Loeb v. Wilson

FOURT, J.

Stanley Loeb appeals from a judgment denying him specific performance of an escrow agreement for the purchase and sale of real property which he sought to enforce against Doctor Mae Wilson, seller.

The trial court denied appellant specific performance upon the grounds that the escrow agreement disclosed inadequate consideration, that the subordination agreement contained therein was unjust and unreasonable, and that the seller’s

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assent to the contract was vitiated by her mistake of fact. The trial court also denied appellant damages because not only was the seller excused from performance, but appellant knew when he was substituted as purchaser under the escrow agreement that the title was defective. Appellant contends that the trial court erred in denying specific performance and damages and, in addition, failed to make findings as to all material facts necessary to support the judgment. These contentions are without merit.

On September 10, 1962, Doctor Mae Wilson, then aged 80, entered into a six-month escrow agreement for the sale of a certain parcel of real property to Lasky & Monka Development Co. The purchaser deposited $500 in escrow and agreed to deposit $19,500 more before the scheduled close of escrow on March 10, 1963, but failed to make the final deposit. Time for the purchaser’s performance was extended, and on April 8, 1963, appellant, by written amendment to the escrow agreement, was substituted as buyer.

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Lasky & Monka Development Co. then withdrew its $500 deposit, but appellant made no escrow deposit.

The evidence showed that from 1918 until 1945 Doctor Wilson practiced medicine and surgery in Los Angeles. In 1941 she purchased the subject property and intervening events led her to believe, at the time she entered the escrow agreement, that she was the sole owner of the parcel. However, in 1943 she was convicted of unlawfully performing an abortion and, because she was then in poor health and faced a potential prison term, Doctor Wilson conveyed the subject property to herself and her niece, Barbara Dukes, as joint tenants in consideration of love and affection. Doctor Wilson believed she then extracted an oral promise from her niece to reconvey her interest in the property should her aunt ever request her to do so. The attorney who took the appeal for Doctor Wilson following her criminal conviction later obtained a judgment against her for legal fees and, while she was in prison, sold her interest in the subject property at execution sale. Doctor Wilson, believing that the entire right, title and interest