Friedland v. Weinstein
Friedland v. Weinstein
Dissenting Opinion
Dissenting Opinion by
I can reach no other conclusion than one which would impose the highest fiduciary obligation upon appellees. The purchaser (Sears) of the two tracts undoubtedly looks upon the transaction as a single acquisition with a single cost. The allocation of the gross cost between the owners of tract A and tract B requires delicate decision making, and demands that full disclosure be made to all interested parties. Here, this disclosure was not made. On the contrary, the only information or advice that appellees gave to appellant was that the sale price Avould be based on a per acre price of $34,000, when in reality the appellees subsequently received $204,000 for their acre.
Where a buyer refuses to purchase joint venture property unless one of the parties to the joint venture will also agree to the sale of his individually owned real estate, Avhich real estate is adjacent to the jointly held land and essential to the buyer’s use of the jointly held land, then a sale may be consummated by the owner of the individually owned real estate only by making full disclosure to his partner of the entire transaction. Here full- disclosure was not made and some remedy is demanded.
Opinion of the Court
Opinion
This is an action in equity instituted by George Friedland against Matthew B. Weinstein and Rosalie Weinstein, individually and trading as St. Davids Company and Rosemont Construction Company. In the interests of brevity and clarity, the defendants will be referred to as “Weinstein,” it being admitted that Matthew B. Weinstein is the principal defendant. Pried-
The chancellor entered a decree nisi dismissing the complaint. After exceptions filed by Friedland, the court en banc affirmed the dismissal and the decree was made final. Friedland appealed.
The facts follow. The Weinsteins owned a 56-acre tract in Radnor Township, Delaware County along the Lancaster Pike and Radnor-Chester Road, on which they built a motor inn and two office buildings, one being occupied by the General Electric Company and the other by the Burroughs Corporation. They had developed 21 of the 56 acres by January 27, 1960, when they sold to Friedland an undivided one-half interest in the remaining undeveloped 35.559 acre tract, at $26,-000 per acre, the parties agreeing that Weinstein would assume responsibility for the management and maintenance of the 35-acre tract, each paying one-half of the carrying charges.
In 1963, Sears-Roebuck & Company offered to buy this 35 acre tract, and Friedland and Weinstein asked $35,000 per acre. Sears refused to pay more than $34,-000 and Friedland and Weinstein agreed to sell on that basis. Sears now decided that it also wanted to purchase a one-acre tract owned by the Weinsteins which was located between the building leased to General Electric and the Motor Inn. It therefore conditioned its offer to purchase the 35-acre tract upon acquiring the additional one-acre tract owned by the Weinsteins. Since this one-acre piece of land provided the means of ingress and egress to the other buildings already developed by the Weinsteins on the 21 acres, and as Sears’ use of that one-acre tract would adversely af
Because Friedland was leaving on an extended European trip, Weinstein met with Friedland’s attorney and the agreement with respect to the sale to Sears of the 35-acre tract at $34,000 per acre was executed by Fried-land on May 20, 1963, the agreement however, expressly providing: “15. Anything herein to the contrary notwithstanding Buyer shall have the option to rescind this agreement and to receive back the deposit paid hereunder if by June 13, 1963, Buyer so elects because of the following: (a) The failure by Buyer to obtain satisfactory ingress to and egress from Lancaster Pike and/or Radnor Chester Road . . .” Thus, the agreement clearly left open further negotiations with respect to the one-acre tract owned by Weinstein, since that tract as Friedland knew, was important to Sears obtaining “satisfactory ingress to and egress from Lancaster Pike and/or Radnor Chester Road . . Weinstein continued negotiations with respect to the one-acre tract, and on May 23, Weinstein entered into an agreement for the sale of that acre for $34,000, coupled with Sears’ lease of the General Electric Building for ten years. This agreement, as was the agreement with respect to the purchase of the 35-acre tract, was made subject to Sears procuring satisfactory ingress and egress to the Pike and Road above mentioned by June 3, 1963. On June 3, 1963, Sears availed itself of its option to rescind and cancelled both the agreement for the purchase of the 35-acre tract and the purchase of Weinsteins’ one-acre tract. The cancellation being for the sake of record as the time limit was expiring, negotiations nevertheless continued with respect to the right of ingress and egress which involved only the one-acre tract. Finally, on June 14, 1963, an
Later, however, he charged Weinstein with breach of fiduciary obligation, claiming he had not been advised that Weinstein had renegotiated a total selling price of $204,000 on his one-acre tract and that he acted secretly and contrary to the duty of loyalty he owed the plaintiff. He maintained that he should have been advised that both agreements had been cancelled and subject to renegotiation; and that Weinstein breached a duty to him in renegotiating solely with respect to the one-acre tract. But, it must be clear that there was nothing to renegotiate with respect to the 35-acre tract: Sears had emphasized it would pay no more than $34,-000 per acre for the 35-acre tract and Friedland was agreeable to that price. Thus there was nothing to renegotiate with respect to the 35-acre tract price. The cancellation of the 35-acre agreement was obviously only for the purpose of permitting Sears to continue its negotiations regarding the one-acre tract which was crucial to Sears’ rights of ingress and egress to the Lancaster Pike and Radnor-Chester Road upon which rights Sears’ option of canceHation depended. The losses to be sustained by Weinstein particularly in the use of
The fact that Weinstein held the original agreement respecting the 35-acre tract in escrow pending the negotiations did not constitute any breach of trust, as that agreement by its very terms was subject to cancel] ation if Sears did not obtain satisfactory means of ingress and egress to the aforesaid Pike and Road.
A reading of the record reveals that Friedland, and during his absence, Friedland’s attorney, were sufficiently apprized of Weinstein’s continuing negotiations with Sears with respect to the one-acre tract,
Decree affirmed: costs on the appellant.
Reference
- Full Case Name
- Friedland, Appellant, v. Weinstein
- Cited By
- 2 cases
- Status
- Published