95 Vt. 129 | Vt. | 1921
In January, 1920, the defendant and his wife, Rose Jerry, conveyed certain premises in St. Albans Town to the plaintiffs by warranty deed, reserving therein as follows: ‘ ‘ The said Peter and Rose Jerry reserve for their use and occupation northwest room exclusively, so long as they or either of them live or may desire to occupy the same, without any payment of rent or other consideration whatever, to be paid or rendered to the said grantee.” In February following Rose Jerry died, and in May following the plaintiffs conveyed the same premises to Fred Tourangeau and wife by warranty deed, without any reservation of.the defendant’s interest reserved in his and his wife’s deed to the plaintiffs. The Tourangeaus, shortly after the execution of the plaintiffs’ deed to them, learned that the defendant claimed the right to occupy the room reserved in his deed to the plaintiffs. The matter was put into the hands of an attorney by the Tourangeaus, and the plaintiffs were threatened with suit. To fix the matter up the deed from the plaintiffs to the Tourangeaus was cancelled, and the plaintiffs paid them $500.
This suit is brought against the defendant charging him in tort with having made certain statements to the plaintiffs whereby they were induced to give the Tourangeaus the warranty deed that was given without reserving the room reserved by the defendant in his deed to them. The statements of the defendant upon which the plaintiffs rely as the ground of their action in tort, and which the evidence tended to show, were as follows: That he would make no claim to said premises; that he would claim no right therein; that he would confirm the sale of said premises to said Tourangeaus; that the plaintiffs were absolute
The defendant was entitled to have his motion for a directed verdict in his favor, as well as his motion for arrest of judgment, allowed, and the court’s refusal to grant those motions was error.
Judgment reversed, and judgment for the defendant to recover his costs.