Union Railroad v. Dull

Citations

• 124 U.S. 173
• 8 S. Ct. 433
• 31 L. Ed. 417
• 1888 U.S. LEXIS 1850

Syllabus

<p>In a suit in equity the court, in determining the facts from the pleadings and proofs, the answer being under oath, applies the rule stated in Vigel v: Hopp, 104 U. S. 441.</p> <p>The fact alone that after a contract was entered into by a'railroad company for the construction of a tunnel, one of its employes who neither represented it in making the contract, nor had supervision and control of the work done under it, or in the ascertainment of the amount due the’ contractors, was, without the knowledge of the company, admitted by the contractors to a share in the profits, affords no ground in equity for setting aside an award between the contractors and the company settling the sum due from the company under the contract after its complete execution, and the judgment upon the award,; nor does the fact that the enlploye' was a material witness before the arbitrators in determining the sum awarded furnish such ground, when there is nothing in the case to show that he stated what he did not believe to he.true, and when the weight of the evidence shows that what he said was true.</p> <p>Under the circumstances of this case the court applies the rule stated in Atlantia Delaine Co. v. James, 94 U. S. 207, that the power .to cancel an executed contract “ ought not to be exercised except in a clear case, and never for an alleged fraud unless the fraud be made clearly to appear ; never for alleged false representations, unless their falsity is certainly proved, and unless the complainant has been deceived and injured by them.”</p>