Barney v. Delta & Pine Land Co.
Barney v. Delta & Pine Land Co.
Opinion of the Court
delivered the opinion of the court.
This suit was instituted in the court below by appellants to enforce the specific performance of a contract for the sale of certain lands, and the appeal is from a decree dismissing their bill. Several reasons why we should affirm the decree of the court below are advanced by counsel for appellee, but we will notice only one of them specifically.
After filing his bill and obtaining .service of process thereon, this stockholder proceeded no further with the prosecution of his suit, and there was some evidence introduced tending to show that it has since been dismissed by the court for want of prosecution. The failure to prosecute this suit is immaterial. The right of appellee to decline to execute the contract depended, not upon the successful prosecution of such a suit, but only upon bringing thereof; the language of this clause of the contract being: “In case any stockholder . . . shall bring suit,” etc. The merit or want of merit of this stockholder’s suit is also immaterial; it being the clear intention of the parties that appellee should not be required to execute the contract in event any of its stockholders should be dissatisfied therewith, provided this dissatisfaction was manifested in a particular way.
Appellee was within its rights, therefore, in declining to carry out this contract after it had been enjoined by one of its stockholders from so doing.
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Barney & Hines v. Delta & Pine Land Co
- Cited By
- 1 case
- Status
- Published
- Syllabus
- Vendor and Vendee. Contracts. Construction. Where a corporation contracted with a partnership to sell it certain lands, and in the contract there was a clause that in the event any of its stockholders should “bring suit against the corporation, or its officers or directors, to prevent the carrying out of the provisions of this contract, etc., then the corporation or the officers or directors, may declare this contract void and deliver the earnest money to the vendee,” and such a suit was brought before a deed was delivered to the vendee, the corporation in such case had a right to declare the contract void even though the vendee had tendered the purchase money before the bringing of the suit and even though such suit was without merit and was afterwards dismissed.