Crouch v. Bischoff

• Decision Date: 28 February 1955
• Docket Number: No. 8148,8148
• Citation: Crouch v. Bischoff, 76 Idaho 216, 280 P.2d 419 (Idaho 1955)
• Parties: M. W. CROUCH, as Guardian of the Estate of Wm. L. Geyer, Incompetent, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Katie F. BISCHOFF, individually, and Katie F. Bischoff, as Administratrix of the Estate of William A. Bischoff, Deceased, Defendants-Appellants.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 419

280 P.2d 419

76 Idaho 216

M. W. CROUCH, as Guardian of the Estate of Wm. L. Geyer, Incompetent, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Katie F. BISCHOFF, individually, and Katie F. Bischoff, as Administratrix of the Estate of William A. Bischoff, Deceased, Defendants-Appellants.

No. 8148.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Feb. 28, 1955.

Herman E. Bedke, Burley, for appellants.

Nielson & Nielson, Burley, for respondent.

ANDERSON, Justice.

Respondent (plaintiff) brought this action to quiet title and for possession of an 80-acre tract of land in Cassia County, Idaho, and for damages.

Appellants (defendants) filed an answer and cross-complaint in which they allege that Wm. L. Geyer on January 19, 1949, offered to sell them the property and that they accepted the offer and purchased the property under contract, which they fully performed; and they ask the Court to order specific performance on the part of respondent by the execution and delivery to them of a good and sufficient deed.

The evidence discloses that Wm. L. Geyer and his wife acquired the property by patent in 1917 and verbally leased it in 1937 to William A. and Katie F. Bischoff on a yearly crop rental basis. This arrangement continued until 1948, when a written lease was made and the Geyers moved to Portland, Oregon. Thereafter, respondent M. W. Crouch acted as Mr. Geyer's agent in connection with the farm.

January 19, 1949, Mr. Geyer wrote to the Bischoffs and stated he would like to sell the farm either that spring or the next and wanted to be as good as his word and give them the first chance. He stated he had been offered $20,000 by three different parties, but that he would take $1,000 less if they purchased it.

February 25, 1949, Mrs. Bischoff wrote to Mr. Geyer and among other things, stated:

'We was thinking that we would still have a chance on the place, but it won't be now. * * * We would like to see you get $20,000 out of it if you could.'

March 11, 1949, she wrote another letter to him in which she stated they couldn't buy then, and she added:

'I have had a feeling we would never get to buy this place and I did tell you that Bill would never get much out of his share of his mother's estate which happens to be that he came out on the little end.'

November 1950, Mrs. Geyer died and Mr. Geyer became the sole owner through establishment of record title by proceedings in the Probate Court of Cassia County.

May 23, 1951, Mr. Bischoff made application to a bank in Burley for a loan and listed as his assets: cash in the sum of $55, cattle, crops, farm machinery and a 1950 Chevrolet, the total being $6,492.50. He made another application the following year on February 11, in which his assets were similar, the total being $6,506.

February 5, 1951, Mr. Geyer wrote the Bischoffs enclosing a certificate of membership in the Unity Light and Power Company, stating he had not sent it sooner, because----

'I think you will understand for I think (you) know for a while it was hard for me to keep track of valuable papers and so forth and I remember this certificate was missing for a while. But I thought we had found it and sent it to you. This morning I found it under one of cushions of the davenport.'

It is to be noted this Exhibit, being Ex. No. 5, was introduced in evidence by appellants.

Several other letters passed between the parties before Mr. Bischoff's death, but none of them are of much assistance on the question involved in this case. One of the letters, dated December 10, 1951, written by Mr. Geyer to the Bischoffs, inquired whether he had seen Mack Crouch 'and got fixed up on the deed.' Apparently this referred to a conversation they had about the sale of the property when Mr. Bischoff was in Portland in the fall of 1951. He also went to Portland to see Mr. Geyer in the fall of 1952, which is hereinafter discussed.

January 18, 1953, William A. Bischoff died and February 28, 1953, Katie F. Bischoff was appointed administratrix of his estate. Immediately after her husband's death, Mrs. Bischoff refused to allow respondent Crouch, as agent for Mr. Geyer, to have anything further to do with the operation of the farm, contending she owned it. She testified they had corresponded with Mr. Geyer and talked with him over the telephone some time between January 19 and March 10, 1949, any they had reached an agreement and a contract and deed were sent to respondent Crouch; that they were to pay $6,000 down and 4 1/2% interest, the contract to run for twenty years.

After the death of William A. Bischoff, Mrs. Bischoff telephoned Mr. Geyer, January 21, 1953, and asked him to write a letter showing they had bought the place. January 24, 1953, Mr. Geyer wrote a letter, the contents of which are:

'I am writting this in regards your request in our telephone conversation last evening. I could not get it off at that time as I wanted to contact my Agents to verify anything I should say and their report is just as I told you the agreement was the price was $18000.00 and when Bill was here last time he verified that before me and my agent also a Baptist minister who happened to be presint at the time after Bill was gone I told my agent if you was ready to pay the balance at this time I would knock off $1000.00 so that is what happened. The $12000.00 you deposited in Bank was released and Mack Crouch paid in $5000.00 plus interest on this amount. Now Kate you know as well as I that this sale was made between you and my agent whom I had given Arthority and it was done that way on account of my wife's health and I feel the deal has been carried out as agreement.

'Now I am satisfied and when Bill was here he told me personally and before the ones I have mentioned that he was satisfied, and I trust you are and that gives you the information you wanted.'

March 3, 1953, respondent was appointed guardian of the estate of Wm. L. Geyer by the Probate Court of Cassia County, Idaho. The evidence discloses that Mr. Geyer was a few months past eighty-two years of age at the time of the trial, September 1953.

Mrs. Bischoff contended her husband had paid $12,000 in cash to Mr. Geyer when in Portland in the fall of 1952, which was to be payment in full, as she contended $5,000 had been paid from crop money and the price reduced $1,000 because of the balance being paid in cash. She admitted her husband never received a receipt for the $12,000, and she did not name any bank in which the money was ever deposited, as stated in Geyer's letter. She stated her husband had inherited $3,800 about 1949 from an estate and that he had a bank box with some money in it, the exact amount unknown. When the box was opened after his death, there was no money in it.

Ralph Geyer, a son of Wm. L. and Grace L. Geyer, testified he was unable to locate the $12,000 or any part thereof.

Respondent Crouch testified he kept the books and records for Mr. Geyer pertaining to transactions with the Bischoffs for the years 1949 to 1952, both inclusive; that the total receipts were $6,724.02 and taxes and other expenses were $2,759.13, leaving a balance of $3,964.89. He also testified that in 1948 he did not make any collections for rent or crops other than a small payment for hay. Respondent paid, either directly or by allowing credit for anything Mr. Bischoff paid, a fee for potato support, all irrigation charges and taxes on the land, and fire insurance on the buildings; purchased grass and alfalfa seed and bought a headgate, faucet and pipe, and paid a bill for pump service and made practically all repairs and upkeep he knew anything about and had no knowledge of any improvements being made by the Bischoffs during the years above mentioned. None of this evidence was contradicted. Respondent also testified he never received a contract or deed from Mr. Geyer, nor any interest payments on any contract between the Geyers and the Bischoffs; that he knew Mr. Geyer had offered to sell the property to the...