Kennedy v. Hasselstrom
Kennedy v. Hasselstrom
Opinion of the Court
By plaintiff’s -original complaint, she sought to recover the price -she had paid for certain personal -property purchased of defendant, basing such claimed right of recovery on an alleged rescission of the purchase. Her amended complaint, while containing an -allegation of an offer -to rescind --and a refusal of defendant to accept a return of the property purchased, contained all the essential allegations -of an action for damages caused bj' fraúd and' deceit. - Such alleged fraud and deceit consisted-in'false'representations that defendant was the owner of the
“■Since the commencement of this action the defendant having refused to agree to a rescission of the said sale and having declined to return to the plaintiff the said $440 or any part thereof', and the said personal property being then in substantially the same condition and of the same value as at the time of the pretended sale thereof by the defendant to plaintiff in February, 19x4, plaintiff abandoned and surrendered the possession thereof, and has at no time since then asserted any possession or control of the same.”
The trial court concluded that plaintiff was entitled to recover the full purchase money, “for and as money procured by fraud and false and fraudulent pretenses”; and rendered judgment therefor, which judgment recited that such money “was procured by the defendant from the plaintiff by fraud and by means of false and fraudulent pretenses.” From such judgment and an order denying a new trial this appeal was taken.
We find no reversible error in the rulings upon the admission of evidence, nor any questions raised upon such rulings as meriting discussion.
The judgment and order are reversed without costs to either party; and the cause is remanded to the trial court for further proceedings in harmony with this opinion..
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I cannot concur in the views of my Associates in this case. The complaint contains every allegation essential to a recovery of the purchase price of property inassumpsit, uploin :a rescission of a contract for fraud, and the ‘trial court found every fact which in law is essential to such a recovery. The majority opinion holds, in effect, that wheie the plaintiff has offered to return everything received under a fraudulent contract — in short, to do every act necessary to complete a -rescission — there has been “no accomplished rescission of the purchase.” If this means anything it means that the refusal of a dishonest defendant to accept a return of the property “ue
My majority Associates I think are wrong in assuming, in the face of the pleadings .and findings of the trial court, that the action, was, or could be transformed into, an action- for damag-es for -deceit, and then -holding the evidence insufficient to sust-a.in a recovery. The complaint alleges the making of the contract ; that plaintiff w-as induced to- enter into it -by false representations s-tated, and “that promptly upon the discovery of the falsity o-f such representations, this plaintiff -offered to rescind the said purchase and tender back to the defendant all of the said personal propenty, and -demanded of him that he should re-pay to- th-i-s plaintiff -the s-aid sum of four hundred forty (440) dollars, but the defendant wrongfully, wilfully, and fraudulently refus-e-d, and still refuses, to receive back the s-aid personal property, or to repay the said money to this plaintiff,” and alleges as her damages the amount paid -as the purchase price of the property.
The answer denies the fraud and the offer to- rescind. The trial -court found that the representations -alleged were falsely and fraudulently made -by defendant, and that plaintiff was induced thereby ¡to enter into the -contract, and “that promptly upon the discovery of the falsity of -such representations with reference -to the said personal property and the fertile agricultural lands above mentioned plaintiff offered- to rescind the’ said purchase, and tendered back to the defendant all o-f the said personal property, .and demanded of him that h-e -should repay to the plaintiff the said sum of $440, -but the defendant wrongfully, fraudulently, and unlawfully refused, and- still -refuses, to receive back the said personal property, or to repay the said money to the plaintiff,” and that plaintiff w-as entitled to recover $440, the purchase price, with interest ait 7 per cent, from the date it was paid to defendant. If this i-s not an action, as in assumpsit founded upo a a rescission of a fraudulent contract, for recovery -of the purchase price, as -disclosed both by the pleadings and the findings
Reference
- Full Case Name
- KENNEDY v. HASSELSTROM
- Status
- Published