Miller v. Pepper
Miller v. Pepper
Opinion of the Court
OPINION OF THE COURT BY
In this case, on Sunday the plaintiffs-appellants, Miller and Viggosdottir,
The owners, Mr. and Mrs. Pepper, gave a broker a 90-day listing for the sale of their Iliwahi Loop residence. Not having received an acceptable offer, on Sunday, February 5, 1978,
Late the next day
On March 3, 1978, appellants sued the Peppers and prayed for the following relief:
1. $10,000.00 for mental anxiety, distress and inconvenience;
2. $10,000 for being compelled to live in a less satisfactory residence;
3. The difference between the true market value of the residence and $89,500 at the end of one year from the date of the lease option to purchase agreement;
4. That the Defendants be compelled to specifically comply to the terms of the lease-option to purchase agreement;
5. $50,000 because the Plaintiffs will not be able to live in the residence uniquely satisfactory to the needs of their family for the indefinite future; and. . ..
On April 11, 1979, the Peppers moved for summary judgment and asserted:
1. There is no contract for the sale/purchase of the residence;
2. Assuming there is a contract, it is barred by the statute of frauds (Hawaii Revised Statutes chapter 656 (1976, as amended)); and
3. There are no facts to take this case out of the statute of frauds.
The record does not indicate that the appellants took any action to delay or stop the sale of the residence to the other parties, pending determination of appellants’ rental and option rights, if any. Apparently, that sale closed prior to entry of summary judgment in this case. Moreover, Mr. Miller testified
The general issue is whether, viewing the record in the light most favorable to the appellants, there is a genuine issue as to any material fact. The specific issue is whether or not the parties entered into an enforceable option-to-purchase agreement. We hold that they did not.
An agreement of sale of land which contains complete and certain essential terms is a valid and enforceable contract if the facts indicate that the parties at the time it was entered into had no expectation of further provisions to be negotiated later. Essential terms are the identification of the parties, a description of the property sold, the price, the time and manner of payment and any other terms in the agreement which are essential to the agreement.
In Re Sing Chong Co., Ltd.., 1 Haw. App. 239, 617 P.2d 578 (1980).
In this case, the parties are identified, the property is described, and if we apply the statute of frauds the way the appellants want us to,
A. ... depending on what I received from my home, the sale of my home in Arizona, depending on how many dollars I had, I would either go to a lending institution and take advantage of my VA loan and purchase the house in that way, or work with an agreement of sale with Mr. Pepper.
And he was, you know ... I believe we discussed this very lightly, and he was in agreement with just about anything I could come up with. He said we could work it out, no problem.
Ms. Viggosdottir’s testimony was essentially the same as her husband’s. Thus, even if we apply the statute of frauds the way the appellants want us to, their evidence proves the absence of agreement on the manner or method of payment.
The record shows that at the time the parties entered into the alleged option-to-purchase agreement, they left an essential term to be negotiated later. Consequently, we hold the alleged option-to-purchase agreement to be legally invalid and unenforceable.
Affirmed.
Plaintiffs-Appellants are married to each other.
The rental agreement is erroneously dated February 5, 1977.
In his deposition, Mr. Pepper testified that he and Mrs. Pepper signed the contract “on the last day of the 7-day extension of that 90-day [listing] agreement. . ..”
All evidence in this case is contained in various depositions.
Compare 72 Am. Jur.2d, Statute of Frauds, § 296 (1974) (“A memorandum sufficient to satisfy the requirement of the statute of frauds must be complete in itself as to the parties to, and the essential terms of, the contract. The memorandum cannot
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.