Opinion
(Spring Riding, 1805.)
If a plaintiff on a trial at law conceals facts which, if known, would have prevented a recovery, such concealment is a good ground for coming into equity.
THIS bill in equity stated that Fish discovered an error in the patent under which he held, by which error all the land he claimed was left out of his boundaries. It stated that Lane represented to Fish that the law would not admit of a correction of the error, and advised Fish to employ him (Lane) to cover it with a warrant he had to obtain a grant in his name, and to convey to Fish with warranty. It stated, also, that Lane engaged to take the notes of the complainant and his brother, and to return the notes to the plaintiff should he ever get the error rectified; and that the error was rectified, and that Lane would not give up the note, but sued upon it and recovered. It was objected for the defendant that the matter here stated might have been proved at law, and the plaintiff would thereupon have had the same relief as he now seeks.
It is also stated that the present defendant, on the trial at law, concealed facts which, if they had been known, would have prevented his recovery. Concealment of material facts is a good ground for coming into this Court after a trial at law.
The bill was therefore not dismissed, but, on issue, was made up and tried.
NOTE. — See Taylor v. Wood, ante, 332, and the cases referred to in the note thereto.