Buzard v. Houston/Dissent Bradley

by Joseph P. Bradley

United States Supreme Court

119 U.S. 347

Buzard  v.  Houston

I dissent from the judgment in this case so far as it directs the bill to be dismissed by the court below for want of equitable jurisdiction. The complainant had been induced to give up a contract for cattle made to him by the defendant, and to accept in lieu of it an assignment from the defendant of a contract which he had from a third person who was insolvent, and whose insolvency was not known by the complainant, but was known by the defendant, though he asserted that the third person was entirely responsible. The bill seeks to abrogate and set aside the assignment, and to restore to complainant his original contract, on account of the fraud and misrepresentation practiced upon him. Having been induced to pay $15,000 in the transaction, and suffered a large amount of damages, he adds to the relief sought a prayer to have his damages assessed and decreed. This is the case made by the bill. I think it is clearly within the scope of equity jurisdiction, both on account of the fraud, and from the nature of the relief asked by the complainant; namely, the cancellation of an agreement, and the reinstatement of a contract which he had been fraudulently induced to cancel. If the bill had prayed nothing else, it seems to me clear that it would have presented a case for equity. A court of law could not give adequate relief. The existence of the assignment, and the cancellation of the first agreement, would embarrass the plaintiff in an action at law. It is different from the case of a lost note of bond. Fraud is charged, and documents exist which in equity ought not to exist. I think the complainant is entitled to have the fraudulent transaction wiped out, and to be restored to his original status.