Cook v. Liston

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania
Cook v. Liston, 192 Pa. 19 (Pa. 1899)
43 A. 389; 1899 Pa. LEXIS 873
Dean, Gotham, Green, McCollum, Mitchell, Steerett

Cook v. Liston

Opinion of the Court

Pek Gotham,

We are all of opinion that, upon the pleadings, and facts properly found by the learned referee and court below, this was a clear case for equitable relief, and that there was no error in • entering the decree recommended by the referee. The deed itself contains an expression that is strongly indicative of the fact that it was not the intention of the plaintiff to sell, nor of the defendant to buy the underlying nine-foot vein of coal in question. In the premises, the sixty-seven and eighty-six one hundredths acres of land, intended to be conveyed, is described, “ All that certain messuage, tenement, piece or parcel of surface land, situate,” etc.; and in the habendum the same is referred to as, “ said 67.86 acres of surface land,” etc. But, it is not our purpose to review or discuss the evidence of the established facts upon which the decree is based. Without pursuing the inquiry further, we are satisfied that there is no substantial error in the decree; and it is accordingly affirmed with costs, to be paid by the appellant, and his appeal is dismissed.

Reference

Full Case Name
William E. Cook v. Huffman M. Liston
Cited By
14 cases
Status
Published
Syllabus
Reformation of deed—Contract—Fraud—Equity. Where the owner'of a tract of land contracts in writing to sell and convey it, excepting and reserving a certain vein of coal, and he subsequently executes a deed of general warranty, without any reservation whatever, the grantee perpetrates a fraud on the grantor by accepting it with knowledge of the error, and equity will reform the deed so as to make it conform to the intentions of the parties as expressed in the contract.