Coleman v. Satterfield
| Decision Date | 23 October 1950 |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | COLEMAN v. SATTERFIELD. Civ. 17536. |
James A. Houlahan Beverly Hills, and David P. Hatch, Los Angeles, for appellant.
Brennan & Cornell, Bernard Brennan and William E. Cornell, all of Los Angeles, Jerome L. Doff, Los Angeles, of counsel, for respondent.
This is an action to require specific performance of an agreement to convey an interest in real property and for an accounting of rents received from said property. The action was tried before the court without a jury. Defendant appeals from the judgment in favor of plaintiff and also attempts to appeal from the order denying her motion for a new trial.
The evidence being viewed in the light most favorable to plaintiff (respondent) and pursuant to the rules set forth in Re Estate of Isenberg, 63 Cal.App.2d 214, 215, 216, 146 P.2d 424, discloses the following facts:
On or about the first day of April, 1943, plaintiff and defendant verbally agreed to purchase a duplex known as 1489-1491 South Beverly Drive, Los Angeles, California. It was agreed that each should pay 50 per cent of the purchase price of the real property; that plaintiff and defendant should each have a full one-half interest in and to the entire property; that defendant should occupy one of the apartments and the other should be rented; that plaintiff should receive the rental therefrom after deducting one half of the necessary expenses of maintenance, taxes and related matters; that title should be taken in the name of defendant but that she would deliver to plaintiff a grant deed representing an undivided one-half interest on her demand. Title was taken in the name of defendant and plaintiff contributed one half of the purchase price of the property. However when plaintiff demanded at a subsequent date that defendant give her a grant deed to an undivided one-half interest in and to the property defendant refused to comply with plaintiff's request.
Judgment was entered decreeing that plaintiff was entitled to a one-half interest in the property, ordering defendant to execute a grant deed conveying such interest, and giving plaintiff a money judgment for $1,476, representing the balance due from defendant to plaintiff for rents collected, etc.
Questions: First: Was there substantial evidence to sustain the finding that plaintiff and defendant each paid and contributed one half of the purchase price of the property in question?
This question must be answered in the affirmative. Plaintiff testified that she turned over to defendant $3,600 which represented a partial distribution from the estate of her father. Subsequently $500 of this amount was repaid to plaintiff and defendant executed to her a promissory note for $3,100. Thereafter plaintiff delivered to defendant an additional $2,600 of which a total of $474 was returned. In 1943, when plaintiff and defendant agreed to purchase the duplex, there was due defendant from plaintiff $3,100 on the note which defendant had executed and $2,126 on the $2,600 subsequently advanced. The total purchase price for the duplex was $15,500, the vendor requiring a cash down payment of $7,500. Plaintiff and defendant each contributed $3,750 of the down payment, it being agreed that defendant should apply the sum of $3,750 for plaintiff as a payment of the note which was outstanding and $650 on account of the $2,126 still owing plaintiff from defendant. Plaintiff gave direct testimony as to each and every fact above stated.
Clearly such evidence sustained the trial court's findings of fact set forth above, including the finding that plaintiff and defendant had each paid one half of the amount paid on the purchase price of the property.
Second: Is there substantial evidence to support the trial court's finding that there is $1,476 due from defendant to plaintiff?
This question must be answered in the affirmative. The evidence disclosed that plaintiff had given defendant $2,600, of which various amounts totaling $474 were repaid to plaintiff; that $650 was applied on behalf of plaintiff's payment for purchasing the duplex mentioned above; that no other payments were made on account of said advance of $2,600; and therefore there remains due and unpaid to plaintiff the sum of $1,476.
Third: Did plaintiff fail to allege or prove a cause of action against defendant because the...
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