Senter v. Monroe

Works, J. The complaint in this action avers, in substance, that the defendant represented to plaintiffs that E. F. Spence, J. F. Crank, and John D. Bicknell were the owners of certain real estate in the county of [348]Los Angeles, specifically describing it, and that he, defendant, was the agent of said parties, with full power to bargain, sell, and convey the same; that plaintiffs, relying upon said representations, bought from him said lands for the sum of $250, and then paid him on said purchase the sum of $62.50, and took from, him his written obligation, as follows:—

“This is to witness, that I have this day sold to Mary Stanley Senter and Adelaide C. Stanley, that certain lot of land described as follows: Lot 18, block F, town of Monrovia, for the sum of $250, and received $62.50, this day paid to me on the purchase price thereof; the balance to be paid as follows: $187.50 on or before seventeenth day of June, 1887, and-dollars on or before -18—. All deferred payments to bear interest at the rate of eight (8) per cent per annum from this date, interest payable annually, and if not so paid to be compounded with the principal; and to be evidenced by their promissory notes under the terms aforesaid, to be executed by said Mary Stanley Senter and Adelaide C. Stanley upon receiving an agreement from E. F. Spence, J. F. Crank, and John D. Bicknell to convey the said property. Deed to be executed when said purchase price, with all interest thereon, is fully paid.

“ Dated seventeenth day of June, 1886.

[Signed] “W. N. Monroe, .Agent.”

That plaintiffs have been ready and willing to execute their notes for the deferred payments upon receiving the agreement mentioned in said written instrument, and to do and perform all and every other thing required of them by said written instrument; that they have not received said agreement from said Spence and others, or either of them, or from the defendant, although they have requested the defendant to deliver the same to them; that they tendered to the defendant the full amount of said purchase-money and interest as pro[349]vided for in said writing, and demanded of him a deed, which he refused to give, and that he has ever since refused to receive said money or execute said deed; that said Spence and others had no title to said real estate, and defendant had no authority to act for them in the sale thereof; that between the time of entering into said contract, and the time fixed therein for making the last payment of the purchase-money, the land had largely increased in value and was reasonably worth three thousand dollars; that defendant knew that said parties had no title to said property, and that he had no authority to act as their agent in the sale thereof, and that plaintiffs had relied upon his statements to the contrary, but he had never informed them of the facts or offered to return them the money paid by them.