Kane v. Chester Traction Co.
Kane v. Chester Traction Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
The plaintiff, being met with a formal release under seal, endeavored to avoid its effect by showing that it was obtained from her by fraudulent representations made to her by the agent of defendant, and by another person professedly acting as her friend and adviser, but whom she now charges to have been in the interest of defendant. The latter charge seems to have been as unfounded as it was ungrateful, but the judge having taken the case away from the jury, we must for the present treat it as if it were true. We must look therefore to
So far the facts are undisputed, but plaintiff charges that she was induced to accept the amount and execute the release by the fraudulent representations of MacFayden, the company’s agent, assented to, if not actively participated in, by her supposed friend McClenachan, that if she went to law she would get nothing; that the judge was a stockholder in the traction company, and that the latter would buy up the jury, the witnesses and even her lawyers. The fact of such representations having been- made was flatly denied, but for the present wre must assume that the jury might have found that they were. Conceding this, the only item of the array that comes up to the requirement of an existing fact, as ground of relief by reason of fraudulent representations, is that the judge was a stockholder in the company defendant. This is admittedly without any foundation, but there is no clear testimony on the part of the plaintiff that this falsely alleged fact was the inducement to execute the release. On the contrary her own testimony shows quite plainly that whatever reluctance she had to accept the sum offered was due to her desire to get more, and her subsequent dissatisfaction arose from her belief that she ought to
In view of the flimsy nature of the alleged misrepresentations, so little calculated to affect the judgment of any person of common sense, the evidence as to the specific facts alleged ought to be clear and at least fairly convincing. But it is not. The whole story is vague and indefinite', and far below the grade requisite to set aside a formal instrument whose execution is admitted. It is quite probable that defendant’s agent was not over nice in his mode of urging the delays and disadvantages of a lawsuit and the small amount the plaintiff might actually receive even out of a substantial verdict. His methods may have been overzealous, but they are not shown to have amounted to fraud. If plaintiff had been a merchant selling goods and the defendant a purchaser depreciating their value in the dicker, we could not say that the latter had exceeded the license allowed him by the standard of commercial honesty, and there is no reason to hold the present parties to any stricter rule. The case is by no means so strong as R. R. Co. v. Shay, 82 Pa. 198, or Wojciechowski v. Sugar Refining Co., 177 Pa. 57.
Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Maud Kane v. Chester Traction Company
- Cited By
- 4 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Negligence — Release—Evidence—Province of court and jury — Fraud. In an action against a street railway company to recover damages for personal injuries, the defendant set up a release executed by the plaintiff. Plaintiff testified that the release had been obtained from her by false representations made by defendant’s agent to the effect that it would be futile for her to sue the company; that the judge was a stockholder; that the juries were corrupt, and that the company would buy all the jurors and witnesses, and could even buy her physicians and lawyers. The defendant’s agent denied that such representations had been made, and the subscribing witness to the release, who was a friend of the plaintiff and acted for her, flatly contradicted her testimony. It was admitted that the judge was not a stockholder, but plaintiff did not claim that she was induced to sign by the misrepresentation of this fact. Plaintiff claimed that her injuries were worse thau she had anticipated when the release was signed. Held, that it was proper to give binding instructions for defendant. Where a person without fraud or misrepresentation exercised upon him executes a release of damages for personal injuries, he cannot subsequently avoid the release by a claim that liis injuries were more serious than he had anticipated at the time the release was executed.