Morris v. Courtney

Citations

• 120 Cal. 63
• 52 P. 129
• 1898 Cal. LEXIS 711

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and Purchaser—Sale of Land—Fraudulent Representations as to Quantity—Price Paid per Acre—Action for Damages—Recovery of Part of Price Paid—Rescission Unnecessary.—One who has been induced to enter into a contract for the purchase of land, in reliance upon fraudulent representations of the vendor, may either rescind the contract for the fraud, or ratify it and sue for damages; and when the vendor falsely and fraudulently represented that he owned and possessed ten acres of land free from streets, and assumed to sell ten acres, at a fixed price per acre, which the purchaser was induced to pay in reliance upon the representations made, whereas in fact the vendor only owned and possessed nine and one-tenth acres, and had previously conveyed nine-tenths of an acre for streets, the purchaser, upon discovery of the fraud, may demand a return of nine-tenths of the agreed price for one acre, and may maintain an action of damages to recover the same, with interest from the time of payment, and rescission of the contract of purchase is unnecessary.</p> <p>Id.—Right of Purchaser to Rely upon Representations of Vendor—Unknown Facts—Means of Knowledge.—A purchaser has the right to rely upon representations of the vendor as to facts not within the purchaser’s knowledge; and the vendor cannot escape responsibility by showing that the purchaser might have ascertained that such representations were untrue.</p> <p>Pleading—Demubrbb to Complaint—Stipulation as to Overruling Demurrer—Objection to Sufficiency not Waived.—A defendant, by stipulating that a general demurrer to the complaint be overruled, does not thereby waive objection to its sufficiency to state a cause of action.</p>