46 Iowa 571 | Iowa | 1877
We have examined the evidence carefully, and it fails to satisfy us that the defendant made any representation in bad faith. The case discloses the somewhat unusual feature, that the seller of property insisted that the purchaser should make a journey of several hundred miles, to ascertain by personal investigation the value of the property. This would go far to preclude the idea of a fraudulent design on the part of the defendant. But, aside from that, it does not appear to us that the evidence is sufficient to show bad faith. The evidence does indeed show that the defendant stated that Heazlet & Henika were worth about six thousand dollars, and it seems probable that they were worth considerably less than that. But according to the testimony of several witnesses who show themselves entitled to credit, that firm was regarded in the community in which they lived at the time the trade was made as worth six thousand dollars or more. At most we think that the defendant was merely mistaken. But the mistake was not, we think, such as to entitle the plaintiffs to relief. In the first
Some other things were said by defendant to the plaintiffs, respecting the financial ability of ITeazlet & Henika. We.do not deem it necessary to consider them in detail. They certainly do not amount to more than a clear statement that ITeazlet & ITenilca were able to pay the debt in question, and that was precisely what Webb Yincent went to Michigan to ascertain.
Several of the statements which the plaintiffs claim were fraudulent cannot be regarded as material. There is evidence tending to show that the defendant said that ITeazlet & Henika had promptly paid certain New York merchants of whom they bought goods, and that the statement was untrue. But this is not material. The trade cannot be presumed to have been made in reliance upon such fact. Heazlet & Henika might have been delinquent in their payments for goods and yet abundantly solvent, or they might have paid promptly for goods and been insolvent. The statement alleged to have been made about their payment for goods, and about several other things, were at most statements merely tending to show Heazlet & Henika’s financial ability. They were all subordinate to the main and only real question, and that was as to whether Heazlet & Henika were able to pay the claim which the plaintiffs were buying. Upon this question the plaintiffs undertook to judge for themselves, or at least had an opportunity to do so,
As to the value of the two buildings and lots which Webb Yincent saw, he must be presumed also to have formed his-' own judgment, and to have traded in reliance upon it. The eighty acres he did not see, bnt there is no evidence that the defendant said anything about the value of it, except that he believed that the security was ample. He did say that one Ered Berry knew more about the land than he did, and Fred Berry said it .was good security for sixteen hundred dollars. But this was only Fred Berry’s opinion, and if we should treat it under the circumstances as the defendant’s opinion, it would not entitle the plaintiffs to relief. No rule is better settled. In Parker v. Moulton, 114 Mass., 99, an action was brought by the purchaser of real estate to recover for injury sustained by false representations alleged to hate been made by the seller in regard to the value of the property. Colt, J., said: “ The affirmations here set forth as between buyer and seller, it has been repeatedly decided, will not support an action, although the .defendant knew them to be' false- when made. They concern the value of the land or its condition and adaptation to -particular uses, which are only matters of opinion and estimates, as to which men differ. .To such representations the maxim caveat emptor applies. The buyer is not excused from an examination unless he be fraudulently induced to forbear inquiries which he would otherwise have made.” See, also, Gordon v. Parmelee et al., 2 Allen, 212; Veasy v. Daton, 3 Id., 350; Brown v. Castles, 11 Cush., 348.
That Webb Yincent did not inspect the land when he went to Michigan was his own fault. This appears so, especially as the defendant did not claim to have much knowledge of it, and requested that the plaintiffs should make an examination and judge for themselves.
Reversed.