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Morse v. Hutchins

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

102 Mass. 439 (1869)

Facts

Morse (plaintiff) successfully sued Hutchins (defendant) for breach of contract and tortious deceit in regard to Morse’s purchase of Hutchins’s interest in a business. The trial court found for Hutchins on the contract charge and for Morse on the tort charge. The trial judge instructed the jury that the measure of Morse’s damages for tort was the difference between the actual value of Hutchins’s interest at the time of Morse’s purchase and the property’s value if it had been what Hutchins represented it to be. Hutchins appealed to the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court, which addressed the propriety of the trial judge’s instruction on damages.

Rule of Law

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Issue

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Holding and Reasoning (Gray, J.)

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A "yes" or "no" answer to the question framed in the issue section;
A summary of the majority or plurality opinion, using the CREAC method; and
The procedural disposition (e.g., reversed and remanded, affirmed, etc.).

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