Bostwick v. Beach
Bostwick v. Beach
Opinion of the Court
When this case was before us on the appeal from the interlocutory judgment, it appeared from the findings that the unpaid portion of the purchase money (110,500) had been tendered to the executors on the first of March, 1882, and that, on their refusal to accept the same, and deliver the deed, that sum had been deposited by the
It is now shown, by affidavits, that, shortly after this deposit, the fund was wholly or in part withdrawn from the bank by the plaintiff, and we are now asked to add to the modifications directed in the opinion, a further provision charging the plaintiff with interest on the amount so withdrawn. If the fact had appeared in the case when before us on appeal, this modification would doubtless have been proper, and even now we might find means to make it, if no other facts were shown on the part of the plaintiff raising a counter equity. But, in opposition to the application of the defendants, the plaintiff presents affidavits showing that during the pendency of this action, in consequence of neglect and mismanagement on the part of the defendants, the ditches on the premises have been allowed to be filled up, the buildings to become dilapidated, the water-works to go to decay, the fences to be destroyed, and the value of the property to be thus depreciated to an amount exceeding the interest on the unpaid purchase money. If these facts had appeared, they undoubtedly would have influenced our judgment in respect to allowing interest upon the purchase money, or making some other provision for compensating the plaintiff for the damages alleged to have been sustained. Where specific performance is decreed, the court will, so far as possible, place the parties in the same situation they would have been if the contract had been performed at the time agreed upon, and by the application of the rule of courts of equity, by which things which ought to have been done are considered as having been done at the proper time, the vendor is regarded as trustee of the land for the
But this is not the only manner which the court has adopted to adjust the equities of the parties. For instance, where the subject of the purchase was a leasehold estate in a mill, a'nd the delay of performance of the contract was attributable to the vendor for his failure to show good right to assign his lease, and dilapidations had occurred, he was charged with the expenses of repairs required to put the mill in tenantable condition, and of those which had been incurred for keeping up the machinery until the purchaser could prudently take possession. And in Ferguson v. Tadman (1 Sim. 530), where the estate had deteriorated in value by reason of mismanagement and neglect, during five years which elapsed between the filing of the bill for specific performance and the decree, the amount of the deterioration, with interest, was ascertained, and allowed to the plaintiff out of the purchase money which had been paid into court. In Worrall v. Munn (38 N. Y. 137), these principles were recognized; and the vendee, having obtained a decree for specific performance, was allowed the damages sustained, during the pendency of the suit, by deterioration from waste committed by the defendant during the pendency of the suit.
If the matter should now be opened for the purpose of letting the defendants in to claim interest on the purchase-money, it would be no more than just that the same indulgence should be extended to the plaintiff, to let him in to prove the damages he claims by reason of deteriorations, caused by mismanagement and neglect. These points appear to be the only ones as to which the parties have been unable to agree, in settling the form of the judgment.
All concur.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.