Leavitt v. Stansell
| Decision Date | 20 October 1880 |
| Citation | 6 N.W. 855,44 Mich. 424 |
| Court | Michigan Supreme Court |
| Parties | LEAVITT and another v. STANSELL. |
Conversion--agreement to sell certain property--evidence of--which of two contracts was the one made--erroneous ruling.
Error to Wayne.
D.C Holbrook, for plaintiffs in error.
Jasper C. Gates, for defendant in error.
Defendant in error Mrs. Stansell, brought trover for the conversion of a considerable amount of live stock, farm utensils and some other articles, which she claimed were taken from her wrongfully on the twenty-fourth of March, 1879, by defendants below.
Their right was derived from Sarah E. Warren, wife of John Warren who claimed to have purchased the property through a bargain made by John Warren with Garrett Stansell, husband of Dolly Stansell. The testimony on their behalf showed a written agreement between Garrett Stansell and John Warren whereby Stansell agreed to sell Warren a farm in Wayne county and the personal property in question in exchange for certain real estate in Detroit, and 75 shares of stock in the Detroit Machine & Manufacturing Company, with a further consideration of $2,500 in cash, and a second mortgage on the farm subject to a first mortgage, if not more than $3,000. This written agreement was made December 5, 1878.
On the eleventh of December, 1878, Dolly Stansell and Garrett Stansell executed a deed of the farm to Mrs. Warren and Garrett Stansell gave her a bill of sale of the personal property, and Warren and wife made the payment and transfers called for by the written agreement to Dolly Stansell.
To make out her case Mrs. Stansell introduced evidence to prove that she was not the owner of the farm and personalty and did not know of or authorize the written agreement or bill of sale that she made an agreement personally with John Warren upon the same terms as the written agreement, except that the personal property was to be retained by her and delivered over in case the $2,500 second mortgage was paid in 60 days. Defendants introduced evidence to show Mrs. Stansell's knowledge of and assent to the agreement made by Garrett Stansell.
John Warren was sworn as a witness and testified to the agreement for an absolute sale and that there was no such agreement as Mrs. Stansell set up; that possession was at once given of the personal property and retained till defendants took it under a chattel mortgage. He also testified to the circumstances of the passage of consideration, and the value of the stock and lot in Detroit which formed a part of it. He was then asked, whether in conversation with a Mrs. Kennedy he had not told her--First, that a span of gray horses, being part of the personal property in question, were worth as much as all the property he gave for the farm; second, that the real estate in Detroit deeded to plaintiff was mortgaged for more than it was worth, and that a year before he tried to raise $200 on it and could not get it; third, that the stock in said manufacturing company was good for nothing; fourth that he met Stansell in good humor and brought him into the law office and made out the papers so quick that he thought him under the influence of liquor.
To...
To continue reading
Request your trial