Wood v. Denney

WARNE, J. pro tem.

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James Wood, as administrator of the estate of Sid Wood, brought this action to have a contract for the sale of timber cancelled and set aside; to quiet title to certain land in Del Norte County and for damages for the withholding of the possession of the land.

Judgment was in favor of the plaintiff for the sum of $4,-

[15]

098.75 plus interest in the amount of $840.67, and also ordered that a final determination of the amount of the actual price of the timber, according to the formula provided in the contract, abide the cutting of timber. It also decreed that the contract was valid and enforceable.

In 1948 Sid Wood and his wife, Yalborg K. Wood, entered into a written agreement for the sale of timber on lands which they owned in Del Norte County to Ralph E. Yoder and Joe M. Reinarz, copartners doing business under the name of Del Norte Milling Company.

On June 12, 1950, Del Norte Milling Company, for a valuable consideration, assigned the contract to the defendants.

The contract provided that the timber was to be sold on a stumpage basis at the price of $3.25 per thousand board feet for all merchantable timber on said lands with the provision that if the lumber market conditions materially changed, then at 60-day periods the price was to be adjusted on a percentage basis of increase or decrease over or under present market conditions. The contract called for payments of $2,500 at six-month intervals, with minimum payments of $5,000 per year until the logging operations started, when payments were to be made monthly on a stumpage basis, but in no event were the annual payments to be less than $5,000. No logging was ever done on the property. The annual payments of $5,000 were made to September 10, 1951, at which time the Woods had received $20,000. Defendants then stopped making further payments, because they were afraid that the payments made exceeded the value of the merchantable timber on the land. Under date of September 11, 1953, by letter, appellant gave the 30 day notice of default required by the contract. He contended that the defendants were under an obligation to make annual payments until the timber was removed. Defendants answered this letter, denied that they were in default, and offered to pay $4,098.75 which would be the maximum price due on the contract based on a certified cruise which reflected there was 7,415,000 board feet of timber on the property. Appellant rejected the offer and in November of 1953 commenced this action. At the commencement of the trial defendants tendered to appellant a certified check payable to him in the sum of $4,098.75. The offer was again rejected.