Haase v. Richmond
Citation | 570 S.W.2d 341 |
Decision Date | 11 August 1978 |
Docket Number | No. 10365,10365 |
Parties | Donald Lee HAASE, Plaintiff-Respondent, v. Linda Miller RICHMOND, Defendant-Appellant. |
Court | Court of Appeal of Missouri (US) |
Sam R. Gardner, Almon H. Maus, Monett, for plaintiff-respondent.
J. A. Appelquist, Kerry L. Montgomery, Springfield, for defendant-appellant.
Before BILLINGS, C. J., and TITUS and FLANIGAN, JJ.
Plaintiff brought suit to specifically enforce the option-to-purchase portion of a 5-year lease which he and defendant-owner executed March 14, 1971. Inter alia, the contract reserved $85 per month rent unto defendant, which plaintiff faithfully paid, and provided that plaintiff "may purchase at any time said property (during the) next 5 years for the purchase price of $22,000." The Circuit Court of Lawrence County obliged plaintiff and defendant appealed. 1
Defendant was a single woman when the contract relating to her farm was signed. She had no dealings with plaintiff prior to execution. All of plaintiff's negotiations had been with defendant's father who did not testify at trial. Defendant and her father drafted the "Lease with Option to Purchase" before it was taken to a notary public for typing. After some handwritten alterations were made, all initialed by defendant, the instrument was duly signed.
In 1965 defendant executed a deed of trust to the farm to secure a $10,500 Veterans' Administration loan; in 1968 she executed a second deed of trust to secure a $2,500 loan from her parents. On the day of trial (November 18, 1975) $8,300 was due the Veterans' Administration; no payments had been made on the parents' note.
Early in July 1974 plaintiff acquired assurance of a $22,000 bank loan to purchase the farm under the option. However, when the banker contacted defendant, she told him "that she wasn't willing to sell (the farm) according to the contract." Plaintiff then consulted a lawyer who, on July 16, 1974, wrote defendant:
Under date of August 13, 1974, defendant's lawyer replied: "(Defendant) does not have the same interpretation of the 'instrument' evidenced by your letter in that she maintains that the instrument if enforceable contemplates $22,000.00 net to her." Plaintiff's petition in this cause was filed in 1975 on St. Valentine's Day.
Mislabeled "Points And Authorities," the "Points Relied On" in defendant's brief (Rule 84.04(a) and (b), V.A.M.R.) read:
Initially we note that this court is not obliged to seek through the transcript on appeal, the statement of facts nor the argument portion of an appellant's brief to ascertain the intended meaning of points relied on. The "points relied on" in an appellant's brief should be written understandably and self-sufficiently without need to resort to the transcript or other portions of the brief to come by an understanding of their meaning. Barber v. M. F. A. Milling Co., 536 S.W.2d 208, 209-210(4) (Mo.App.1976); Rule 84.04(d), V.A.M.R. No appellate court should stand as an advocate to ferret out possible trial court errors (Speicher v. Dunn, 530 S.W.2d 45, 46(2) (Mo.App.1975)) and should confine its efforts solely to points briefed in compliance with the rules of appellate procedure (Brown v. Wilkinson, 495 S.W.2d 678, 681(5) (Mo.App.1973)), which are mandatorily applied in review of court-tried cases with the same force as in the review of jury-tried matters. M & A Electric Power Cooperative v. Nesselrodt, 509 S.W.2d 468, 470(1) (Mo.App.1974); Freshour v. Schuerenberg, 495 S.W.2d 116, 118(8) (Mo.App.1973).
Point I leaves us to guess and conjecture "wherein and why" the trial court allegedly erred in failing to find that plaintiff's notice (whichever one that may have been Lusco v. Tavitian, 296 S.W.2d 14, 16(4) (Mo.1956)) was insufficient because plaintiff injected conditions (whatever they may have been) that rendered plaintiff's acceptance conditional. Simply asserting what averred errors are without also stating wherein and why they are errors neither complies with Rule 84.04(d), V.A.M.R., nor preserves anything for appellate review. State ex rel. State Highway Comm'n v. Heim, 483 S.W.2d 410, 415(17) (Mo.App.1972). Nonetheless, in excess of appellate duty, from the argument portion of defendant's brief we learn her contention is aimed at the July 16, 1974, acceptance letter of plaintiff's counsel, supra. Defendant contends that the letter unwarrantedly required the furnishing of a full "Warranty Deed and merchantable title of record . . . free and clear of all incumbrances." We do not agree with...
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