Brown v. Mentzer
Brown v. Mentzer
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Appellant’s claim for a rescission of the contract for the purchase of the tobacco involved in the present action of replevin was based upon an alleged fraud, which it was contended arose from certain representations made by H. B. Bitzer, of whom the appellee in this case was the trustee in bankruptcy to the vendor, the decedent of whom, the appellant, was the administrator under ancillary letters, and which representations it was alleged were false and fraudulent. These representations were an assertion of solvency and the ownership of certain real estate, by reason of which it was contended the vendor, Mr. Wilson, was induced to make the sale of the tobacco in question to Mr. Bitzer. The former was a dealer in leaf tobacco and engaged in that business in the city of Philadelphia ; the latter was a manufacturer of cigars and conducted his business in factories located in Lancaster county. A traveling salesman of the former met the latter on one occasion and made a small sale of leaf tobacco to him. Subsequently, on May 1, 1899, Mr. Bitzer and his foreman saw Mr. Wilson in regard to a further purchase of leaf tobacco. He desired to purchase a small quantity of tobacco for manufacture, but
Appellant contends that Bitzer was insolvent at the date of the purchase and therefore he was entitled to rescind the contract in question. There was no evidence however that such was the case at such date or that he had any knowledge then of his insolvency. He expressed an opinion as to his financial condition and that was to the effect that after he had paid his debts he would be able.to clean up $10,000 or $12,000. The learned trial judge therefore committed no error in directing to find for the defendant.
In the case of Greene v. Fondersmith, 200 Pa. 625, Mr. Justice Potter cites with approval Wessels v. Weiss, 156 Pa. 591, as follows:
“The language of the court in Wessels v. Weiss, 156 Pa-591, is appropriate to the case in hand: * The solvency of a manufacturer or a merchant, who has debts and assets, unless the assets are of a fixed and stable character, and very largely exceed the liabilities is quite an uncertain factor and very much a matter of opinion.’ And again in the same case: ‘ Unless therefore there are convincing facts in evidence to show with clear certainty that the condition of insolvency was well known to the purchaser of goods when he asserted solvency as a means of procuring the sale of goods to himself, his assertion does not have the aspect of fraud, or artifice or misrepresentation which is required to abrogate an executed contract. If an intending purchaser has a right to regard himself as solvent, and firmly believes that he is so, and, therefore, asserts his solvency to an intended seller, who sells him goods, his assertion of his solvency is certainly not fraudulent, even though insolvency actually arises before payment for the goods is made.’ ”
It may therefore be said that even if subsequent events developed that Mr. Bitzer was mistaken in regard to his solvency, at the time of the purchase, that unless there was some artifice, trick, false pretence or bad faith with intent to defraud Mr. Wilson, the law affords no warrant for the rescission of. the contract for the purchase in question. . . •
An optimistic opinion as to solvency may deserve criticism;
As there was no error in giving binding instructions to find for the appellee, this judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Syllabus
- Sale—Rescission—Fraud—Statements as to solvency. The solvency of a manufacturer or a merchant, who has debts and assets, unless the assets are of a fixed and stable character, and very largely exceed the liabilities, is quite an uncertain factor, and very much a matter of opinion. Unless there are convincing facts in evidence to show with clear certainty that the condition of insolvency was well known to the purchaser of goods when he asserted the solvency as a means of procuring the sale of goods to himself, his assertion does not have the aspect of fraud, or artifice or misrepresentation which is required to abrogate an executed contract. If an intending purchaser has a right to regard himself as solvent and firmly believes that he is so, and, therefore, asserts his solvency to an intended seller, who sells him goods, his assertion of his solvency is not fraudulent, even though insolvency actually arises before payment for the goods is made. In an action of replevin where the case turns upon the rescission of a contract of sale of tobacco, it appeared that the purchaser of the tobacco was engaged in the business of manufacturing cigars and had several different factories. While endeavoring to purchase a small quantity of tobacco the seller induced him to take a large one. He received the small quantity for which he gave his note, but did not call for the balance of the tobacco, and only took it at the urgent request of the seller. He gave his own notes for the tobacco, and also business paper which he owned to secure his notes. Neither his own notes nor the notes of the other parties were paid. There was evidence that at the time of the first purchase, the purchaser said that he was owing some money, but that he could clean up $10,000 or $12,000. Held, that the evidence was insufficient to justify a rescission of the contract of sale on the ground of fraud and misrepresentation.