James Brooks represents that, in 1843, he traded his thirty-two-year-old field hand named Judy for a nineteen-year-old house servant named Martha, owned by Cornelius B. Moody. Moody warranted the slave sound, Brooks paid $20 in cash, and signed a note for $165 to make up the difference in their prices. Within a few weeks, he discovered that Martha suffered from scrofula, tuberculosis of the lymph nodes on the neck, thus rendering "her of no value." Brooks applied to Moody to cancel the trade but he refused. Brooks refused to pay the note, believing that Moody knew Martha, who has since had a child, was sick before the trade took place. Within a few months, a suit was brought against him by Hiram Moody on behalf of Cornelius. Judgment was rendered against Brooks and he was decreed to pay the debt. Brooks charges that he has been defrauded and is not liable to pay the debt. He prays that the previous judgment be perpetually set aside and that the Moodys pay him damages.
Result: Injunction granted.
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Repository: Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia
