Gold Coin Mining & Leasing Co. v. Gourlay
Gold Coin Mining & Leasing Co. v. Gourlay
Opinion of the Court
November 14, 1894, The Mt. Rosa Mining, Milling and Land Company, a corporation, executed to one Isaac Canfield a bond and lease upon certain mining property owned by it in the Cripple Creek mining district. The terms and conditions of this bond and lease are not set forth at length in the. pleadings, but from what is there stated, and from the statements of counsel, we assume it to have been in the common and usual form, that the lessee was to perform certain work and labor, and that within a specified time he had an option to purchase the property upon payment of a certain fixed sum. There seems to have been an extension of the agreement, so that the time of the option would expire August 14, 1896. Thereafter, The Gold Coin Mining and Leasing Company, plaintiff in this suit, became the owner by assignment from Canfield of a one undivided one-half interest in his lease and bond. On April 14,1896, the plaintiff agreed to sell its one-half interest to the defendant, Mrs. Gourlay, and as evidencing the terms and conditions of such sale, the parties entered into an agreement in writing which forms the basis of this suit, appellant being designated therein as'the first party and appellee as the second party. We insert such portion of it as is necessary to a proper understanding of the contention of the parties, and the issue to be determined. After certain preliminary statements as to the execution of the bond and lease to Canfield, and a description of the property, the agreement proceeds:
“ Whereas, the undivided one-half interest in said mining lease and title bond has been duly, for good and valuable considerations, assigned and transferred to first party ; and
“ Whereas, second party is desirous of purchasing the said*319 undivided one-half interest in said mining lease and title bond, and of availing herself of benefits and advantages which are now possessed by first party with reference to said property, by virtue of said mining lease and title bond; and
“ Whereas, first party has sold the said undivided one-half interest in said mining lease and title bond to second party,
“Now, therefore, in consideration of the premises, and of fifteen hundred ($1,500) dollars cash in hand paid by second party to first party, the receipt whereof is hereby confessed and acknowledged, and in further consideration of the express agreements, stipulations and covenants hereinafter expressed, to be kept and performed by the second party, it is agreed as follows:
“That first party will, immediately on demand, on the performance by second party -of the stipulations, covenants and agreements hereinafter expressed to be kept by second party, assign and transfer to second party the said undivided one-half interest in and to the said mining lease and bond, dated the 14th day of November, 1894, conveying and transferring all interest which first party now has, or may hereafter acquire in and to the said Adams lode and adjacent fractions described in said lease and bond.
“Second party, in consideration of the premises, hereby covenants, contracts and agrees to and with the first party, with her own money and funds, to pay the said bond so executed by The Mt. Rosa Mining, Milling and Land Company, delivered to.Isaac Canfield, dated the 14th day of November, 1894, and perform the conditions of said bond, and pay the money therein provided for, together with the money stipulated to be paid in a certain agreement in and by which the said bond and leases were extended, to wit: the sum of twenty-five thousand ($25,000) dollars, and to pay said sum as provided in said bond on or before the first day of August, 1898.
“ Second party further covenants, contracts and agrees with first party, in consideration aforesaid, at her own cost and expense, and with her own funds, to keep, and cause to be*320 kept and performed, all the conditions, covenants and agreements stipulated to be kept and performed by the said Isaac Canfield and his assigns, as provided in said lease from The Mt. Rosa Mining, Milling and Land Company to the said Isaac Canfield, and at all times within the continuance of the term provided in said bond and lease, and the extension thereof, to keep and perform all the agreements, stipulations, covenants and conditions stipulated to be kept and performed by the terms of said bond and lease, by the said Isaac Can-field, and his assigns, to the end that there shall be no forfeiture of said bond and lease during its term, or during the time for which the same has been by subsequent agreement extended; and that second party will hold first party harmless from all loss through forfeiture, and of all litigation that may be entailed wherein and whereby the said The Mt. Rosa Mining Milling and Land Company may seek to enforce a forfeiture of said bond and lease, time being the essence of this agreement; and in the event second party shall fail, neglect or refuse at any time to keep and perform the stipulations, agreements and covenants so stipulated to be kept by the said Isaac Canfield and his assigns in said mining lease and title bond dated the 14th day of November, 1894, and the agreement extending the time thereof until the 14th day of August, 1896, then, and in that event, the second party shall ipso facto, without notice, forfeit to first party all money that she has paid for and on account of this agreement, and all money that may have been paid for and on account of any payments made, or any work done or improvements made upon said property, in any manner whatsoever, as liquidated damages to first party, and shall forfeit all right, title and interest which might become vested in second party by virtue, of this agreement, or any payments made thereunder.
“ Second party further covenants, contracts and agrees that in the event said bond so dated the 14th day of November, 1894, is taken up by her, and the title to said property is conveyed to second party, second party will immediately organize a company, with a capital stock of two million (2,000,000)*321 shares at one dollar par, and that she will place six hundred thousand (600,000) shares thereof in the treasury, and out of the remainder give to first party, upon demand, two hundred and fifty thousand (250,000) shares, full-paid and non-assessable, in such company, in full payment of the remainder of the purchase price now due to first party, and such company so to be organized shall become the owner of the entire property and title to the Adams lode claim and adjacent fractions more particularly described in said lease and bond, so' dated the 14th day of November, 1894, aforesaid.”
The agreement further provides that in the event the defendant should cause the property to be conveyed to any corporation other than that above referred to, she would cause one undivided one eighth of the capitalization of such company to be assigned and delivered to plaintiff, immediately upon the title becoming vested in such company, and in the event the defendant should deem it best not to organize any company, then she would cause to be conveyed to the plaintiff an undivided one-eighth interest in and to the mining property, by deed vesting in the plaintiff a good title, free from all incumbrance, “ to the extent that she shall receive the same from The Mt. Kosa Mining, Milling and Land Company.” This bond and lease was to expire by its terms on August 1, 1896, it will be observed, being fourteen days before the expiration of the Canfield bond and lease.
The defendant failed or refused to take up the bond by the payment of the purchase money. In all other respects, we assume, because there is no allegation to the contrary, that she complied with all the terms and conditions of her agreement and of the original Canfield bond and lease so as to keep it alive, and prevent forfeiture. The contention of the defendant is that the agreement provided for a conditional sale only, or an option, which option she exercised by an election not to purchase, and that by the express terms of the agreement it was provided that in such event the $1,500 which she paid was forfeited to plaintiff, and constituted liquidated damages, and measured the full extent of her lia
In order' to properly construe the agreement in controversy, and ascertain its true intent, meaning, scope and legal effect, it must be considered in its entirety, not merely with reference to isolated and segregated portions of it.
It will be noted that by it the plaintiff did not assign its interest in -the bond and lease to the defendant. It simply agreed to do so upon full compliance by defendant with the terms and"conditions therein expressed, one, and a principal one of which was, that defendant should take up the bond and pay the full price therein specified as the purchase money for the property. It was only after this had been done that defendant could have demanded such assignment from plaintiff. In the preamble, it was recited as the pur
The plaintiff relies greatly, in support, of its contention,
Such seems to have been the view of the trial court, and its judgment will be affirmed.
Affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.