Nolte v. Reichelm

Citations

• 96 Ill. 425
• 1880 Ill. LEXIS 54

Syllabus

<p>1. Deceit—whether an action will. lie therefor-—of the diligence required of the party complaining. If a man represents as true that which he knows to be false, and makes the representation in such a way, or under such circumstances, as to induce a reasonable man to believe it is true, and is meant to be acted on, and the person to whom the representation has been made, believing it to be true, acts upon the faith of it, and by so acting sustains damage, there is fraud to support an action for deceit.</p> <p>2. In this case, a person holding a note for the sum of $394.06, secured by mortgage on thirty-six acres of poor laud, worth less than $50, proposed to sell the note to another, representing that tie mortgaged premises embraced a tract of eighty acres of good prairie land, worth $1000, at the same time knowing what the facts were, and that his representations were false, but the person to whom the representations were made, relying on them as being true, purchased the note, paying therefor the sum of $395. The land covered by the mortgage was situate only six or seven miles from where the parties resided, but the purchaser did not go upon the premises himself to examine as to the quality or quantity. The purchaser was a German, unable t.o read English, and relied entirely on the representations of the sellei- as to the quantity and description of the land embraced in the mortgage, and also as to its location and quality, the seller assuming to point out the land on a map, and to know of its value. The seller had, on former occasions, transacted business for the purchaser under such circumstances that the latter might reasonably have trusted him, and relied upon his representations. Moreover, the parties were upon terms of intimate friendship. There was too fact transpired pending the negotiation calculated to arouse a suspicion in the mind of a reasonably prudent person as to the truth of the representations. It was held, the buyer, under the circumstances, w