Trice v. Comstock

Citations

• 115 F. 765
• 1902 U.S. App. LEXIS 4970

Syllabus

<p>1. Vendor and Purchaser — Innocent Purchaser — Assignee of Executory Contract.</p> <p>An assignee of an executory contract, giving an option to purchase lands, does not occupy the position of an innocent purchaser, but takes only the rights of his assignor, either as against the vendor or third parties.</p> <p>2. Equity — Right to Relief — Claim Arising Out of Fraudulent Contract.</p> <p>Complainants falsely assumed to be agents for the owner of a tract of land, and to have authority to sell the same for a certain price per acre. Their scheme was to sell the land secretly for a greater price, pay the owner the price demanded by him, and retain the excess. In this scheme they associated one of defendants with them to assist in making the sale. Such defendant procured an option from the owner for the purchase of the land himself, and assigned the same to his co-defendant, who made the purchase. Held, that complainants’ scheme was in fraud of the rights of the owner of the land, whom they assumed to represent as agents, and they had no standing in equity to maintain a suit to require an accounting from defendants of the profits realized from the lands, on the assumption that a trust relation existed between the parties.</p>