates which could affect the question involved in this case. Dodge and his associates owned the lots; they did not represent the Middlesborough Town Company in the sale of the lots to Jones. Long before that time the
The evidence in this case does not show that Dodge and his associates, or their agents, ever represented to Jones that they would bring, or would be instrumental in bringing, a single enterprise to Middles-borough which he claims he expected would be established there. The record shows that whatever enterprises were to come there were not to be brought through the influence of his vendors, but through that of the Middles-borough Town Company, or some one else not interested in the lots which he was buying. No promise which his vendors made was violated.
It is evident, from the record in this case, that those who were buying lots in Middlesborough knew that the town was being boomed for speculative purposes. There were evidences from the money which was being expended in the town, and which was thereafter expended, which were calculated to make those who lived in the town or visited it hope that it would become a city of considerable importance. Irvine, who represented one of the real estate firms through whom Jones claims he purchased part of the lots, formerly lived in the city of Winchester, and was a neighbor of Jones. He had not been in Middles-borough more than five or six days before Jones went there. Jones knew of this fact, and that his opportunity for obtaining actual knowledge as to the real situation of the city of Middlesborough was necessarily limited.
This court has «recently had under consideration the. case of Livermore v. The Middlesborough Town Lands Co., herein, 140 [50 S. W., 6], involving somewhat of a similar question to the one here for consideration, and, after reviewing many authorities, it said:
“To establish actionable fraud, or fraud against which equity will relieve — and, as we have seen, the same rule applies in Kentucky to both classes of cases — it must appear that the misrepresentation was a matter bf material fact, (as distinguished from opinion), at the time or previously existing, (and not a mere promise for the future), must be relied upon by the person whose action is intended to be influenced, and must be made with knowl edge of its falsity, or under circumstances which did noi*202 justify a belief in its truth. This is the doctrine deducible from the Kentucky decisions.”
In view of the fact that the court in that case has so fully reviewed the authorities, and has reached the conclusion we have stated, it is deemed unnecessary to discuss further the law applicable to this case.
The opinion this day delivered in Pine Mountain Iron and Coal Co. v. Ford, [50 S. W., 27], is in line with the case from which we have just quoted. The judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.