Brown v. Search
Brown v. Search
Opinion of the Court
It is averred that plaintiffs were entitled to a direction of judgment in their favor upon the ground that the evidence in the case failed to show either a conditional delivery of the contract by defendant to plaintiffs’ agent, Dalton, or that such agent had committed any fraud by which defendant was induced, as claimed, to make, execute, and deliver it. The proof of the delivery of the contract is undisputed, and we find nothing in the evidence to show that the contract was not to be effective unless some future specified act was performed or some event occurred. No evidence aside from that of defendant was offered on this subject, and from that testimony it is clear that the delivery of the contract to Dalton in its completed form was not a conditional de
In respect to the fraudulent conduct of plaintiffs’ agent, which defendant alleges induced him to make and execute the contract, plaintiffs claim that the undisputed facts and circumstances show that the negotiations between Dalton and defendant, resulting in this- contract, were free from any material misrepresentations by Dalton, and therefore no grounds have been shown for an avoidance of the contract by defendant. The proof is uncontradicted that defendant declined to make a contract for the attendance of his daughter at plaintiffs’ college unless her classmates at the school she had theretofore attended should attend plaintiffs’ college at the same time; that Dalton thereupon represented to defendant that such classmates had determined to attend plaintiffs’ college for a course of instruction, and that he had secured contracts to that effect from the parents of three classmates, naming them; and that defendant was thereby induced to make, execute, and deliver the contract sued on. The falsity of these representations is not disputed, but it is averred that they do not constitute a representation material to the transaction embodied in the contract, and therefore do not constitute a fraud and cannot affect its validity. The representation was clearly germane to the transaction, and obviously was of such weight and importance to defendant as to induce him to bargain for a course of instruction for his daughter in plaintiffs’ college. The association with her former classmates while attending plaintiffs’ college was a matter of such substantial importance to defendant that he was justified in allowing it to determine his conduct in the transaction. This made the misrepresentation relevant and material to the negotiations, and furnished a
Under the terms of the contract, to compensate plaintiffs for giving his daughter a twelve months’ course of instruction in their business college, defendant obligated himself to pay them the sum of $120 in monthly instalments of $10, begin-nin'g on September 1st succeeding its execution in July. In the early part of October following defendant’s daughter was prepared-to enter upon the course of instruction, and then defendant became informed that none of her classmates'were in attendance at the college as Dalton had Represented they would be. Defendant thereupon omitted to comply with the agreement and refused to pay the amounts due and to have his daughter attend the college. Tie also claims to have mailed his copy of the contract to plaintiffs, but they testify that they never received it. No further steps were taken by either party to the contract until this action was commenced to enforce payment.
It is urged that defendant is estopped from interposing the ’defense of fraud for failure to give notice of rescission. This is claimed upon the well-established principle that, if a party to an agreement seeks total rescission on account of the fraud of the other party, upon being informed of the fraud he must repudiate the transaction promptly and return what he has received, in order to place the opposite party as nearly m statu quo as the circumstances will reasonably permit. The defendant omitted to comply with the terms of the agreement.
Exception was taken to the ruling by which the court excluded proof of payment by plaintiffs to Dalton for his services in securing this contract, It is to be presumed that they paid for such services, but this fact can in no way affect plaintiffs’ or defendant’s rights under the issues in this case. Upon the considerations above stated defendant was'entitled to judgment in his favor.
By the Court. — Judgment affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Brown and another v. Search
- Cited By
- 5 cases
- Status
- Published