Kelley v. Weyerhaeuser Co.
Kelley v. Weyerhaeuser Co.
Opinion of the Court
The plaintiffs brought an action in the Superior Court seeking the return of $35,000 which had been deposited with the defendant incident to the signing of a purchase and sale agreement wherein the plaintiffs had agreed to purchase certain land of the defendant. The parties entered into stipulations of facts and exhibits and, after hearing testimony supplementing the stipulation of facts, a judge, sitting without jury, entered judgment for the plaintiffs for $35,000 and dismissed the defendant’s counterclaim for attorney’s fees. The defendant appealed. The controversy swirls around an interpretation of certain language contained in the purchase and sale agreement (agreement). On or about October 1, 1976, the defendant and the plaintiff Kelley, individually and as attorney-in-fact for the other plaintiffs, signed an agreement wherein the defendant agreed to sell to Kelley for $350,000 certain parcels of land in Fitchburg and Westminster. Kelley paid a deposit of $35,000, as provided in the agreement. The agreement stated, among other things, that “[t]he premises are to be conveyed by a good and sufficient corporate Quitclaim Deed of the Seller, per Exhibit A . . . .” The exhibit referred to in the agreement was a draft deed physically attached and incorporated into the agreement. In the draft, it was provided that the buyer would take the property “SUBJECT . . . to easements and restrictions of record and to unrecorded rights, if any, of others.” In regard to other encumbrances, the agreement expressly provided: “If at time of closing there are title encumbrances (defects) other than those provided for herein and Buyer is unwilling to waive such other title encumbrances (defects), Seller shall refund the $35,000 consideration paid to Buyer whereupon this agreement shall be terminated” (emphasis supplied). The plaintiffs claimed that two defects were found during a title examination which rendered title unmarketable, that they did not waive them, and that the defendant wrongfully kept their money. The two “defects” were a recorded “flow agreement”
The present judgment is reversed and a new judgment is to be entered dismissing the complaint (see Mass.R.Civ.P. 54(b), 365 Mass 821 [1974]). The case is to stand for hearing on the counterclaim for attorney’s fees, and for entry of judgment on the counterclaim.
So ordered.
The “flow agreement” made between the defendant, the city of Fitchburg and the United States Environmental Protection Agency obligated the defendant to maintain a specified minimum flow of water in the Nashua River to the extent that the defendant could control such flow through certain named reservoirs located on its properties.
The “revised agreement” made between the defendant and the city of Fitch-burg concerned the defendant’s obligations to make payments with respect to the
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.