Townsend v. Tufts
Townsend v. Tufts
Opinion of the Court
Defendants demurred to the complaint, the demurrer was sustained, and the plaintiff having declined to amend, judgment passed for defendants; from which judgment the plaintiff appeals.
The facts alleged in the complaint are, that on March 6, 1888, the defendants entered into a contract with one Parkovitch, whereby they agreed to sell, and said Parkovitch agreed to buy, a certain parcel of land for the sum
The complaint further alleges that time was made the essence of the contract by express terms; that on March 28,1889, Parkovitch assigned said contract, and all sums of money paid thereon, to the plaintiff, of all which defendants had notice; that at the maturity of the contract defendants failed and refused, and ever since have failed and refused, to convey; that neither plaintiff nor Parkovitch have ever been in possession (the lands being vacant and unoccupied), and that defendants have not paid to plaintiff any part of the eight hundred dollars so received by them.
The complaint contains no allegation of the payment, nor of any tender or offer to pay either of the deferred payments, nor of any demand for a deed of conveyance, nor of any inability to convey, nor of any rescission, mutual or otherwise, of the contract, unless the failure of the defendants to make and tender a deed to the plaintiff on the sixth 'day of March, 1890 (that being the day specified in the contract for the payment of the last installment of the purchase-money and for the conveyance of the land), should be held to operate as a rescission or termination of the contract; and this is the sole ground upon which appellant seeks to reverse the judgment.
The appellant contends that by the failure of defendants to tender a deed on that day the contract ceased to exist, and that thereupon he became entitled to recover back the money paid; and cites Cleary v. Folger, 84 Cal. 316; 18 Am. St. Rep. 187; Drew v. Pedlar, 87 Cal. 443; 22 Am. St. Rep. 257; and White v. Buell, 90 Cal. 177.
The last two cases cited are clearly distinguishable
Under the well-settled authorities, the plaintiff, under the terms of this contract, must have tendered performance, and alleged such tender, to enable him to maintain his action, unless he could excuse his failure to make the tender by alleging his ability and readiness to pay, and that the tender was not made because of defendants’ refusal to perform on their part. Besides, in the absence of an allegation that the first deferred payment had been made, the plaintiff having specified, and seeking to recover, only the payment made at the date of the contract, the complaint shows a breach of the contract on his part a full year before defendants were required to convey.
In White v. Buell, 90 Cal. 177, cited by counsel, the purchaser had the right, under the contract, to terminate it by forfeiting the first payment of one thousand dollars, his failure to pay either the first or second deferred payments operating, by the express terms of the contract, as a termination of it, the penalty therefor being the forfeiture of the payment made at the date of the contract only, and not of the subsequent payment, which he was permitted to recover back.
Cleary v. Folger, 84 Cal. 316, 18 Am. St. Rep. 187, also cited by counsel for appellant, has been overruled upon the point to which it is cited in Newton v. Hull, 90 Cal. 487.
The complaint contains, four counts, or causes of- action, each upon a separate contract, but as all are stated in the same terms and allege the same facts, it is not necessary to notice them further.
Vanclief, C., and Belcher, C., concurred.
For the reasons given in the foregoing-opinion, the judgment is affirmed.
Paterson, J., Harrison, J., Garoutte, J.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- FRANK N. TOWNSEND v. J. Q. TUFTS
- Cited By
- 9 cases
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- Syllabus
- Vendor and Purchaser — Action to Recover Purchase-money Paid — Time oe Essence—Pleading — Insufficient Complaint-—Want of Performance by Plaintiff. — A complaint by a purchaser to recover money paid upon a contract for the purchase of laud, which alleges that by the terms of the contract the sum sued for was to be paid down, and • the remainder of the purchase-money was to be paid in installments, and that upon the payment of the last installment the vendor was to execute a deed of the land; that time was made the essence of the contract by express terms; and that at the maturity of the contract the vendors failed and refused to execute a deed; but which does not allege a payment of any deferred installments, or a tender of performance, or an excuse for a failure to make the tender, or any rescission of the contract, — does not state a cause of action. Id.—Mutual Neglect to Perform—Rescission — First Breach by Purchaser — Tender and Demand of Conveyance.—The mere neglect of both parties to such contract to perform the contract on the day fixed for its performance could not, without anything more, operate as a rescission thereof; and when the complaint shows a first breach of the contract on the part of the purchaser, by failure to pay the first deferred payment a full year before the vendors were required to convey, a full tender on his part of the remainder of the purchase-money due, and a demand for a deed, is essential to a recovery of the purchase-money paid, and it is not enough to allege a refusal of the vendors to make and tender a deed at the date fixed for conveyance.