Crittenden v. Hansen

NOURSE, P. J.

Plaintiff sued for specific performance of a contract to convey land, and for damages. He appeals from the judgment which denied him any relief.

On December 9, 1939, defendant Hansen and plaintiff entered into a written agreement whereby the former agreed to sell to plaintiff a house and lot, and the furniture therein, for the sum of $1,100. Though time was not specifically made the essence of the agreement, the purchase price and the deed were required to be put in escrow which was to be “ready to be closed by noon December 18, 1939.” A condition of the same was that Hansen was to move a fence, which was about seventeen inches off the property line. At noon of December 18th Hansen learned that plaintiff had deposited no money, and he thereupon sold the property to defendant Knudsen.

The trial court found that plaintiff did not perform the conditions of the contract, that defendant Hansen did not grant any extension of time to the plaintiff, and that the defendants Louis and Josephine Knudsen did not have any knowledge, actual or constructive, of plaintiff’s contract, and purchased the property for a valuable consideration.

There is substantial evidence supporting each of these findings. Appellant’s argument in this regard amounts to no more than that the trial court might have found differently. This may be conceded, but it does not call for a reversal. Evidence was offered showing that appellant informed Hansen that he could not raise the money, that he had a number of business engagements which would take him to other parts of the state at the time payment was to be made, and would be unable to meet Hansen on December 18th and asked for an extension of the time for payment which was refused. The witness Hansen testified that on frequent occasions appellant told him he did not have the money, but that he would get it; that he, appellant, “could sit back and freeze me out, get it at his own price.” Because of these circumstances the vendor was led by the vendee to believe that the latter would not complete the purchase, that he was holding the written contract merely to harass the vendor and “freeze” him out so that he could get the property at his own price. “Where the vendee

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is in default there is no longer any legal obligation on the vendor to proceed with the performance of the contract. The law gives him the right to regard the contract as at an end. The law prescribes no penalty for the exercise of this right."