Letteau v. Dumas

THOMPSON (R. L.), J.

This is an appeal from a judgment in a suit to quiet title.

[231]

The plaintiff is the owner of the eight lots described in the complaint, which are a part of Tract 7603 of the city of Los Angeles. November 5, 1923, the defendants prepared and sent to the plaintiff a written communication in the form of a tentative agreement or offer to buy these eight lots upon specified terms for the sum of $28,500. This agreement was accompanied by $7,050 as part payment. The document described them with reference to an unrecorded map. So far as the record shows, the plaintiff had nothing to do with the preparation of this instrument, which appears to have been voluntarily prepared and signed by the defendants alone, and was addressed to the plaintiff, who received and retained the money. This written offer to purchase the lots was, however, indorsed by one H. R. Cowan, as follows:

“The undersigned hereby accepts the deposit above mentioned, subject to all the conditions contained in the foregoing application.

“H. R. Cowan,

“By R. A. Scott.”

This was not a contract binding the plaintiff to sell these lots. It was a mere" conditional offer on the part of the defendants to buy the lots. Subsequently, on December 27, 1923, the map of said tract was duly recorded. Thereafter, on January 14, 1924, eight independent contracts for the sale of the lots were executed by the respective parties. The purchase prices of these lots ranged from $3,500 to $3,750 each, aggregating the sum of $28,500, which was the same amount specified in the former agreement. The payments credited on the purchase prices of the lots in the last-mentioned contracts ranged from $700 to $1200 each, and aggregated some $7,600, a sum slightly in excess of the amount remaining in the hands of plaintiff. Each contract specified the times and amounts of subsequent payments. The first installments due and payable under these agreements were sums of $700 to $850 on each contract, some of which were due May 5, 1924, and others were due October 5, 1924. None of these subsequent installments was paid. The only money which was paid by the defendants on any of these contracts after their execution was a total sum amounting to less than $500