Leland v. Goodfellow
Leland v. Goodfellow
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiff brought suit in the Genesee circuit court, and the defendant comes to this Court on demurrer to the declaration, which was overruled in the court below.
The plaintiff's declaration is in two counts. The first count sets out substantially that in September, 1885, plaintiff was engaged in farming in the township of Rose, in Oakland county; that some time in that month defendant came to plaintiff's farm, and brought with him 25
■ “222. A bond from the Bohemian Oat Company, to be signed by our superintendent, J. M. Orcutt.
“ Rose township, Oakland county, State of Michigan,. Sept. 28, 1885.
“We do hereby agree to sell 50 bushels of Bohemian oats for Mr. A. J. Leland, at ten dollars per bushel, in cash or by note, for which the said A. J. Leland is to pay 25 per cent, commission for selling. Said oats to be-sold on or before December, 1886.
[Signed] “ J. M. Orcutt, Sup’t.”
That the defendant offered to take in payment for such-oats,—
“And the bond, above set forth, which was to accompany them, and which was to be delivered to plaintiff with said oats should plaintiff purchase them, said plaintiff’s note for the sum of $250, payable in February, 1887, so that plaintiff should not be called upon to pay said note until said Bohemian Oat Company had sold for plaintiff' said 50 bushels of ‘Bohemian Oats,’ so called, as provided' for in said bond, and plaintiff had had time to realize from the proceeds thereof sufficient money to pay such note. And plaintiff says that he believed that, if he purchased said oats of defendant, said Bohemian Oat Company would perform all the conditions of said bond, above set forth, and that, relying upon the fulfillment of the conditions of said bond, and believing that they would be performed, and that he would thereby be enabled to obtain sufficient money to pay for such oats, he accepted the offer of defendant, and then and there received from defendant the bond and 25 bushels of oats, and gave defendant in payment therefor his note for $250, payable in • February, 1887.”
Plaintiff further says that the Bohemian oats are and' then were but little, if any, more valuable than common-oats for any purpose whatever, and are not, and at that time were not, worth to exceed 30 to 35 cents per bushel. And the plaintiff says that the consideration which
The declaration further states that although plaintiff raised the oats, and had them on hand at the time set for the fulfillment of the bond, neither defendant nor the Bohemian Oat Company ever sold or offered to sell 50 bushels of Bohemian oats, and that none of the conditions of the bond were ever performed in any manner. The declaration further says that the bond was a part of the contract on which the note was given; that defendant obtained no right to enforce the collection of said note until the Bohemian Oat Company had fully performed the conditions of the bond, and had sold for plaintiff 50 bushels of so-called “ Bohemian Oats,” at $10 per bushel, yet the said defendant did, a short time after obtaining such note, and before it became due, wrongfully and fraudulently dispose of said note to the First National Bank of Holly, a Iona fide purchaser without notice, and that the plaintiff had been compelled, when the note fell due, to pay it.
It will be noticed that this count contains no allegation of fraud on the part of the, defendant in the procuring of this note except such as may be said to be naturally inferred from the transaction itself. Neither is there any allegation that the plaintiff was ignorant of the nature, of this transaction, or that he was misled or deceived in
“So that plaintiff should not he called upon to pay said note until said Bohemian Oat Company had sold for plaintiff said 50 bushels of Bohemian Oats,”—
and what follows, is not the averment of a fact, but is an obvious inference drawn by the pleader from the fact that the bond was, by its terms, to be performed before the note fell due. So far as anything appears from this count, the defendant was as innocent of any wrong in the transaction as was the plaintiff himself. Under such circumstances, it was not wrongful or fraudulent for the defendant to dispose of the note. It. follows from this that the first count alleges no cause of action.
The second count was like the first, except that, in addition thereto, it is alleged that, a. few days before the defendant called upon the plaintiff, one Alfred W. Hanmer came to the plaintiff’s farm, and represented himself to be the agent of the Bohemian Oat Company, which he represented to plaintiff was a company incorporated under the laws of Michigan, with a capital stock of $100,-000, for the purpose of selling Bohemian oats, which Hanmer represented were much more valuable than any of the varieties of oats commonly raised by farmers; that said oats would be worth in the market $1 per bushel
“Rose Township, September 28, 1885.
“Mr. J. M. Orcutt,
“ Superintendent of the Bohemian Oat Company,—
“Sir: Please deliver at my house twenty-five bushels of Bohemian oats, weighing, fifty pounds to the bushel, for which I agree to pay J. M. Orcutt, or bearer, ten dollars per bushel, on delivery of the oats, in cash, or by note payable the first day of Feb., A. D. 1887; the company’s bond to sell twice the above number of bushels to be delivered with this order. The purchaser holds a copy of this order. Any change is null and void.
[Signed] “A. J. Leland.
“A. W. Hanmer, Agent.”
That, within a few days after he had given this order to Hanmer, the defendant came to plaintiff’s farm, “ and, in pursuance of . the agreement plaintiff had made with said Hanmer; as above stated, offered to sell to plaintiff 25 bushels of oats, which defendant then and there called ‘ Bohemian Oats,’ and to deliver to plaintiff a bond from said Bohemian Oat Company,” substantially as set out in the first count of the declaration. The declaration alleges that all of Hanmer’s representations were false and fraudulent.
There is no doubt that, under our previous decisions, the second count contains a good cause of action, if it substantially appears that the defendant is therein made responsible for the fraudulent representations of Hanmer. Hess v. Culver, 77 Mich. 598; Knight v. Linzey, 80 Id. 396; Pearl v. Walter, Id. 317.
It is claimed by defendant that there is no allegation in the declaration which legitimately connects the defendant with such misrepresentation; that the allegation in the declaration “ that, within a few days after plaintiff
The judgment must be reversed, and the cause remanded, when the plaintiff will have 20 days in which to amend his declaration, if he desires.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Adoniram J. Leland v. Thomas Goodfellow
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published