Hill v. Chambers

• Decision Date: 26 August 1957
• Docket Number: No. 18028,18028
• Citation: 314 P.2d 707,136 Colo. 129
• Parties: Eli HILL and Laura Hill, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Dan CHAMBERS and Emma Chambers, Defendants in Error.
• Court: Colorado Supreme Court

Page 707

314 P.2d 707

136 Colo. 129

Eli HILL and Laura Hill, Plaintiffs in Error, v. Dan CHAMBERS and Emma Chambers, Defendants in Error.

No. 18028.

Supreme Court of Colorado, In Department.

Aug. 26, 1957.

McDougal & Rogers, Denver, for plaintiff in error.

No appearance for defendants in error.

SUTTON, Justice.

The Hills were defendants and the Chambers were plaintiffs in the trial court and we will refer to them herein by name or as they there appeared.

In 1954 plaintiffs filed their complaint alleging that about April 1951 defendants orally promised to convey to plaintiffs one acre of land described therein, located in Adams County Colorado, if plaintiffs would build a house thereon. The consideration alleged was the actual construction of the house in reliance on the gift. Plaintiffs further alleged that the house was built, that it has a reasonable market value of $15,000 (later testified to as approximately $7,000), asked specific performance of the agreement to deed the land, for damages of $1,000, and if specific performance was not granted, then for judgment in the amount of $16,000. Defendants answered with a general denial and asked that the action be dismissed. Following trial to the court judgment was entered for the plaintiffs which judgment upon motion was corrected to include an order that plaintiffs pay part of the taxes on the property. Motion for new trial was overruled and defendants are here by writ of error urging seven grounds for reversal, all of which hinge on the question: Was the alleged contract enforceable? The Chambers have entered no appearance, filed no brief in this court and their time to do so has expired. We note that Hills' counsel was changed following the trial below and that present counsel are not to be blamed for the alleged failure of defendants to present all their evidence at the trial as was urged below as grounds for a new trial.

The record shows that prior to this controversy the Chambers, parents of twelve children with nine of them still at home, were nearly destitute and living in New Mexico where Mr. Chambers was ill. During this time Mrs. Hill, who was Mr. Chambers' sister, stated that if the Chambers family would come to Colorado that they would help them build a home. In due course the Chambers arrived and were donated living quarters in two small cabins located next to a five acre tract owned by defendants in Adams County. While a house for the Chambers was being built on the Hill and the Hills continued to live next to it and often furnished meals and other help to the Chambers. The undisputed evidence is that a six room cinder block house was built. This was done partly with labor of an unknown amount and with materials of approximately $2,374 furnished by plaintiffs, together with labor and materials donated by friends of the Hills in unspecified amounts and disputed labor donated by the Hills with materials furnished by them of approximately $300 in value. As to the labor and donations of the Hills the confused state of the evidence indicates that if they were to be recompensed it was to be only if they later built a third house on the five acre tract, in which event Mr. Chambers was to furnish an unspecified amount of labor.

During the course of the trial defendants' counsel, at first without objection, introduced evidence of a later disputed oral agreement of the parties relating to the drilling of a water well and the installation a pump. This well is on defendants' land and the water is used for both the Hill and Chambers houses. Needless to say this matter and the Chambers' neglect or refusal to pay for half the well as the Hills contended or for water rent as the Chambers contended had nothing to do with this dispute and the trial court properly declined to decide that issue. It appears however that this and other extraneous problems were the real causes of the disputes between these parties except for the amount of land to be transferred.

The record further shows that once the Chambers' house was finished they apparently lived therein content to let matters rock along and not bothering to have settled such essentials as taxes, water and conveyance of the land. This course continued until they were denied a deed because they did not have the plot surveyed presumably so that a deed description could be formulated.

The general rules relating to this type of action and comment thereon will be helpful at this time.

Specific performance will not be decreed unless the property to be conveyed is fixed with certainty as to the locality and description or is such that it can be ascertained with certainty. Waterman On The Specific Performance of Contracts (1881). Here the record shows that with the assistance of external evidence (the surveyor's plat based upon the stake and position of the defendants' land in relation to adjoining properties and the testimony of other witnesses than these parties) that the description, without being contradicted or added to, can be connected with and applied to the land intended, to the exclusion of all other property. See Noland v. Haywood, 46 Wyo. 101, 23 P.2d 845. In 81 C.J.S. Specific Performance § 33, p. 490, it is said: 'The contract may be specifically enforced where extrinsic evidence is required to apply, but not where it is required to supply, the description of the property involved,' citing several authorities including the Noland case, supra.

The rule is that in every case where suit is brought to enforce specific performance of a contract, the contract must be clear and established beyond question, and even then the granting or refusing of the requested decree rests largely in the discretion of the court. Mestas v. Martini, 113 Colo. 108, 155 P.2d 161, and see Bowman v. Reyburn, 115 Colo. 82, 170 P.2d 271. Equity will not decree specific performance of an oral contract to convey land if there is an adequate remedy at law. French v. Mitchell, 92 Colo. 532, 22 P.2d 644. In an action for specific performance, the contract must be free from ambiguity and it must be clearly established that the demanded performance is in accordance with the actual agreement of the parties. Bowman v. Reyburn, supra. In Colorado it has been held that part performance of a parol agreement under certain circumstances is sufficient to authorize specific performance, such acts as possession and making permanent and valuable improvements being sufficient if the agreement can be established. Hunt v. Hayt, 10 Colo. 278, 15 P. 410.

'* * * the terms of a contract must be expressed with reasonable certainty, and what is reasonable in any case must depend upon the subject-matter of the agreement, the purpose for which it was entered into, the situation and relations of the parties, and the circumstances under which it was made. A greater amount or degree of certainty is required in the terms of an agreement, which is to be specifically executed in equity, than is necessary in a contract which is to be the basis of an action at law for damages. * * *' Pomeroy's Specific Performance of Contracts,...