Wooddy v. Benton Water Co.

Citations

• 54 Wash. 124
• 102 P. 1054
• 1909 Wash. LEXIS 955

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and Purchaser — Remedies of Vendee — Damages—Deficiency in Area — Acceptance of Deed. A vendee can recover damages for a deficiency in the area of land conveyed, where the contract of purchase called for sixty acres of land out of a larger tract owned by the vendors, without other description; and mere acceptance of a deed conveying an irregular tract by metes and bounds does not bar a recovery, as the vendee could assume that it conveyed the quantity called for.</p> <p>Same — Fraud of Vendor — False Representations — Caveat Emptor. The principal of caveat emptor does not apply, and it is error to grant a nonsuit in an action by a vendee for damages by reason of'false representations, where it appears that the defendants represented that the sixty acres of land sold was so situated that it could all be irrigated by gravity from their canal; that over 28 acres was above the level of the canal and could not be so irrigated, which fact could only be ascertained by an accurate survey and was known to defendants, who had made the survey, and was unknown to the plaintiff; the modern tendency being to restrict the doctrine of caveat emptor which has no application if facts are peculiarly within the other party’s knowledge, although not exclusively so; such representations being actionable or at least making a case for the jury.</p>