41 Neb. 789 | Neb. | 1894
This is an action instituted by the defendants in error in the district court of Cass county to recover damages for alleged false and fraudulent representations stated to have been made by plaintiff in error to induce defendants in error to purchase certain shares of stock in a street railway company and an electric lamp company. The petition filed in the district court states, in substance, that Frank Carruth, on August 27, 1889, was the owner of five shares of the stock of the Plattsmouth Street Railway Company, and also five shares of the stock of the Opperman Electric Lamp Manufacturing Company, and was a director of each of the companies and president of the street railway company, and knew the financial condition of each company and the value of the stock. Eva L. Harris and Frank Harris were husband'and wife and owned and lived upon •a tract of land in Cass county, the title to which was of record in the name of the wife. On the date, before mentioned they executed and delivered to Carruth a promissory note in the sum of $1,000, conditioned for payment September 1, 1892, with interest at ten per cent per annum from date until paid, and to secure the payment of the note executed and delivered to Carruth a mortgage covering said tract of land; that at the time of the execution and delivery of the note and mortgage they had no knowledge ■of the financial condition of the companies, or the actual or market value of the shares of stock, and in making the purchase of the stock relied wholly upon the statements and representations of Carruth, who stated and represented to them, iu order to induce them to purchase the shares of stock then owned by him, that the companies were solvent and in good condition and the shares of stock worth their par or face value, when it was known to him that the companies were then insolvent and,the stock valueless; that he further stated or promised that he would do all in his
One alleged error which is insisted upon in the brief filed by counsel for plaintiff in error is that the following instruction, numbered 2, was requested to be given in behalf
The only other question raised and argued in the brief is that there was not sufficient evidence to sustain the verdict. The argument made under this assignment is mainly directed to the proposition that there were no such representations made by Carruth, even conceding that he made them and they were untrue, and he knew them to be, so as would render him liable for damages, if any, suffered by plaintiffs; that anything he may have said was a mere expression of opinion, or referred to matters regarding the present value of the stock or the future prospects of the companies and the value of the stock in the future; but an examination of the evidence convinces us that he made statements during the coux’se of the transaction of the sale of the stock to the plaintiffs and to induce them to make the trade, and which were relied upon by them, in which he represented that the financial condition of the companies was then good; that they were solvent and were being well managed; that these things were untrue, and that he knew they were, as the evidence discloses that he knew the condition of the companies at the time of the sale of the stock to the plaintiffs, and as an officer of the companies possessed superior means and facilities for obtaining such information to those within the power or reach of the plaintiffs. While some portions of the testimony in x’egard to the above matters is somewhat indefinite and in some particulars not entirely satisfactory, yet we believe it to be sufficient to support the verdict of the jury, hence we will not disturb it. It follows that the judgment is
Affirmed.