W. G. Ward Lumber Co. v. American Lumber & Manufacturing Co.
W. G. Ward Lumber Co. v. American Lumber & Manufacturing Co.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion by
Under the testimony produced on the trial of this case the jury could not have avoided the finding that the W. E. McMillan Company had procured a carload of lumber from the plaintiff company by fraud and deceit. This rendered the contract voidable, and, upon discovery of the fraud, the right of the plaintiff was to disaffirm the contract and bring trespass against the company which had defrauded it. That company had transferred the lumber to the American Lumber & Manufacturing Company, and a further fact found by the jury is that the transfer to it was in consideration of pre-existing indebtedness due it by the W. E. McMillan Company. The contract between the appellee and the W. E. McMillan Company was an Ohio one, and there was proof that, under the law of that state, where a purchaser obtains goods fraudulently and the same are transferred by him to another in payment of a pre-existing debt, such precedent debt will not be a sufficient consideration to constitute the transferee a bona fide purchaser for value as against the owner from whom the goods were obtained by fraud. From the judgment entered on the verdict in favor of the plaintiff an appeal went to the Superior Court, which affirmed the judgment practically on the opinion of the court below, refusing a new trial and a motion for judgment n. o. v.: Ward Lumber Co. v. Am. L. & M. Co., 55 Pa. Superior Ct. 147. Orlady, J., speak
As the opinion of the lower court upon which the Superior Court affirmed its judgment will appear in connection with this opinion, we need say nothing further in affirming the judgment of the Superior Court.
Judgment affirmed.
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- Contracts — Sales of personal property — Deceit—Voidable title —Conflict of laws — Bona fide purchaser for value — Notice of rescission — Evidence. 1. A vendor, who has been induced by fraud to sell personal property to a vendee, may rescind the contract upon discovering the fraud, not only as against the original purchaser, but as against a transferee, who is not a bona fide purchaser for value. 2. Where a contract for the sale of lumber was made by letters, one addressed to and received by the vendor at its place of business in Ohio, containing an offer, and the other mailed at the same place, accepting the offer, and the lumber was shipped from the same place, to points outside of Ohio, the contract is an Ohio contract and will be construed by the law of that State. 3. Where in such case it was shown that the lumber sold by plaintiff to the fraudulent vendee had been resold to defendant in consideration of the cancellation of a pre-existing debt, and that under the law of Ohio such a consideration did not constitute defendant a bona fide purchaser for value, and that defendant had had notice that plaintiff claimed the lumber prior to a resale by it to a customer, a verdict and judgment for plaintiff was sustained.