Nowatarski v. Dusza
Nowatarski v. Dusza
Opinion of the Court
In September, 1917, plaintiff exchanged his farm of 240 acres at Harrietta at a value of $13,500 for an equity which Jacob Pokojski and wife owned in a 4-family flat situate on Dubois street, in the city of Detroit. Plaintiff took possession of the same in November, 1917. Maryan Jaszczynski and his wife, Maryana, were Pokoj ski’s vendors. About the time that plaintiff made the exchange with Pokojski, Jas
The record shows that plaintiff is of Polish extraction and is unacquainted with the English language. Defendant is also Polish, but he was not only well versed in English, but was well acquainted with our business methods. The amount of property which plaintiff put into the contract was $11,600. He was proceeding to make his payment of the balance at the rate of $75 per month. The defendant, Dusza, knew these facts, yet he proceeded to pursue a course which, if successful, would wipe out all of plaintiff’s equity in the property and leave him penniless. He did not demand immediate payment from the plaintiff He did not serve any notice of forfeiture of plaintiff’s rights in
The chancellor found as a fact that Dusza was not the owner of the premises, that he simply held a contract as security for the payment of $600 which Jaszczynski owed him. The chancellor also found that the judgment of restitution and the statement of the amount due upon the contract were obtained' by the fraud of defendant and accordingly set them aside. He further found that Dusza forced plaintiff, by his fraudulent' methods, to become his tenant. We are in accord with the conclusions reached by the chancellor. The record is very persuasive that defendant undertook to, and did, take an unconscionable advantage of one of his ignorant countrymen who was unacquainted with our language and our methods of transacting business, the result of which was to extinguish his entire interest in a property for which he had recently paid upwards of $11,000. Unless counsel can agree upon the state o'f the account, the case will be remanded for further proofs.
The decree is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.