23 Fla. 143 | Fla. | 1887
The appellee sued the appellant in an action on the case upon the following facts as alleged in the declaration: The defendant, Williams, was the owner of a farm in the State of Florida. The appellee, McFadden, was the owner of a farm in the State of Kentucky ; Williams had seen and examined the farm of McFadden, in Kentucky ; McFadden had never seen the farm of Williams ; Williams made a description of his farm in writing, and placed it in the hands of his agent and referred McFadden to it as a correct description of the property. The description is as follows : “ Pooger farm,” “ 40 acres land, 30 acres in cultivation. Dwelling house with six rooms and four (4) fire places ; house thoroughly finished and in good condition. Barns, stables, &c., complete and ample for general purposes in Florida; about 100 orange trees in bearing in the yard around the dwelling; grape fruit and bananas in full bearing; lemons, citrons, pecans, pomegranates, peach and apple trees growing upon the place, some bearing and others to bear; about 500 young orange trees in nursery from two to six years old, ready to be put in ground ; two fine springs of good water in the field ; good well in yard ; projected railroad line- runs through horse lot. Quality of land good, oak and hickory, produces 15 bushels corn, and 500 pounds sea island cotton, to the acre without the use of fertilizers. This yield could be doubled by the liberal use of fertilizers. One mile from church and two miles from school; location healthy and society good.” The declaration alleges that, believing the statements therein contained to be true, he made an exchange of his farm in Kentucky for defendant’s farm in Flo rida, receiving at the time from defendant five hundred dollars, which was the
“ To entitle a party to maintain an action for deceit by means of false representations, he must, among other things, show that the defendant made false and fraudulent assertions in regard to some fact or facts material to the transaction in which he was defrauded, by means of which he was induced to enter into it. The misrepresentation must relate to alleged facts, or to the condition of things as then
The paper introduced in evidence above quoted as to the Pooser place, if the defendant had referred plaintiff to it as a correct description of the land, was properly admitted.
The gist of the action for deceit is that the defendant made false representations, knowing them to be untrue. It naturally follows that if the representations, though false, were believed to be true by the vendor, that he could not be held responsible in this form of action. The fact of knowledge of the defendant as to the truth 'or falsity of his representations is for the jury. Manes vs. Kenyon, 18 Ga., 291; Ormrod vs. Huth, 14 M. & W., Exchequer, 651.
The judgment is reversed with leave to the plaintiff to .amend his declaration.