167 Iowa 169 | Iowa | 1914
On March 11; 1908, defendants executed a bond for a deed in which they agreed to convey to plaintiff William Horn and one John Scott, now deceased, who is here represented by his administratrix, a tract of land described as “the west two-fifth (%) of the east half of the southwest quarter of section one, except that part lying north of Walnut creek,” and the coal underlying the land. On January 13, 1909, another contract was made between them for the sale of this property, with other property which had been misdescribed. In neither the bond nor the contract was any mention made of the number of acres.
In compliance with the contracts, defendants, on the 12th day of June, 1911, executed and delivered to the purchasers a warranty deed which contained the following description of the premises:
Plaintiffs claim that the tract contained but eighteen, instead of twenty-five acres, and they ask damages for the shortage in the land. Defendants admitted the execution of the deed, but pleaded that the words “twenty-five acres more or less” were inserted therein by mutual mistake, and were the result of false and fraudulent representations made by the purchasers, and they asked that the deed be reformed by striking out the quoted words. On defendants’ motion the cause was transferred to the equity calendar, and thereafter plaintiffs filed an amendment to their pleading in which they alleged that, by mutual mistake of the parties, the number of acres of the land contracted to be sold was omitted from the title bond and the subsequent correction contract, and asked that these be reformed so as to show that the sale was of a given number of 'acres. They also pleaded that defendants falsely and fraudulently, and with intent to deceive, represented and stated that the tract they were selling contained twenty-five (25) acres, and that the sale was made on that basis.
■ On these issues the ease was tried, and the trial court filed an opinion, from which we extract the following:
In the negotiations for the purchase John Scott took the more active part on the part of the purchasers. He died prior to the trial of the case, and, as a consequence, considerable
Our conclusions on the whole case find support in Lane v. Parsons, 108 Iowa, 241; McDunn v. City, 39 Iowa, 286; Mischke v. Baughn, 52 Iowa, 528.
The decree of the trial court seems to be correct, and it must be, and it is — Affirmed.