Cousineau v. Walker
Alaska Supreme Court
613 P.2d 608 (1980)
Walker (defendant) advertised his land as containing over a million cubic yards of gravel with 580 feet of highway frontage, and had an appraiser describe the property as having a good gravel base while specifically excluding any gravel valuation from the appraisal; Cousineau (plaintiff), who bought the land specifically for commercial gravel extraction, later discovered the property actually had only 415 feet of frontage and 6,000 cubic yards of gravel, and sued for rescission, but the trial court ruled for Walker on the theory Cousineau, as a businessman, should have discovered the discrepancies himself.
Whether a buyer of land is entitled to rescission of the contract because of misrepresentations made by the seller where the buyer relies on the misrepresentations, the misrepresentations are material to the contract, and the buyer's reliance is justified.