Court Opinion

ID: 7932340
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2022-09-08 23:05:47.737414+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T16:33:23.799453
License: Public Domain

Campbell, C. J.
{dissenting). I am unable to concur in the view that plaintiffs, by replevying a part of the goods which were fraudulently obtained from them by defendant, thereby lost their right to pursue him for ■ the balance by an action of assumpsit. The right which a defrauded vendor has to reclaim goods fraudulently obtained by the purchaser is not, in any just sense, an absolute ending of their relations. The case before us in no way differs from that where a vendor enforces a right of stoppage in transitu, which does not always secure all the goods sold. In such a case the law is now clear that the effect of the reclaiming of a part of the goods is not to destroy the vendor’s right to sue for the value of the remainder. It is more a matter of words than of substance, to hold that in such a case there is no interference with the contract itself; for, practically, a sale is very seriously interfered with by any retention or reclamation of the goods sold. Neither is it very important to inquire on what *184particular theory the plaintiffs’ rights are insisted on. There can be no doubt that if the contract is considered as rescinded, the goods not replevied and disposed of by defendant must be accounted for in some way. Whether treated as sold or as tortiously converted, the plaintiffs, according to well-settled rules, could always sue in assumpsit for the proceeds or value, and could do so under the common counts or specially. The demand for these moneys is not one for damages at large, as for a wrong, but is a pecuniary claim based on fixed rules of recovery. I do not think there is anything in our statutes, or in bankruptcy proceedings anywhere, which would prevent the proof of any such claim for which implied assumpsit lies; and it seems to me that any rule which cuts off such a redress would be in furtherance of the vendee’s fraud.
In Powers v. Benedict, 88 N. Y. 605, the doctrine was recognized that a partial recovery of goods, under such circumstances, did not bar an action for the remainder. We held, ourselves, in Dayton v. Monroe, 47 Mich. 193, that a person suing for fraud was not bound to return a note which was given for the consideration as a condition of suing. And it seems to me that no doctrine can be sound which puts a person to a complete election at his peril, and bars him from any adequate remedy against the wrong-doer. Our statute concerning claims does not cut off any claim which can be regarded as an obligation of the assigning debtor, and the right to a judgment and relief is the same as if there had been no assignment.
In a case of this kind no mere technicality should stand in the way of justice. That defendant is responsible for the unrecovered goods is beyond dispute. Being so, I think there should be a recovery as claimed, and that the judgment should be reversed, and a new trial granted.
Sherwood, J., concurred.