Edgington v. Fitzmaurice
Chancery Division
29 Ch. 459 (1885)
Edgington (plaintiff) loaned 1,500 pounds to a business controlled by Fitzmaurice (defendant) after being told the loan would fund building renovations and the purchase of horses and vans for the business, when Fitzmaurice secretly intended to use the funds to pay off the company's pressing debts instead; Edgington also alleged the loan agreement misleadingly implied the property's large existing mortgage would not come due all at once and that no other mortgages encumbered the property. The trial court found for Edgington on his fraud claim, and Fitzmaurice appealed.
Whether, to sustain an action for fraud, a plaintiff must prove that he was induced to act by a false statement made by the defendant and suffered damage from doing so.