25 Or. 51 | Or. | 1893
Opinion by
Does the foregoing lease express the intention of the parties to the contract, is the question presented by this appeal. To entitle a party to have a written contract reformed by a court of equity, the complaint must show that some relation of trust or confidence existed between the parties to it, or that there was fraud or misrepresentation, or that the means of knowledge as to the terms and conditions were not equally open and accessible to both parties: Archer v. California Lumber Co. 24 Or. 341, 33 Pac. 526. The complaint herein is founded upon the alleged fraudulent representations of the defendant, but does not allege that any relation of trust or confidence existed between the' parties. In Hawkins v. Hawkins, 50 Cal. 558, it was held that where the complaint did not allege that any relation of especial trust or confidence existed between the parties to the contract, or that the means of knowledge as to the terms and conditions of the writing were not equally open and accessible to both parties, a demurrer was properly sustained, f
Upon the question of misrepresentations by the defendant as to the contents of the lease, the plaintiffs do not testify that he or any other person told them that it, as prepared, contained all or any of the terms or con
“Fulton, Oregon, February 8,1892.
“I, the undersigned, testify hereby that the first monthly payment of twenty-five dollars between the fifth and twentieth of June begins for the year eighteen hundred and ninety-two between the fifth and twentieth, eighteen buudred and ninety-two; also no payments between the months in this year.
(Signed.)
“F. Kleinsorge.”
The plaintiff F. Kleinsorge testified that upon consultation with his wife, after the first lease was executed, they concluded that the defendant would be compelled to
Mr. Ohloff testified that he copied the description from the first lease, and that, finding it insufficient, he requested the plaintiff to procure his deed, that he might correctly describe the property, but that both parties claimed that it was sufficient, whereupon he wrote it at the dictation of the plaintiff, who told him he was leas
Grouping the facts and circumstances, we find the following in support of the plaintiff’s contention: The evidence of Mr. Kleinsorge as to the transaction; the fact that he leased four acres or less when he owned more; the circumstance that the defendant placed gates in the high board fence for Mrs. Kleinsorge’s accommodation, and permitted her to remain in possession of the house and garden; and that Mr. Kleinsorge, without any compensation therefor, worked for about three weeks assisting the defendant in addition to the donation of three months’ rent. Opposed to this we find the testimony of Prank Rickard that the first lease contained no reservation; that .the new lease provided for an increased amount of rent,
2. Every written contract carries the strong presumption that it expresses the terms agreed upon between the parties to it, and ought not to be reformed, except when' it clearly and satisfactorily appears that there has been a mutual mistake, or a mistake on the part of the plaintiff, accompanied by fraud upon the part of the defendant, or by such acts on his part as would clearly be inequitable between the parties. Tested by this rule, we do not think the plaintiffs have made the necessary proof to entitle them to the relief sought, and for that reason the decree must be modified in so far as it gave the plaintiffs any reservation in the property leased, or restrained the defendant from occupying any part of it. Modified. .