Opinion
4 Div. 329.
April 3, 1928.
Appeal from Circuit Court, Geneva County; H. A. Pearce, Judge.
Action by the Commercial Credit Company against J. P. Andrews, doing business as Geneva Auto Company. Judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appeals. Affirmed.
The action is for deceit; the complaint alleging that defendant willfully misrepresented to plaintiff the following fact, upon which plaintiff acted to its damage: Defendant represented to plaintiff, in an assignment of a conditional sale agreement to plaintiff by defendant, of an automobile sold by defendant to H. M. Canter, in reference to the buyer's (Canter's) integrity and ability to pay his obligations, that "We have always found Mr. Canter to be perfectly reliable;" that, relying upon said representation, plaintiff paid a valuable consideration to defendant for said sales agreement, which was secured by certain promissory notes of the buyer; that, after this transaction, plaintiff learned that Canter was unreliable; that plaintiff made demand upon defendant for a "purchase agreement" which defendant refused to make; that thereafter, and at great expense, the notes made by Canter have not been collected and the car has not been recovered. It is averred that, in making said representation, defendant knew it to be untrue and willfully and wantonly deceived plaintiff, etc.
On the trial, plaintiff sought to interrogate its witness Chapman as to the reputation of Canter, as to his reliability for the payment of his obligations, integrity, etc. To each of such questions the court sustained an objection, and plaintiff excepted.
J. L. Giddens, of Troy, for appellant.
Where fraud is involved, a wide range of inquiry and evidence is allowed. Hall v. Santangelo, 178 Ala. 447, 60 So. 168; Nelms v. Steiner, 113 Ala. 562, 22 So. 435; So. Loan Co. v. Gissendaner, 4 Ala. App. 523, 58 So. 737; Mann v. Darden, 6 Ala. App. 555, 60 So. 454; Dudley v. Stansberry, 5 Ala. App. 491, 59 So. 379. The affirmative charge should have been refused. Watson v. Reed, 129 Ala. 388, 29 So. 837.
E. C. Boswell, of Geneva, for appellee.
Brief did not reach the Reporter.
The sufficiency of the complaint was not tested by demurrer. Upon the conclusion of the testimony, the trial judge gave at appellee's request the general affirmative charge in his favor. In this there was no error. Even if the complaint, or any of the counts thereof, was sufficient as against appropriate demurrer, which we do not decide, we do not find any evidence supporting the allegation that defendant's alleged statement, that "we have always found Mr. Canter to be perfectly reliable," was false. What witness Chapman would have testified as to the reputation of Mr. Canter could have had no bearing upon the truth vel non of appellee's statement, the alleged falsity of which is the basis of appellant's claim.
The judgment is affirmed.
Affirmed.