Zolkoske

Plaintiff sued for damages for fraud involved in the purchase of land owned by the defendent in Madera County and being a part of the Chowchilla Ranch. The cause was tried before the court sitting with a jury, which, by a vote of nine to three, returned a verdict in favor of the defendant. Plaintiff moved for a new trial. The motion was denied, and from the judgment which followed the plaintiff has appealed on the judgment-roll and a bill of exceptions.

A brief statement of the facts will suffice, as the only errors alleged and relied on by appellant arise from the instructions given the jury. The defendant corporation purchased the Chowchilla Ranch, consisting of about 107,000 acres, and subdivided it into lots of about twenty acres each for the purpose of sale to the public. The defendant, either directly or through its agents, sold the greater portion of the tract prior to the year 1918, at which time it had about 11,000 acres left unsold in scattered tracts. These remaining lands were very much inferior to the lands which had been sold, containing large quantities of alkali and hardpan, which made them difficult to sell, a condition which was well known to the defendant. In…