61 Iowa 663 | Iowa | 1883
— I. The petition of plaintiffs is in two counts. The first alleges that, on the 27th day of July, 1881, defendant Hay, being in the business of selling clothing at Waterloo, ordered the goods replived, which belong to that line of trade, from plaintiffs who were doing business at Chicago. On the 29th of the same month, the order was accepted and filled, and the goods were shipped, and were received by Hay at Waterloo on the 5th of the following month. Before accepting the order, plaintiffs sought information of Hay’s financial responsibility from a commercial agency, to whom .Hay had made a statement for the purpose of its being used to advise those of whom he made purchases of his true con-, dition. Plaintiffs were advised by the agency of'the substances' of Hay’s statement, which showed him to be solvent, and worth, above his debts, more than $19,000. The statement was made by Hay, January 17, 1880, and no other one was subsequently made to the agency. Upon the faith of the report so made by the commercial agency, plaintiffs sold Hay the goods. Plaintiffs allege, in substance, that at the time the goods' were, ordered and delivered, Hay was insolvent, and had knowledge of his condition as it stood upon the books of the commercial agency, and that plaintiffs would seek imformation thereof from that source, and that, when he purchased the goods, Hay intended to defraud plaint
II. At the close of plaintiff’s evidence, the defendant asked the court to'withdraw the case from the jury and direct a verdict for defendants, upon the grounds: first, that there was no evidence tending to prove that Hay’s statement made to the commercial agency was, when made, false, or that it was made with a fraudulent intent, in order to obtain credit to which he was not entitled; second, that there is no evidence to prove that Hay, when he purchased the goods, did not intend to pay for them. The motion was overruled, and the decision of the court is the ground of defendant’s first complaint. The first ground of the motion is directed against evidence applicable to the first count of the petition. We are inclined to the opinion that it is not well taken. Erom a statement made by Hay as to his losses and business, reaching
IY. It is urged that the second count of the petition fails to allege Hay’s fraudulent intent not to pay for the goods, and his concealment of such intention. But the count does
Aeeirmed.