Contract Annulment Due to Deceptive Misrepresentation of Consideration

The dispute arose from a contract where one party, having been induced to sign by deceitful representations regarding the value of the consideration, sought annulment of the agreement. The lower court had upheld the validity of the contract, finding that the alleged misrepresentations did not constitute fraud sufficient to vitiate consent under the relevant civil code provisions. The highest court, however, quashed the decision, reasoning that the trial court failed to adequately consider whether the deception, even if not rising to the level of outright fraud, sufficiently misled the deceived party regarding the essential substance of the consideration, thereby rendering their consent invalid due to a fundamental error regarding the object of the obligation, which is a recognized ground for contract nullity.