136 Ky. 751 | Ky. Ct. App. | 1910
Opinion of the Court by
— Affirming.
On August 1, 1905, the appellant, Phoenix Jellico Coal Company, leased to appellee, W. R. Grant, a certain coal field lying in Laurel county, Ky., and adjoining other coal property then being worked by appellant. The lease was to run for four years and nine months. By the terms thereof appellee was to build a tip house and make such other imjorovements as were necessary to operate the coal mine. He further agreed to work said mine in the usual or practical way of mining. He was to pay appellant a royalty of 10 cents per ton on all coal mined. Appellant agreed to sell appellee and his employes all goods and supplies at the same price charged its. own miners. It further agreed to furnish appellee a sufficient number of cars to handle the output of the mines. The lease contains other provisions which it will be unnecessary to notice. After the execution of the lease, appellee proceeded to carry out his part of the contract. By the first day of June 1906, appellee had become indebted to appellant in the sum of $2,-239.22 in excess of what the mine had yielded. Upon that date appellant and appellee entered into a new contract. This contract recited that appellee had become indebted to appellant in the sum of $2,239.22, and that he was unable to pay the same. The contract then provided that appellee was to pay appellant out
Charging that the contract of June 1, 1906 was obtained by fraud, appellee instituted this action against appellant for a cancellation or reformation cf the contract and for $12,500 damages for depriving him of the possession of the mine. After denying certain allegations of the petition, appellant pleaded that the contract of June 1, 1906, was obtained by fraud and that appellee himself was a party thereto, and therefore not in position to demand equitable relief at the hands of appellant. Evidence was heard and the case submitted to the chancellor, who held that the contract of June 1, 1906, was obtained from appellee by fraud, and it should be reformed so as to express the true agreement between the parties. The court then adjudged that appellee recover of appellant possession of all the property described in
According to the testimony for appellee, the contract of June 1, 1906, was prepared by appellant’s former president. Appellee is uneducated and was unable to understand the contract. When the contract was signed by him, the president stated that the writing was to be executed for the sole purpose of showing a settlement of the amount that appellee then owed appellant, and that appellant held a lien cn the property of appellee to secure the payment of said amount; that the contract thus obtained was in no way to affect the former contract between appellant and appellee. The former president was then attempting to dispose of his stock in the mine. Aftfer obtaining the contract in question, the president went to Cincinnati, showed it to the prospective buyers, and disposed of his stock to them.
• While the evidence took a wide range, and many matters were referred to. which it will be necessary to discuss, it is manifest that the only defense relied upon by appellant is that appellee was himself a party .to the fraud by which the new stockholders were induced to purchase, and that the court should require him to remain where he has placed himself by his own fraudulent act. We are unable, however, to
Appellee, on cross-appeal, insists that- he is entitled to a large sum by way of damages. The evidence shows that up to the time he ceased operating the mines, the mines were operated at a loss'. Since that time the weight of the evidence is to the effect that the mines have not been a paying proposition, although there is some evidence to the contrary. Being unable to say that the evidence-upon this-point does not support the finding- of the chancellor, his finding will not be disturbed.
Judgment affirmed, both on the original and cross-appeal.