Chrisman v. Ford
Chrisman v. Ford
Opinion of the Court
Opinion op the Court by
Reversing.
On October 24, 1917, the appellant sold and with her husband conveyed to appellee by deed of general warranty two adjoining tracts of land described separately and containing as stated thirty acres and ten acres respectively for which appellee paid her $2,500.00.
Appellant by her answer as amended admitted that the thirty acre tract was incorrectly described and asked that the deed be reformed so as to correctly describe that tract, but she denied that when so described there was a shortage of four acres or as much as ten per cent or that the sale was by the acre, and alleged that the sale was of the entire forty acres in gross for the sum of $2,500.00.
Her pleadings were traversed of record, the cause was transferred to equity and upon a trial the chancellor reformed the deed to conform with the appellee’s contention as to the correct description and awarded him judgment for the $250.00 with interest and costs, to reverse which this appeal is prosecuted.
As the parties agree that the thirty acre tract is not correctly described and that the deed must be reformed insofar as this tract is concerned but disagree as to its proper description, the first question for decision is how this tract shall be described to conform to the intention of the parties whim the trade was consummated by the execution and delivery of the deed, as that is as far as the reformation can go. Appellee contends that this must be done by going back in the chain of title to a deed executed in 1874 to appellant’s remote grantor, Lucy St. John, by the master commissioner and referred, to in the deed from appellant to appellee, in which he claims the land sold is correctly described. Appellant, on the other hand, contends that even that deed does not accurately describe all of the land which she in fact acquired thereunder and sold to appellee.
The difference arises in this way. The land is described in the St. John deed as “twenty-six acres off of the N. side of the N. W. quarter of section 25, township
Manifestly, therefore, the chancellor should have reformed the deed to conform with appellant’s rather than appellee’s contention, since by so doing he certainly would have made it expressive of their true intention at the time it was executed and delivered, and expressive as well, it seems, of the true location of this tract of land as recognized and understood at all times by all parties.
Thus described and surveyed it contains 28 acres and 4 rods as is agreed, which makes the shortage less than ten per cent, even if the thirty acres had been sold separately, which certainly is not true.
The next question for decision, therefore, is whether the sale was by the acre or in gross, since under the settled rule of this court no recovery will be allowed for a shortage of less than ten per cent where the sale is in gross, but where it is by the acre a recovery may be had for any material shortage. Hunter v. Keightley, 184 Ky. 835.
Only H. P. Chrisman and the appellee, Ford, testified on this question. Chrisman testified positively that the sale was in bulk and not by the acre, while Ford did not even testify that he bought by the acre. He was asked by his own counsel and answered only as follows: “Q. Did you buy from the defendant a tract of land? If so, when; and did you buy same by the acre and how much were you to pay per acre for same? A. Yes; 24th of October, 1917. They told me there were forty acres in the tract and I paid $2,500.00 for the tract. Q. How much per acre did you pay for same and how much are you damaged by reason of the shortage in same? A. I paid at the rate of $62.50 per acre, being short four acres, which would be $250.00 with interest.”
While it is true, of course, that he paid at the rate of $62.50 per acre as he states whether he bought by the acre or in gross, it will be noticed that when asked, “Did you buy same by the acre?” he replied, “I paid $2,500.00 for the tract.”
Wherefore the judgment is reversed, with directions to enter a judgment in conformity herewith.
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