Cress v. Ivens

• Decision Date: 05 March 1912
• Citation: 134 N.W. 869,155 Iowa 17
• Parties: CRESS ET AL. v. IVENS ET AL.
• Court: Iowa Supreme Court

155 Iowa 17

134 N.W. 869

CRESS ET AL.

v.IVENS ET AL.

Supreme Court of Iowa.

March 5, 1912.

Appeal from District Court, Woodbury County; F. R. Gaynor, Judge.

Suit in equity by the plaintiffs named and others to recover of the defendants and P. C. Molan on account of fraud in the purchase of lands. There were judgments against the defendants Ivens and Andre, from which they appeal. Affirmed.Milchrist & Scott and Johnston Bros., for appellants.

Chas. D. Goldsmith and Pitkin & Smith, for appellees.

SHERWIN, J.

The defendants Ivens, Andre, and Molan organized a company, of which the plaintiffs and others were members, for the purchase of about 15,000 acres of Minnesota land of the Boston & Duluth Farm Land Company. The parties interested in the purchase of the land, including Ivens and Andre, entered into a written contract with the land company, whereby they agreed to take the land at $78,138, $18,138 of which was to be, and was, paid when the contract was made, and the remainder of which was to be paid in five equal payments of $12,000 each, with interest. Ivens and Andre were acting for their associates in the purchase of this land, and closed the negotiations therefor and took charge of the written contract. At the same time, they each entered into a separate written agreement with the Boston & Duluth Land Company, whereby the land company agreed to pay each 50 cents per acre for their services in effecting a sale of the land to themselves and their associates. The land was paid for in full, and Ivens and Andre each received from the land company the amount agreed upon for their services. In 1908, more than five years after the contracts had been made, the plaintiffs brought this action to recover of Ivens, Andre, and Molan their proportionate share of the sum received by them for their services, alleging fraud and false representations on their part. The evidence is quite conclusive that the plaintiffs were induced to join the defendants and the others in the purchase of this land through the representations of the defendants that the agreed price of $5.25 per acre for the land was a low price, and the best price for which it could be obtained; that defendants were not to receive any commission or be otherwise compensated for their special work in connection with the transaction, but that all members of the association were to be on an equal footing and were to pay equal amounts; in other words, that all were to be in on the ground floor. As in many similar cases, however, there was a cellar still below the ground floor into which the defendants Ivens and Andre secretly entered, and drew from the floor above $14,884.43. It needs no argument or citation of authority to demonstrate that they thus perpetrated a fraud upon those of their associates who had no knowledge of the transaction.

[1] At the close of the plaintiffs' evidence, the defendants moved that the petition be dismissed, because plaintiffs were not entitled to equitable relief, and...