Hoptowit v. Brown

Citations

• 115 Wash. 661
• 198 P. 370
• 1921 Wash. LEXIS 787

Syllabus

<p>Fraud (6)—Reliance on Representations—Inducement to Act. In an action for fraud the complaint was sufficient as against demurrer, where it alleged that plaintiff was an Indian woman of very limited education, wholly inexperienced in business affairs, to whom land had been allotted by the United States government, for which a fee patent had subsequently been issued without her knowledge; that, while she was confined in a hospital, the defendant with plaintiff’s brother, on whom she relied for advice, falsely represented to her that, as soon as a patent issued, the government would require an immediate payment of $7,000 for a water right, and if this sum were not paid at once the government would sell the land and she would receive nothing therefor; that her brother (whose services had been enlisted by defendant for a cash consideration) confirmed the misrepresentations, and that plaintiff, late at night, while weak and distressed, yielded to the solicitations and signed a deed for the consideration of $7,200, the land being worth at the time the full sum of $20,000.</p> <p>Same. Under the rule that plaintiff is entitled to have his complaint, when questioned as to its sufficiency, tested by its allegations as a whole, a complaint for fraud must, he held sufficient, though no single one of the false representations made by defendant would in itself he sufficient to deceive a person of ordinary prudence, if their combined effect, when considered with the circumstances surrounding plaintiff, might he sufficient to induce a person to act who usually possesses more than ordinary caution.</p> <p>Same (4)—Matters oe Opinion—Exception to Rule. The rule that fraudulent misrepresentations of future events, or of law, are non-actionahle, though a person is deceived thereby to his injury, is subject to exceptions, and may not apply where one party is not as well informed as the other.</p> <p>Evidence (68)—Secondary Evidence—Facts Evidenced by a Writing Where a controversy in