Rock v. Cauffiel
Rock v. Cauffiel
Opinion of the Court
Opinion bt
This action is to recover damages sustained by plaintiff’s decedent for alleged false representation made by defendant, a mortgage broker, with regard to the lien of a mortgage on real estate in the Borough of Ferndale, Cambria County, which defendant induced deceased, during his lifetime, to purchase. The mortgage in question was executed November 14, 1911, by Bertha and Paul Yerab, in favor of Samuel Helman, as mortgagee, and recorded November 20, 1911, in the recorder’s office of Cambria County. In the meantime, on November 15, 1911, defendant caused two judgments to be entered in that county against Helman, one in defendant’s favor and one in favor of a third person, which judgments became liens against the mortgaged property ahead of the mortgage in question. On January 2, 1912, defendant sold the mortgage to plaintiff’s decedent, representing it - to be a first lien against the land. The mortgage was not paid at maturity and foreclosure proceedings were begun, resulting in the sale of the property by the sheriff and its purchase by plaintiff’s decedent for a sum sufficient to pay the earlier judgments and a small amount on account of the mortgage. This action against defendant followed, to recover the unpaid balance. The case was submitted to the jury and verdict rendered in favor of plaintiff, on which judgment was duly entered. Defendant appealed.
The first two assignments of error complain of the action of the court below in refusing to strike from the record plaintiff’s amended statement of claim, on the ground that it set up a new cause of action after the ex
Defendant further contends the trial judge erred in admitting in evidence the record of the foreclosure proceedings under the mortgage in question, on the ground that the judgment entered was not in favor of George Rock as executor of the estate of David Wagner, but in favor of George Rock in his individual capacity. The purpose of this evidence was to prove the damages plaintiff suffered by reason of the preceding encumbrances against the mortgaged property. Counsel for defendant admits this evidence was an indispensable link in the chain of plaintiff’s proof, but argues it was incompetent solely because entered in favor of plaintiff in his individual capacity instead of as executor, and that, while the statement of claim avers the entry of judgment in the manner stated was by mistake, yet it is contended the offer of the judgment was not accompanied by an offer to prove such error. However, as the fact that a mistake had been made already appeared and the purpose of the offer was- apparent from the pleadings, as well as the proofs on record, the relevancy of the evidence was conceded, and the form and scope of the offer was within the discretion of the trial judge: Hall v. Patterson, 51 Pa. 289.
Defendant also contends that error was committed in permitting plaintiff to prove the sum for which the property was sold at sheriff’s sale in the foreclosure proceedings, as evidence of the measure of his damages, and argues that, since the property was bought in by plaintiff, it was at much less than its real value and that its market
The remaining question refers to alleged improper remarks of counsel during argument to the jury. The remark complained of is that defendant “first tried to
The judgment is affirmed.
Reference
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- Practice, C. P. — Pleading—Statement of claim — Amendment— Cause of action — False representations — Mortgage—Measure of damages — Evidence—Discretion of court. 1. In an action by an executor to recover damages for loss incurred by alleged false representations made by defendant to testator as to the priority of the lien of a mortgage bought from defendant, the statement of claim may he amended hy substituting a different date from that contained in the original statement, on which the representations were made. 2. In such case, the statement may be further amended by averment of facts merely incidental to the transaction, but leaving the substance of the claim essentially unchanged. 3. Where it appears, in such case, that, in foreclosure proceedings under the mortgage, judgment was entered, not in favor of the executor as such, but in his individual capacity, and an averment of such mistake is made in the statement, the record of the foreclosure suit is properly admissible in evidence, although there is no offer to prove the mistake. 4. As the relevancy of the offer of the foreclosure record was apparent from the pleadings and proof, and as the mistake had already been made to appear, the form and scope of the offer was within the discretion of the trial judge. 5. Where it appears that the executor bought in the property at the foreclosure sale at a price insufficient to pay the mortgage debt in full, after the payment of prior judgments as to which misrepresentations were made, the measure of damages is the difference between the value of the property as security, if statements made by defendant had been true, and its value as shown by the result of the sale, in the manner prescribed in the mortgage. 6. The disposition of the property later, whether the executor kept it or sold it or gave it away, and whether it was in fact of a greater value than the amount realized by the sale, is immaterial. Practice, C. P. — Trial—Improper remarles of counsel — Withdrawing juror — Discretion of court. 7. In an action to recover damages for a loss occasioned by fraudulent representations by defendant, a remark of plaintiff’s counsel that defendant ‘Fad first tried to defraud” another person named, is not ground for reversing a judgment for plaintiff, because the court refused to withdraw a juror, if it appears that the court promptly instructed the jury to disregard the statement, with the further instruction that there was no evidence of an attempt to defraud the other person, and, even if there were, it was no part of the case being tried.