Smith v. Gray
Smith v. Gray
Opinion of the Court
This action was brought in the superior court of Spokane county, June 8th, 1907, to cancel and set aside a certain deed to real property in said county, made by defendants to appellant, and for a rescission of the sale of the land therein described. The complaint alleged fraud, in that the agents of the defendants sold and pointed out to appellant a certain five-acre tract of land adjoining Monroe Park addition to the city of Spokane, and represented that the said five-acre tract was the one defendants owned and desired
Moody and one Rogers, his partner in the real estate business, testified that respondent Gray listed a five-acre tract of land with them for sale, and pointed out to them on the map the land which they sold to the appellant. It seems that the property was listed, according to the testimony of Moody and Rogers, at the price of $1,000, $50 commission to be paid by the respondent, and that the land was sold to the appellant for $1,500, the agents turning over to the respondent $950. Whereupon a deed was made by the respondents to the appellant for the tract of land which it is conceded was not the tract of land which the agents pointed out to the purchaser, the appellant Smith.
An examination of the testimony in this case convinces us that a fraud was perpetrated upon the appellant, but that the respondents were not parties to such fraudulent misrepresentations. It is incontrovertible, however, that the respondents would be liable for the acts of their agent done in the
The judgment is affirmed.
Rudkin, C. J., Mount, Chadwick, and Fullerton, JJ., concur.
Crow and Gose, JJ., took no part.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Joseph Smith v. Jane E. Gray
- Cited By
- 7 cases
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Cancellation of Instruments — Rescission for Fraud — Election of Remedies — Laches—Time for Suit — Reasonableness. An action for the rescission of the sale of lands, for fraud of the agent in showing the wrong property, is not commenced within a reasonable time, and is waived by the election of the remedy for damages, where it appears that the agents sold plaintiff land for $1,500, which had been listed with them at $1,000, that in August 1906, the vendor informed the plaintiff that the land shown by the agents was not the land listed or sold to him, and in the spring of 1907, the plaintiff, before bringing the present suit, commenced an action against the agent for $500 damages upon hearing that the listed price was $1,000 instead of $1,500, and prosecuted no appeal from an adverse decision in such action.