Geisinger v. A & B Farms, Inc., WD

• Court: Court of Appeal of Missouri (US)
• Writing for the Court: HANNA
• Citation: 820 S.W.2d 96
• Decision Date: 10 December 1991
• Docket Number: No. WD,WD
• Parties: Willard GEISINGER, et al., Respondents, v. A & B FARMS, INC., et al., Appellants. 44344.

Page 96

820 S.W.2d 96 Willard GEISINGER, et al., Respondents,
v.
A & B FARMS, INC., et al., Appellants. No. WD 44344. Missouri Court of Appeals,
Western District. Dec. 10, 1991.

Page 97

Tim Eugene Dollar, Kansas City, for appellants.

Phillip Sanford Smith, Kansas City, for respondents.

Before LOWENSTEIN, P.J., and FENNER and HANNA, JJ.

HANNA, Judge.

Appellants/plaintiffs have brought a cause of action against respondents/defendants alleging promissory estoppel and wrongful ejectment. The trial court sustained the defendants' motions for summary judgment. We affirm.

The cause of action arises out of an oral agreement allowing plaintiffs to farm the land owned by the defendant A & B Farms. The plaintiffs claim that in February, 1980, Donald Matthews, on behalf of A & B Farms, Inc., represented to plaintiffs Geisingers and Kisers that they would be allowed to lease farmland owned by A & B Farms, Inc. for a term certain of five years. This is the specific allegation in plaintiff's first amended petition. The petition further alleges that at the same time Wilbert Matthews told plaintiffs that they could purchase farming equipment from Wilbert and Marion Matthews and finance the purchase over the term of the farming operations agreement.

The plaintiffs and Wilbert and Marion Matthews entered into a written security agreement for the purchase of the farming machinery in the amount of $150,000.00. As additional security for the purchase of the farm equipment, the agreement provided that the Geisingers and Kisers would assign 50% of the income from their farming operations to Wilbert and Marion Matthews. The agreement acknowledged that the profits from the farming operations were expressly tied to the purchase of the farm equipment. Two years into the farming operations, Donald Matthews, on behalf of A & B Farms, Inc., terminated the oral agreement to farm the land. The plaintiffs were forced to dispose of the farming machinery by sale to M & M Enterprises, a partnership composed of Wilbert and Donald Matthews. Thereafter, Donald Matthews farmed the land.

It is plaintiff's position that the written agreement to purchase farming equipment over five years for $150,000.00 was done in reliance on the defendants' promise that they would be allowed to lease the farmland for the full five year period. Further, plaintiffs Willard and Delores Geisinger claim, relying on the representations of Matthews, that they sold their auto parts store in order to engage full time in the farming operations.

The defendant's position is that they had an agreement with plaintiffs that included a sharing of expenses and compensation paid per the number of acres farmed, per head for tending the cattle and hours worked. Accordingly, they paid the plaintiffs during the two years they farmed the land. The defendants correctly note that there was no written agreement to farm the land for five years. The defendants moved for summary judgment because the oral agreement fell within the Statute of Frauds.

Plaintiffs argue that the court erred by sustaining the motion for summary judgment because they have pleaded a cause of

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action for promissory estoppel which removes the oral agreement from the proscription of the Statute of Frauds. They do not seek specific performance but rather are asking for money damages.

In ruling on a motion for summary judgment, the record must be scrutinized in the light most favorable to the party against whom the motion was rendered, and must accord that party the benefit of every doubt. Kansas City v. W.R. Grace & Co., 778 S.W.2d 264, 268 (Mo.App.1989). A summary judgment is proper where there remains no genuine issue as to any material fact. Schwartz v. Lawson, 797 S.W.2d 828, 832 (Mo.App.1990). It is appropriate only where no theory within the scope of the pleadings, depositions, admissions and affidavits filed would permit recovery and the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law. Zafft v. Eli Lilly & Co., 676 S.W.2d 241 (Mo. banc 1984).

Section 432.010, RSMo (1969) provides in part: "No action shall be brought ... upon any contract made for the sale of lands, ... or any lease thereon, for a longer time than one year, or upon any agreement that is not to be performed within one year from the making thereof, unless the agreement ... shall be in writing...." Whether the defendant's promise to farm the land was an agreement not to be performed within one year or a contract made for the lease of land is not addressed by the parties and left unresolved. In either case the agreement clearly falls within the proscription of the Statute of Frauds. "If the contract was in violation of the Statute of Frauds, and admittedly it was, plaintiff could not recover compensatory damages for breach of contract or in tort." Gipson v. Fisher Bros. Co., 204 S.W.2d 101, 105 (Mo.App.1947). The facts dictate the conclusion that the oral agreement falls within the Statute of Frauds and the parties acknowledge it.

Plaintiffs rely on the doctrine of promissory estoppel for recovery of their losses. The essential elements of promissory estoppel are: 1) a promise; 2) detrimental reliance on the promise; 3) the promisor should have or did in fact clearly foresee the precise action which the promisee took in reliance; and 4) injustice can only be avoided by enforcement of the promise. A.L. Huber & Son, Inc. v. Jim Robertson Plumbing, Inc., 760 S.W.2d 496, 498 (Mo.App.1988). Missouri has adopted Section 90 of the Restatement of the Law of Contracts which recognizes a cause of action for promissory estoppel. In Re Jamison's...