Opinion of the Court. milled for two years or more and had yielded, in gold, an average of $23.78 per ton; that the value of the bullion produced from the mine for the twelve months ending with January, 1892, inclusive, was $57,879.78, and the total expense of production $15,500; that the estimated total bullion product from the mine after its discovery down to on or about February 1, 1892, was $317,879.78; that beyond all doubt the ore averaged at least $18 per ton in gold; that the mine contained 44,733 tons of gold ore in reserve, of the net value of $805,186, and also 37,333 tons of gold ore in sight, of the net value of $761,094, and that the mines and mining claims had a very large prospective value in addition thereto; that the gold-bearing vein in the mine was a permanent and lasting one, and that the property under energetic management should produce from $30,000 to $40,000 per month net, and keep the development even with the output; together with other statements of fact in regard to the property, each and all of which were false and fraudulent, representing said report to be just, accurate and true, although knowing the same to be false and fraudulent; That during the course of a mill run of the mine made by the plaintiffs for the purpose of testing the value of the ores contained therein, the defendant falsely and fraudulently, and with intent thereby to deceive and defraud them, placed and caused to be placed, in and among the ores to be reduced in the mill run, exceptionally rich specimens of ore that were not part of the ordinary production of the mine, and placed and caused to be placed therein large quantities of exceptionally rich ore that had been mined on the premises, but reserved by him over a long period of time, and which contained gold far in excess of the average amount carried by the ore produced from the mine, and caused false and fraudulent representations to be made as to the amount of ore run through the mill at that time, understating the same, with the intent and result, that a much larger production of gold might seem to be produced from the ore reduced than was just and true; and, That the defendant falsely and fraudulently, and with the intent thereby to deceive and defraud the plaintiffs, represented to them that certain portions of the mine, from which all the Opinion of the Court. valuable ore had been extracted, were still solid and untouched, and blocked up the entrance to such excavations with timber, which he falsely and fraudulently stated was placed in the mine for the purpose of support, and that it was dangerous to remove the same, with the intent and result of thereby preventing the plaintiffs and their representatives from investigating the condition of the mine; and falsely and fraudulently, and with the intent to thereby deceive and defraud the plaintiffs, changed certain bullion returns as to past production, misstating the quantities of ore producing the bullion so as to show a much larger and richer production of gold from the ore mined than had in fact been made. It was alleged that all these representations were made and all these acts were done and caused to be done in the full knowledge that they were false and fraudulent and calculated to deceive and defraud, and with the intent and result that the same should be communicated to the plaintiffs, and thereby deceive and defraud them, inducing the belief that the land, mine and mining claim were worth at least the sum of $1,000,000. The complaint further alleged that if said representations, reports and mill run had been true and accurate, the property would have been reasonably worth $1,000,000, whereas, as the defendants knew at the time, it was worth practically little or nothing; that, relying upon the representations, reports and mill run mentioned, the plaintiffs purchased the property for the sum of $400,000, paying $150,000 in cash, and executing notes and mortgages upon the property to the amount of $225,000, as part of the price; and had paid, laid out and expended large sums of money on the property in the attempt to develop it. The plaintiffs therefore claimed that they had suffered damage to the amount of $1,000,000, for which they prayed judg ment. The defendant denied each and every allegation of the complaint. He specifically denied that he ever made any representations to the plaintiffs, directly or indirectly, through Griffith or at all, in reference to the property, or that he ever sold it to or received any money from them on account of it. Opinion of the Court. It may be here stated that there was evidence in the case tending to show that the negotiations for the property were between the plaintiffs and Griffith, and it was a question whether Griffith was to be deemed in any sense an agent of Sigafus in the sale of the property to the plaintiffs. It was also a question whether the defendant did or caused to be done anything that was calculated to mislead and deceive, or did in fact mislead and deceive the plaintiffs in their preliminary examination of the property by an expert, whereby they were induced to think that it had a value which, within the defendant's knowledge, it did not really possess. There was a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs for $330,275. A motion for new trial having been denied, judgment was entered for the amount of the verdict. The case was carried to the Circuit Court of Appeals, and that court, while sustaining the rulings of the trial court on questions involving the admission and exclusion of evidence, left certain points undisposed of in order that the question raised by them could be certified to this court. The Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Lacombe delivering the opinion of the court-among other things said: "The only remaining assignments of error are the twenty-sixth, to so much of the charge as instructed the jury that the 'measure of damages is the difference between the value of the property as it proved to be and as it would have been as represented,' and the twenty-eighth, to the refusal to charge substantially that the measure of damages is the money plaintiffs had paid out for the mine with interest and any other outlay legitimately attributable to defendant's fraudulent conduct, less the actual value of the mine when plaintiffs bought it. In view of the recent opinion in Smith v. Bolles, 132 U. S. 125, this court desires the instruction of the Supreme Court for its proper decision of the question arising upon these two assignments of error. A certificate in the form required by the act of March 3, 1891, has therefore been prepared and will be forwarded to the Supreme Court. The fact that instructions are thus desired as to a single question out of the many arising upon this writ of error affords no sufficient ground for withholding the decision of this court as to the other questions in the cause. Compton v. Wabash Opinion of the Court. Railroad, 31 U. S. App. 486. This opinion is therefore placed on file, and when instructions are received as to the questions certified the cause will be finally disposed of." 51 U. S. App. 693; 84 Fed Rep. 430, 439. This case was heard here upon the question certified from the Circuit Court of Appeals. But after it was argued and submitted, this court directed the entire record to be sent up, and the case is now before us upon writ of certiorari. 1. At the trial in the Circuit Court, the evidence in behalf of the plaintiffs being closed, the defendant moved to dismiss the complaint upon several grounds, one of which was that the contract in relation to the property in question was alone with Griffith. That motion was denied, and the defendant then introduced evidence in his behalf. The Circuit Court of Appeals properly held that as the defendant did not rest upon the denial. of his motion to dismiss, but introduced evidence, he could not assign the refusal to dismiss as error. Columbia & Puget Sound Railroad v. Hawthorne, 144 U. S. 202; Union Pacific Railway v. Daniels, 152 U. S. 684; Runkle v. Burnham, 153 U. S. 216. 2. After calling attention to the material issues of fact, and after stating the general propositions of law upon which, when applied to the evidence, the rights of the parties depended, the Circuit Court charged the jury: "The measure of damages in actions of this nature is the dif ference between the value of the property as it proved to be and as it would have been as represented. You may find that the plaintiffs were influenced by one or more and not by all of the representations, and to the extent that the plaintiffs have been injured by one of several misrepresentations, they are entitled to recover for that; that is, if you find the various issues of fact which I have left for your consideration in favor of the plaintiffs." To the giving of this instruction the defendant took an exception. The defendant asked that the jury be instructed as follows: "If the jury find for the plaintiffs, they can only find as damages the direct pecuniary loss, if any, the plaintiffs suffered by reason of the false and fraudulent representations and acts of Opinion of the Court. the defendant, and the value of the mine, if the same had been as represented, affords no proper element of recovery. The value of the mine when plaintiffs bought it must be applied in reducing and extinguishing the plaintiffs' loss." The Circuit Court refused to give this instruction, and to such refusal the defendant took an exception. The question presented by the charge to the jury touching the measure of damages has been heretofore determined by this court in Smith v. Bolles, 132 U. S. 125, 129. That was an action to recover damages for alleged fraudulent representations in the sale of four thousand shares of mining stock at the price of $1.50 per share, that is, $6000. The petition alleged that the stock was wholly worthless, but would have been worth at least ten dollars per share, that is, $40,000, if it had been as represented by defendant. The prayer was for $40,000 as damages arising from the sale of shares of stock for which only $6000 was paid. The trial court instructed the jury that "the measure of recovery is generally the difference between the contract price and the reasonable market value if the property had been as represented to be, or in case the property or stock is entirely worthless, then its value is what it would have been worth if it had been as represented by the defendant, and as may be shown in the evidence." This court held that instruction to be erroneous. Speaking by the Chief Justice we said: "The measure of damages was not the difference between the contract price and the reasonable market value if the property had been as represented to be, even if the stock had been worth the price paid for it; nor if the stock were worthless, could the plaintiff have recovered the value it would have had if the property had been equal to the representations. What the plaintiff might have gained is not the question, but what he had lost by being deceived into the purchase. The suit was not brought for breach of contract. The gist of the action was that the plaintiff was fraudulently induced by the defendant to purchase stock upon the faith of certain false and fraudulent representations, and so as to the other persons on whose claims the plaintiff sought to recover. If the jury believed from the evidence that the defendant was |