155 P. 365 | Or. | 1916
delivered the opinion of the court.
The $1,000 note was received by the defendant Frazier on the purchase price of a Cadillac automobile which he had sold to Parson. The transaction was genuine, and there is no evidence to sustain the charge made in the complaint that the transfer of the note to Frazier was a pretense and made only for the purpose, of enabling him to enforce the note as an innocent purchaser.
The remaining question is whether H. B. Parson made false representations as charged in the complaint. There is a sharp and irreconcilable conflict in the testimony of the interested parties as to whether Parson made the statements ascribed to him. The trial court found that Parson did not make any false representations, and that finding is not without weight, especially where the testimony of the litigants is difficult to reconcile. The circuit judge saw the witnesses, heard them testify, observed their appearance and manner of testifying, and on that account had the advantage of a species of evidence which is ofttimes of much weight and can never be preserved by a mere paper recital of questions and answers: Goff v. Kelsey, 78 Or. 337 (153 Pac. 103).
The judgment should be corrected so as to relieve Logan from any liability on the $50 note, but in all other respects the judgment is affirmed. Modified.