Scott v. Fidelity Development Co.

Opinion

KAUFMAN, J.

In accordance with the advisory verdict of a jury, the trial court rendered judgment for specific performance of an alleged contract to purchase real property in favor of plaintiff Florence H. Scott (hereinafter plaintiff) and against defendants Dana B. Horn and Fidelity Development Company (hereinafter defendants).

[133]

Essential Facts

Eliminating unnecessary details, the essential facts may be summarized as follows.

As a result of an agreement with her then husband pending dissolution of their marriage, plaintiff became the owner of an undivided one-half interest in certain real property in Riverside County. This property is near Chicago Avenue and is hereinafter referred to as the Chicago property.

Defendants owned a parcel of real property in Riverside County on Indiana Avenue. This property will be referred to hereinafter as the Indiana property.

Defendants wanted to purchase and plaintiff wanted to sell plaintiff’s interest in the Chicago property. Plaintiff was not interested in acquiring nor did defendants want to sell the Indiana property. Nevertheless, in December 1964, defendants prevailed upon plaintiff to enter into a complicated real estate transaction by which plaintiff would presently sell to defendants her interest in the Chicago property with payment of substantially all of the purchase price to be deferred until December 29, 1967, plaintiff in the interim to hold title to the Indiana property.

Construing together a sizable number of written instruments (see Civ. Code, § 1642) and taking into consideration the circumstances under which they were executed and the matter to which they related (see Civ. Code, § 1647), the trial court found that plaintiff and defendants had entered into a contract memorialized by writings under which they were to perform as follows: plaintiffs would convey her interest in the Chicago property to defendants; defendants would convey title to the Indiana property to plaintiff; plaintiff would execute a note in the amount of $20,000 bearing interest at 6 percent secured by a deed of trust on a portion of the Indiana property; defendants would pay all interest on the $20,000 and see to it that said note was renewed or extended to December 29, 1967 and would pay or satisfy the same on or before that date and would protect plaintiff and save her harmless from foreclosure or liability on said $20,000 trust deed; on or before December 29, 1967, defendants would “repurchase” the Indiana property from plaintiff on the terms prescribed in escrow number S2749 of Loyal Escrows; and plaintiff would thereupon reconvey to defendants the title to the Indiana property.