Buckmaster v. Bertram
Buckmaster v. Bertram
Opinion of the Court
The defendant appeals from the judgment and from an order denying her motion to vacate said judgment and enter a different judgment on the findings.
The complaint alleges that on October 3, 1916, the plaintiff and defendant executed a contract in writing, whereby plaintiff agreed to sell and convey to the defendant and the defendant agreed to buy five parcels of land in the Newmark tract, in Orange County, “for the sum of one thousand and no/100 dollars, of the United States, and the said party of the second part (Bertram), in consideration of the premises, agrees to pay at the times and in the manner hereinafter mentioned, to the said party of the first part (Buckmaster) the sum of one thousand and no/100 dollars, as follows, to wit: In the form of a mortgage payable to S. M. Skillman, and due April 3, 1919, or two years and six months from date of the contract, with seven per cent interest per annum, payable semi-annually.”
The contract provided that upon her failure to comply with the terms of the contract the plaintiff should be released from all obligation in law or equity to convey the property *675 and the defendant should forfeit all right thereto. The deed was to be made “on receiving such payments at the time and in the manner above mentioned.”
The prayer of the complaint was that the contract be canceled; that the defendant’s title, interest, and estate to the property be “adjusted” as subordinate to the plaintiff’s title, and that the defendant “be forever disbarred” from asserting any claim or title to the property.
The defendant filed a eross-complajnt, which was afterward superseded by a second amended cross-complaint. The second amended cross-complaint asked that the court state an account between the parties and give the defendant a reasonable time to redeem the same; for judgment against the plaintiff for any balance found due on the accounting, and for specific performance of the contract on payment by the defendant of the amount found due from her, or, if it is found impossible for the plaintiff to perform his agreement, then for damages against plaintiff in the sum of two thou-, sand dollars. The cross-complaint alleged the contract set up in the complaint, that on April 9, 1918, plaintiff gave notice to the defendant that he had decided to cancel the contract and that the plaintiff has ever since refused to perform said agreement and that plaintiff had informed defendant that he had disposed of one of said lots. It is alleged that the property had greatly increased in value and was at the time of the filing of the cross-complaint worth four thousand dollars.
The findings state that the agreement alleged in the complaint was executed by the parties; that plaintiff had given notice to defendant that he had sold some of the lots and had concluded to cancel the agreement; that defendant had not paid anything upon said contract; that on April 1, 1919, the lots were of the value of two thousand five hundred dollars; that defendant was not entitled to specific performance because of the fact that her first cross-complaint did not claim the right of specific performance and that after the filing thereof the plaintiff had sold parts of the property to bona fide purchasers because of defendant’s failure to claim the right of specific performance in her first cross-complaint, and that by so doing she had waived that right and was confined to her claim for damages for the refusal of the plaintiff to perform the contract. The findings declare *676 that the defendant is damaged in the sum of nine hundred dollars by the refusal of the plaintiff to perform. Judgment was given declaring that the defendant was estopped from seeking specific performance of the contract and that she recover of plaintiff the sum of nine hundred dollars as damages; that upon payment thereof by plaintiff all adverse claims of the defendant be declared invalid and groundless and the plaintiff and his grantees be declared to be the owners of said property and have their titles quieted as against all claims of the defendant.
The terms of the contract as to the payment of the price are so indefinite and uncertain that its meaning cannot be ascertained. The price is definitely stated to be one thousand dollars, but the agreement of the defendant to pay such price is qualified and limited by the statement that it is to be paid “at the times and in the manner hereinafter mentioned,” which time and manner are declared to be as follows, to wit: “In the form of a mortgage, payable to S. M. Skilhman, and due April 3, 1919, ... at seven per cent interest per annum, payable semi-annually.” Does this mean that the defendant is to cause a mortgage, payable to Skill- *677 man, to "be transferred or assigned to the plaintiff, who is to accept it as payment of the one thousand dollars, and immediately execute to her a deed, which, as appears later in the contract, is to be made “on receiving such payments, at the time and in the manner above mentioned”? Or is the defendant herself to execute a mortgage payable to Skillman for one thousand dollars, or some other sum, which is in some unexplained manner to inure to the benefit of the plaintiff and to operate as payment of the price? If our first guess is correct, what is the amount of the Skillman mortgage ? If either guess is correct, what land or personal property is covered or to be covered by the proposed mortgage ? If the Skillman mortgage was in existence at the time, who was the mortgagor? And if it was for more than one thousand dollars, was its full payment necessary to constitute the payment of “said price,” or would a payment of a thousand dollars thereon suffice to accomplish tliat purpose, and when was such payment due? The execution of the mortgage to Skillman by some person other than the defendant and on other property than that described in the agreement of sale would come within the terms of the agreement as to the payment of the price. Was such performance within the intent of the parties?
The agreement answers none of these questions. Nor is any answer shown by the pleadings or findings. Possibly extrinsic facts might be proven which would render the contract sufficiently certain to enable a court of equity to decree its specific performance. But there are no allegations either in the complaint or in the cross-complaint, nor any statements in the findings, relating to any such extrinsic facts or indicating what they may be, and no solution of the meaning of the contract in the respects indicated is possible from anything contained in the judgment-roll. On the face of the record, therefore, the defendant is not entitled to a specific performance.
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breaches thereof, and that she is ready, able, and willing to perform the contract on her part “upon statement of an account by the court of the amount, if any,” which she ought to pay to the plaintiff, and she prays for an accounting and that a reasonable time be given her in which to pay any balance “found due on such accounting.” The only accounting shown to be necessary is the ascertainment of the difference between the purchase price and the damages alleged.
Furthermore, the findings show that the first cross-complaint of the defendant sought damages from the plaintiff by reason of his repudiation of the contract and did not ask specific performance, and that during the interval between the filing of the first cross-complaint and the filing of the second amended cross-complaint, seeking specific performance, the plaintiff, relying upon defendant’s election of remedy, had made sales of some of the lots, which the purchasers had bought, also relying upon such election.
The judgment and order are affirmed.
Sloane, J., Shurtleff, J., Lennon, J., and Wilbur, J., concurred.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- J. A. BUCKMASTER, Respondent, v. ELSIE MAY BERTRAM, Appellant
- Cited By
- 38 cases
- Status
- Published