A contract for services or property may be voided if a Court finds there was “fraud in the inducement”.  In the Mississippi case of Great Southern Nat. Bank v. McCullough Environmental Services Inc., the Supreme Court held that “fraud in the inducement may arise when a party to a contract makes a fraudulent misrepresentation, i.e., by asserting information he knows to be untrue, for the purpose of inducing the innocent party to enter into a contract. Contracts entered under such circumstances are voidable by the innocent party; however, the innocent party must first establish the presence of the misrepresentation or fraud alleged, which requires proving, by clear and convincing evidence, the following elements:

(1) A representation; (2) its falsity; (3) its materiality; (4) the speaker’s knowledge of its falsity or ignorance of its truth; (5) his intent that it should be acted on by the person and in the matter reasonably contemplated; (6) the hearer’s ignorance of its falsity; (7) his reliance upon its truth; (8) his right to rely thereon; (9) his consequent and proximate” injury.
McCullough Environmental Services Inc., 595 So.2d 1282, 1289 (Miss.1992) (citing Johnson v. Brewer, 427 So.2d 118, 121 (Miss.1983)).

The party alleging fraud must establish through clear and convincing evidence each of the above elements.  Whether the elements are present is a question of fact for the determination by a jury.