The Evening statesman. [volume] (Walla Walla, Wash.) 1903-1910, 1904-07-08

Judgment for $500 obtained by J. 7.
Mulholland against the company Is
affirmed.
Mulhollands Judgment was for the
amount paid by him for 400 shares
of the company's stock. and was OH
tanned principally upon the showing
that the representations made to him
to induce him to purchase were fraud
ulent and untrue.
The opinion goes into the details Of
the transaction for the reason that the
principal ground for reversal present.
ed by the company was that the COM
plant did not state facts sufficient to
constitute a cause of ACTON in that no
tiduciary relationship was claimed nv
Mulholland between himself and the
company and that he made no allega-
tons that he was overcome by cunning
or was of frail body or weak mind,
Governed by Circumstances.
The supreme court declares that 1t
cannot be the law that a person of or.
binary faculties may never rely ON
representations made to him, even
though no tiduciary relation may ex-
list. While it is the duty of every
competent person to use reasonable
judgment in entering into business re-
11
| the circumstances in each case gov
ern the application of this rule In this
case technical knowledge of match
making would have been required on
the part of Mulholland to determine
| the falsity or truth of the representa-
| tiOns made to him as stated In his
complaint and the complaint states
| sufficient grounds for a cause of act
| ion.
The complaint under which Null
holland obtains judgment negatives
practically every representation made
| in the brilliant prospectus published
| in the early days of the company,
when it was proposed to revolutionize
| the methods of manufacturing match
| the methods of manufacturing
matches
How Company Was Organized.
The company was Incorporated with
| a capital stock of s1,2O0,00O, divided
i,,t1 .
s. each. Lucius r. Holes subscribed
for 239996 shares of the stock and
| the other four shares were taken by
! MulhOlland and three others. Holes
then transferred 1880 shares of the
stock to the company, which were
placed on the market to create
treasury fund. 1t was represented by
Holes that he was the inventor of the
Holes match machine, an ingenious
continuance that would manufacture
five times as many matches in day
as any other machine and at a cost Of
it would turn out S6,4OO,OO0 matches
all wrapped and placed in paper
boxes with advertisements stamped
on every match 1t was claimed that
letters had been received from the
trade" guaranteeing more orders for
matches than the plant could fill A
man was produced who claimed he had
seen the machine work and that it was
a success. Part of it was in Phila-
delphia and part in Seattle.
With this glittering showing before
him Mulholland bought 400 shares OF
treasury stock. He now contends that
all these representations were untrue
and that Holes never invented any
match machine. He demanded his
money back and when it was refused
brought suit and obtained Judgment.
The supreme court affrms the judg-
ment of the lower court.
The cases of Florence Woods, res
pendent, VS.. the Washington Match
company, appellant, and Robert w.
Dick, respondent, VS.. the Washington
Match company, appellant, involving
practically the same facts are also af-
firmed.