McFaddin v. Vincent

• Decision Date: 01 January 1858
• Citation: 21 Tex. 47
• Parties: JAMES MCFADDIN v. VINCENT.
• Court: Texas Supreme Court

21 Tex. 47

JAMES MCFADDIN

v.VINCENT.

Supreme Court of Texas.

1858.

Where there is great inadequacy of price, a court of equity or a jury will closely scrutinize the facts, and give weight to slight evidence of imposition and circumvention, where one of the parties is of weak intellect.

Error from Harris. Tried below before the Hon. Peter W. Gray.

Petition filed March 18th, 1855, in Brazoria county district court. Amended petition as follows: That sometime towards the close of the year 1853, plaintiff came to Texas for the purpose of engaging in the occupation of planting, and that he brought with him the following negro slaves, viz.: [Here followed the names, ages and alleged value of the slaves.] All of which negroes were slaves for life, and the undisputed property of your petitioner. During the month of November, in said year, 1853, he bargained with James McFaddin, the defendant in this suit, for his plantation in the county of Brazoria, situated about six miles below the town of Brazoria, for which he agreed to give him the sum of ten thousand dollars, two thousand dollars in cash and the remaining eight thousand in three promissory notes, each for the sum of two thousand six hundred and sixty-six 67-100 dollars; one coming due the first day of January, 1855; the second, the 1st day of January, 1856; and the third and last coming due the 1st of January, 1857. Your petitioner avers that he paid him the sum of two thousand dollars as agreed upon, and executed his three promissory notes as aforesaid, each bearing date the 13th day of November, 1853. The defendant at the time of making the sale above specified, misrepresented the value of the plantation to him, telling him of the many advantages it possessed, and of none of the disadvantages. He, the said McFaddin, overreached and defrauded your petitioner, by inducing him to pay an exorbitant price for the plantation, and then inducing him to sign a deed of trust, conveying said plantation and all his negroes above specified, to B. C. Jones, Abner Jackson and S. Strobet, authorizing them, as trustees, to sell the plantation and slaves for cash at public auction, upon the failure of your petitioner to pay said promissory notes above specified, or either of them when they became due, by giving only twenty days' notice; and also specifying that upon the failure of your petitioner to pay either one of said notes the others to become due. Your petitioner avers that he would not have signed said deed of trust had he known its stipulations; but he was imposed on by said McFaddin, who took advantage of your petitioner's unsoundness of mind and incapacity of making a contract about so important a matter, and he also misstated the force and effect of the deed of trust, making it appear to your petitioner a mere matter of form.

Your petitioner would further represent, that during the year 1854 he failed in making a crop on said plantation; that he and most of his negroes were sick during a great part of the summer; that he was greatly harassed and annoyed by certain creditors of his, who were continually urging him to pay their claims; which together with many other vexations and annoyances, so disturbed him that he was not in a sound state of mind, and that he was incapable of transacting business; that on or about the 14th day of November, in the year 1854, while in this state of unsoundness of mind, in order to get rid of the importunities of his creditors, and being urged by the said McFaddin, who followed him up for the purpose, in a fit of desperation and not knowing what he was doing, he reconveyed the plantation back to said McFaddin and also conveyed to him the negro slaves above mentioned; for all of which he has since learned he was to receive the sum of twelve thousand dollars, to be paid in the following manner, viz.: the said McFaddin was to give up the notes above specified for eight thousand dollars, which were still unpaid, and he was to give your petitioner his note on time for four thousand dollars; keeping the two thousand dollars already paid on the plantation by your petitioner; by which transaction your petitioner in point of fact was only to receive two thousand dollars for the thirteen negroes above specified, while they were worth at least, by the lowest calculation, ten thousand dollars.

Your complainant would aver that at the time the first transaction was made between himself and the said McFaddin, he was not of sound mind, and was incapable of transacting any business of importance, and that he was imposed upon by said McFaddin as to the terms and condition of the deed of trust he was in a manner forced to sign; and that owing to his many misfortunes and annoyances and troubles during the summer and fall of 1854, and for a long time before and since, and at the time of the last sale above mentioned, he was incapable of contracting or transacting any business of importance; and the said defendant, James McFaddin, taking advantage of his state of mind and unfortunate condition, overreached and defrauded him out of the negro slaves above mentioned.

Your petitioner therefore prays that the first sale above mentioned may be set aside on account of its unreasonableness, the fraud on the part of said McFaddin, and because the condition of your petitioner's mind was such as to render him unfit to make a binding contract of so much importance. Your petitioner also prays that the last sale above mentioned, may be set aside on account of fraud in the defendant, and the incapacity of your petitioner at that time to contract, and that the court render its judgment against said McFaddin in favor of your petitioner, that he return to him said negro slaves or pay their value in money, and that judgment be rendered against him for costs, in this behalf expended, and for such other and further relief as he, in equity and good conscience, may be entitled to.

Amendment of amended petition as follows: Plaintiff avers his readiness to deliver up the note for $3,910, and the amounts of money paid to the plaintiff by the defendant, with interest up to date, upon the said sale of lands and negroes made by Vincent to McFaddin being set aside and the title to said land and negroes being decreed to petitioner.

Answer of defendant, a general demurrer, general denial of all allegations not afterwards admitted, and special allegations as follows: That at the earnest request of the plaintiff, he, the defendant, purchased, for a full and valuable consideration, the plantation on which he lately resided in said county, containing about five hundred acres of land; and he also purchased for a full and valuable consideration, and at the earnest and often repeated requests of said plaintiff, all of the negro slaves named in plaintiff's petition; that said plaintiff executed his deeds and conveyances of said land and slaves; and that the same are duly recorded in the county clerk's office of Brazoria county.

And for further answer he says, that the said plaintiff, on the--day of March 1855, in said county of Brazoria, with force and arms, in the night time, broke open his dwelling house in said county, and chained and hand-cuffed this respondent in his said house, and forcibly carried away from his plantation in said county all of his negro slaves mentioned in the petition, and also the negro boy Leven and the negro boy Joe; all of which said negroes were in the peaceable possession and owned by this respondent on the day last mentioned; that this respondent with great difficulty broke the lock with which the plaintiff had fastened and locked said chain, and procured a warrant from Robert F. Clement, a justice of the peace for said county, and pursued said plaintiff and overtook him in Galveston county, where he had said plaintiff arrested, together with one Whiteman, and said slaves named in the petition; that he was put to great trouble and expense in recovering his said slaves from the plaintiff; that he was interrupted in the cultivation and management of his plantation aforesaid; that he suffered great mental anxiety by reason of the actings and doings aforesaid, of the said Vincent, and by the cruel treatment aforesaid, and has suffered damages to the amount of ten thousand dollars, by the actings and doings of said Vincent; and the expenses attending the recovery of said negro slaves have damaged this respondent ten thousand dollars; that the loss of his time in pursuing said Vincent and slaves, and the loss of hiring said slaves, are worth one thousand dollars. The said Vincent is indebted to him for the hiring aforesaid; that he is also indebted to him for meat and provisions stolen out of his smoke house at the time aforesaid, one hundred dollars. Wherefore he pleads the aforesaid sums in reconvention, and alleges that said Vincent is justly indebted to him in the aforesaid sums, for which he prays judgment and for the costs of this suit.

Amendment of answer as follows: That on the 14th day of November, 1854, he gave his promissory note to the said plaintiff for the amount of three thousand nine hundred and ten dollars; which said note was due and payable on the 1st day of February, 1855, and was secured by a deed...