Scandinavian American Bank v. Puget Sound Machinery Depot
Scandinavian American Bank v. Puget Sound Machinery Depot
Concurring Opinion
(concurring) — I am of the opinion that respondent’s interest in the mill was such as gave it the right to have the engines remain in and a part of the mill by paying to appellant the balance due it upon the conditional sale contract, whether appellants consented thereto or not; since appellant had not at that time, as I view the situation, effectively exercised its right to reclaim the machinery. Until it did so, the mill company, the vendee under the conditional sale contract, could retain the machinery and consum
Opinion of the Court
This action was brought to recover a judgment for money paid to the defendant in consequence of its alleged fraudulent representations.
The court found the facts in favor of the respondent, and entered a judgment in its favor for the amount claimed. The court expressly found that the mill company had no property
The respondent was required to sustain its allegations of fraud by clear and convincing evidence. We think that it did so. In fact, the evidence as we read it is overwhelming in support of the findings of the court. Prior to the execution and delivery of the assignment, a representative of the appellant wrote the respondent that it had a conditional sale agreement upon the engines, that it expected this claim to be paid in full, that it was entitled to take the machinery, and that it desired to avail itself “of that course unless we can obtain the money in full settlement of our claim,” and that it was unwilling “to take the chances of securing a purchaser [meaning at a trustee’s sale] who will pay enough to liquidate all the preferred claims.” In other correspondence it referred to this conditional sale contract and to its preferred claim. It mentioned no other claim. On the day the conditional sale contract was assigned, representatives of the appellant met with representatives of the respondent, and the only question discussed was the conditional sale contract and the amount due upon it. When the assignment of
It is argued that, because the engines as installed in the mill were worth more than the amount received as a consideration for the assignment, the respondent was not injured, and that, in view of the fact that the appellant had the right at its election to remove the machinery, there can be no recovery. These suggestions are beside the question. We need not determine whether the appellant could have exercised its option to remove the machinery. It had not exercised it, and the correspondence and the oral testimony show conclusively that it did not desire to exercise it. It obtained the difference between the amount due upon the contract and the amount which it received either by false representations, or by a suppression of the truth, which was equivalent to a suggestion of falsehood. In either case, its liability is complete.
The judgment is affirmed.
Crow, C. J., and Main, J., concur.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting) — As I read the record, the appellant is entitled to a judgment of dismissal as upon an executed contract by the Scandinavian American Bank of Tacoma to pay the sum of $1,185.95; or there was no contract for the reason that the minds of the parties never met. I have gone through the record in this case, and I find nothing that in my judgment warrants the conclusion of the court below, and of the majority, that the appellant represented and warranted to the respondents that the balance due and owing upon the conditional sale contract was $1,185.95, or that any proof was suppressed or falsehood suggested. In fact, all of the concomitant circumstances makes it plain to me that the parties must have contracted with reference to the whole amount due from the machinery company to the appellant. Without discussing the testimony at length, it is enough to say that appellant had a conditional sale contract for the machinery; that there was a balance due of $681.55, and that the machinery company was owing $504.40 upon an open account. Appellant had a legal right to
Respondent has not only failed to make out a case of fraud by the clear and convincing evidence required by the law, but it has failed, in my judgment, to make a case at all. I am inclined to believe, and it is the more reasonable theory, that both parties acted in good faith. The bank may have thought it was purchasing the engine for the amount due upon it. It is certain to my mind that appellant never intended to sell upon those terms. A proper holding would be that the minds of the parties never met, and that the transaction lacks this essential element of a contract.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.