Cloyd v. Reynolds

Citations

• 44 Pa. Super. 81
• 1910 Pa. Super. LEXIS 130

Syllabus

<p>Statute of limitations — Principal and agent — Fraud of agent — Concealment.</p> <p>1. Mere silence or concealment by a debtor may not, without affirmative misrepresentation, toll the running of the statute of limitations. Where, however, a debtor by actual fraud keeps his creditor in ignorance of the cause of action, the statute of limitations does not begin to run until the creditor had knowledge, or was put upon inquiry with means of knowledge that such cause of action had accrued.</p> <p>2. When property is delivered to an agent for sale upon commission at a distant point, while it is the duty of the creditor to make inquiry about his claim, it is likewise the duty of the agent to give him full and proper information in regard thereto when inquiry is made, and should the creditor be misled by the information thus given, within the time of the running of the statute of limitations, the statute will only begin to run against the creditor from the time he acquired knowledge of the receipt of the money by the agent.</p> <p>3. When a wrongdoer adds to his original fraud affirmative efforts to divert or mislead or prevent discovery, then he gives to his original act a continuing character by virtue of which he deprives it of the protection of the statute until discovery.</p> <p>4. Where a person consigns a horse to another to sell for a sum stated or more, with no liability on the part of the consignee, if the horse dies before a sale is effected, and the consignee sells the horse, and not only conceals the fact of the sale from the consignor, but also attempts to make the consignor believe that the horse had died, the statute of limitations does not run in favor of the consignee from the date of the sale of the horse, but only from the discovery of the fraud.</p>