Green v. Parson
Green v. Parson
Opinion of the Court
This is a suit brought to foreclose a real estate contract. From a decree in favor of plaintiffs, defendants Parson have appealed.
On and prior to May 22, 1919, plaintiffs T. F. Green, Sr., and R. M. Erway, were the owners of an eighty-acre tract of farm land in Douglas county. On the day mentioned, plaintiffs entered into an executory contract in writing with one Harry Adams, whereby they sold and agreed to convey to Adams the land mentioned for the sum of $12,000. At the making of this contract, Adams paid plaintiffs $500 in cash, and obligated himself to pay $1,000 March 1, 1920, $1,500 March 1, 1921, and $2,000 March 1, 1922. “The balance of $7,000 to be paid in seven annual payments on March 1 of $1,000 each. All deferred payments to bear interest from March 1, 1920, at 6 per cent, per annum payable annually.” January 26, 1920, Adams sold and assigned his interest in and to the contract to defendant Olaf H. Parson, and the plaintiffs entered their written consent to the assignment upon the contract.
In effecting the sale of the property by plaintiffs to Adams, the Farmers State Bank of Valley, through T. F. Green, Jr., acted as agent for plaintiffs, and the initial pay
Defendant Parson’s contention is that the whole sum of $3,500 which he paid to the bank, or to its cashier, should have been applied and used so as to reduce his debt to $8,500, whereas this money was in fact so applied that Adams received $2,500, giving him a net profit on his deal
There is a direct dispute in the evidence as to the price at which defendant Parson purchased the land from Adams. Parson testified directly that they agreed upon a price of $150 an acre, or a total of $12,000, while Adams and the ’ banker who negotiated the sale testified directly that the price agreed upon was $175 an acre, or a gross sum of $14,000. It will be seen that, even on the oral testimony, the evidence seems to preponderate against Parson. In addition to this, the promissory notes which he executed and the $3,500 in cash which he paid aggregate $14,000. To this circumstance may be added the fact that more than a year later he paid the notes aggregating $1,500, and that it was not until notes maturing March 1, 1922, were about to fall due that he raised any question about the amount which he had agreed to pay, or about the application of the money which he had paid into the bank at the time of making the contract. A consideration of the evidence would constrain us to hold, if indeed it be material to the issues here, that the price agreed upon between Mr. Adams and defendant Parson was $14,000.
In support of defendant Parson’s cross-petition, there is evidence to show that the land is not, and was not, at the time óf sale, worth the amount stipulated in the contract, and that in some particulars the ground is of inferior quality. On the other hand, plaintiffs have offered evidence on this issue calculated to show that, at the time plaintiffs sold the land to Adams and when Adams sold his rights in the contract to Parson, the land was reasonably worth, on the market, $150 to $175 an acre, or a gross sum of $12,000 or $14,000. However, it is hard to see how this issue can be material here. It was the theory of defendant Parson that there was a conspiracy between plaintiffs, Adams, and the bank, or its cashier, to sell this land to him, and that the sale of the contract was in fact made by plaintiffs, and not by Adams. There is, however, a total failure of proof to support this theory. The record shows without sub
Complaint is made of the form of the judgment, it being thought that it is intended to fix a personal responsibility upon Mrs. Parson, wife of Olaf H. Parson, but this criticism is not merited. A sale under the decree will simply extinguish any interest she has in the land by virtue of her status as the wife of Olaf H. Parson. The decree expressly reserves the question of the right to a deficiency judgment for the consideration of the court after there is a return made to the order of sale. And as Mrs. Parson is not a party to the contract and as the notes signed by her do not bind her separate estate, we see no error in the form of the judgment.
The judgment of the district court is fully sustained, and it is
Affirmed.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- T. F. Green, Sr. v. Olaf H. Parson
- Status
- Published