Smith, Kline & French Co. v. Smith

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Smith, Kline & French Co. v. Smith, 166 Pa. 563 (Pa. 1895)
31 A. 343; 1895 Pa. LEXIS 1249
Bean, Fell, Green, McCollum, Mitchell, Sterrett, Williams

Smith, Kline & French Co. v. Smith

Opinion of the Court

Opinion by

Mb. Justice Mitchell,

It is not worth while to enter into the elaborate discussions in the cases about the right of a vendor to praise his wares, and the insufficiency of general affirmations of value, and false representations, which the other party should have known better than to rely upon, to justify a rescission. In Graffenstein v. Epstein, 23 Kans. 443, it was held that a false and fraudulent representation as to the market price of a commodity made by a purchaser who knew the price, to a seller who did not, would not avoid the contract. The opinion of Bbeweb, J., contains as strong a presentation of that view as we have found anywhere, but even it puts the case on the absence of any confidential relation between the parties, or peculiar means of knowledge on the part of the purchaser, as the article, wool, was one of general commerce, whose market price was matter of public knowledge and could be ascertained by any one by reasonable effort and inquiry. We may concede all this, though no Pennsylvania case has been cited which goes so far, but what the defendant here sets up in her affidavit is not a mere opinion or even a false representation as to value, or market price, or other matter of general knowledge which the vendor was bound to know or to inquire about, but an explicit, circumstantial misstatement of a fact conducing and intended to influence the vendor’s action, and whose falsehood she could not reasonably detect. A very slight knowledge of the competition of business will suffice to show that one dealer may be willing to sell under the market price to gain a new customer, and the inducement to the other to do likewise to retain a customer in danger of going over to his rival. An explicit *570positive false statement by the purchaser of such fact, under such circumstances is a fraud which will justify a rescission of the contract.

The other matters of defence as to breaches of agreement not to cut prices etc. are not averred explicitly enough to be available in the affidavit. Whether they were conditions or inducements of the sale, or mere promises as to future action does not clearly appear.

The objections to the plaintiff’s statement cannot be sustained. That it sets out the cause of action more formally and elaborately than is absolutely necessary under the act of 1887, and in so doing uses some of the language of the time honored forms of declaration is not a defect. The main requirement of the statement under that act is to secure to the defendant clear and exact information as to what is claimed of him. A common count in the old form, without a bill of particulars, would be demurrable for vagueness, but using the general form with the insertion of the exact dates, amounts and particulars of the contract sued on but with no irrelevant or impertinent matter, could hardly be objectionable for furnishing too much information instead of too little.

Judgment reversed and a procedendo awarded.

Reference

Full Case Name
Smith, Kline and French Company v. Rebecca M. Smith
Cited By
8 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Sale—False representations—Fraud—Rescission—Affidavit of defence. In an action to recover damages for failure to deliver goods sold by defendant to plaintiff, an affidavit of defence is sufficient to prevent judgment, which avers that the agent of plaintiff- stated to defendant that plaintiff desired to purchase an article manufactured by defendant, but that a competitor had offered to sell the article to plaintiff for a certain price, and that plaintiff would give defendant the order if she would sell the article at the same price; that believing that the statement was true, and relying upon it, defendant made the contract sued upon ; that in point of fact the statement was a malicious lie, intentionally made for the purpose of cheating and defrauding defendant into selling the article far below its market price. Practice, O. P.—Statement—Act of May 25, 1887. A statement of claim is not in violation of the act of May 25, 1887, P. L. 271, which uses the form of a declaration or narr, customary under the old practice, if the statement sets out a cause of action with the exact dates, amounts and particulars of contract sued upon, with no irrelevant or impertinent matter.