Walker v. Callendar
Walker v. Callendar
Opinion of the Court
— In December, 1917, the appellants, Walker and wife, were the owners of a forty-acre tract of farm land located in King county, near the town of Enumclaw, and the respondents Callendar and wife were the owners of a tract of logged-off land located in Mason county, containing approximately 240 acres. During that month Callendar and Walker made a
There are two principal questions involved in this case: (1) Did Adams so point out the Mason county land as to authorize the appellants to rely upon his representations that it was the land owned by the Callendars; and (2), if the above question be answered favorably to the appellants, then was Adams the agent of the Callendars for the purpose of showing their land to the appellants?
The additional facts are as follows: Callendar testified that, some time prior to the trade involved in this action, the appellants listed their farm with Adams for sale; that Adams spoke to him about the land and asked him if he would not buy or trade for it. Callendar told him he had 240 acres of logged-off land in Mason county which he might trade for the farm, and
In determining whether the nonsuit was properly granted, this court must look at appellants ’ testimony in that light which is most favorable to them. The respondents contend that, even under this rule, it must be held that appellant H. F. Walker had as much knowledge concerning the Callendar land as Adams had; that he could, as well as the latter, locate the land,
“Representations, as of his own knowledge, of material and inducing facts susceptible of knowledge, made by a vendor in ignorance of the facts, but with the knowledge that the vendee is relying upon the representations as true and under circumstances reasonably excusing the vendee from investigating for himself, are actionable on the part of a vendee so relying to his injury.”
Again, in the case of Lawson v. Burnham, 38 Wash. 422, 80 Pac. 559, 107 Am. St. 880, this court said:
“The prevailing doctrine is that, if a person states as true, as of his own knowledge, material facts susceptible of knowledge, to one who relies and acts thereon to his injury, he cannot defeat recovery by showing that he dad not know that his representations were false, or that he believed them to be true. The falsity and fraud consists in representing that to be true which he did not know to be true.”
“Prom numerous decisions of this court, it has become the settled doctrine that the vendor, when he undertakes to point out lands or boundaries to a purchaser, must do so correctly. He has no right to make a mistake except under penalty of having the contract rescinded or responding in damages.”
Respondents, however, cite and greatly rely upon the case of Stewart v. Larkin, 74 Wash. 681, 134 Pac. 186, L. R. A. 1916B 1069. We think, however, that the law of that case is inapplicable to the facts of the case at bar. There it was sought to rescind and recover the purchase price on the ground that the landowner, in order to induce the purchaser to buy, falsely represented that the land would be irrigable by means of a canal or ditch as part of a certain irrigation project. None of the parties in that case knew anything about the proposed ditch except by hearsay. The landowner did not pretend to have any control over the location of the ditch, and the purchaser knew as much as the landowner about these matters. The fundamental difference between that case and this seems to us at once manifest. It is that the parties in that case were on an equality, while here they were not.
The conclusion to which we have come will require a reversal of the case as to respondent Adams, and also as to respondents Callendar and wife, unless the testimony fails to show that Adams was authorized to, and did, represent Callendar and wife as their agent in pointing out to appellant H. P. Walker the land in question. The testimony tends to show that Callendar had made Adams his agent for the purpose of making the trade in question; that he had given Adams a tax receipt showing a description of the land; whether the tax receipt was given by Callendar on his own initiative
*523 “In other words, the declarations of Jansson as to the scope of his power and anthority were received. This was error. Neither the fact of agency, nor the scope of the agent’s anthority, can he established by the declarations of the alleged agent in the absence of the principal. The fact that the agency may be admitted for one purpose does not make the admissions and declarations of the agent, which are not known to or acquiesced in by the principal, admissible for the purpose of establishing the scope or extent of his authority.”
Many authorities are cited in that opinion in support of the views of the court.
In the case of Gregory v. Loose, 19 Wash. 599, 54 Pac. 33, the court said:
“It was also error, we think, to permit certain witnesses to testify as to what this supposed agent told them that appellant said or had concluded to do, with respect to this logging road. This was clearly hearsay testimony, and hence not admissible. Nor were the acts and declarations of Mathews competent evidence in proof of agency.”
We therefore conclude that there was no proof that Adams was Callendar’s agent for the purpose of showing Walker these lands, and that Callendar was not responsible for any false or misrepresentation made by Adams concerning the land.
The judgment is affirmed as to the respondents Callendar and wife and reversed as to respondent Adams.
Holcomb, C. J., Fullerton, Mount, and Mackintosh, JJ., concur.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Hugh F. Walker v. M. E. Callendar
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- Fraud (4)—Misrepresentations—Matters oe Fact or Opinion. In an action for the fraud of a real estate agent in pointing out the wrong land to a prospective purchaser, the agent’s statements that he was satisfied that1 it was the land in question were not, as a matter' of law, mere expressions of opinion, where the agent claimed to have such a description and knowledge of the land as to enable him to identify it, although he had never before seen it. Principal and Agent (9)—Evidence of Agency—Sufficiency. In an action against the owner of land for fraud of the agent in pointing out the wrong land, the evidence is insufficient to show that he was agent for the purpose of pointing out the land where it merely appears that he was the broker authorized to make the trade, and that the owner suggested that plaintiff go and see the land, and that the two had had considerable other business between themselves, and the owner was to pay part of the commission. Same (41)—Authority of Agent—Declarations of Agent. The authority of a real estate broker to show land belonging to his principal cannot be shown by declarations of the agent.