Guilford v. Mason
Guilford v. Mason
Opinion of the Court
Whether the written agreement entered into on March 31, 1899, whereby the defendant agreed to sell and transfer to the plaintiff the stock in question for the sum of $8,000, was obtained by misrepresentation and fraud on the part of the plaintiff, as set up by the defendant, was purely a question of fact to be determined by the jury. And as the court fully and clearly instructed them that if the plaintiff did mislead and deceive the defendant with regard to the value of said stock at the time said agreement was made — that is, if he made any false representations concerning the same, and thereby induced the defendant to enter into the agreement aforesaid, then he would not be bound by said agreement — it must be presumed that the jury did not find that said' agreement was obtained by misrepresentation and fraud. And as the evidence was conflicting upon this question, it was clearly one for the jury to decide.
That part of the charge to the jury to which exception was taken by defendant is contained in the plaintiff’s first request to charge, which was as follows : '“The jury are instructed that this being a mutual contract, if the plaintiff was ready and willing to perform his part of the contract and gave the defendant notice to that effect, then the defendant was in fault when he failed to meet the plaintiff and deliver the stock.”
The court said : ‘c That is true, if you find that there were no false statements made which induced the defendant to make the pledge.”
The only ground of the defendant’s exception to the granting of this request to charge is that the contract in question was not a mutual one, but was simply an offer on the part of the defendant to sell the stock to the plaintiff at the price agreed upon, which offer was to he held open until April 10th, 1900, and the acceptance of which on the part of the plaintiff was to he made in the manner stipulated. In other words, the contention of the defendant is that said contract at the time of its execution was a unilateral one, as aforesaid, and that, owing to the failure of the plaintiff to pay to the defendant the amount agreed upon for said stock within the time *389 limited, in the agreement, the plaintiff acquired no rights thereunder.
The argument of counsel is as follows : ‘ ‘ Until Guilford has accepted the offer in the way provided for by the agreement, there is no contract upon which he can 'sue Mason, growing out of Mason’s offer. This acceptance is, under the terms of the agreement, by the payment- of money. Until Guilford has gone to Mason and offered him the money or a substitute as good as money, that is — certified checks and other evidences of indebtedness which pass current for money — he has not complied with the condition of the offer, and there can be no recovery by him because the offer has never ripened into a contract unless Mason has so acted as to prevent an acceptance of his offer by Guilford.” But the jury must have found that Mason did so act as to prevent an acceptance of his offer by Guil-ford, and hence we fail to see the force of the argument.
Petition for new trial denied, and case remitted for judgment on the verdict.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Arthur W. Guilford v. James Mason.
- Status
- Published