Hurdle v. White
| Decision Date | 21 December 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 761SC997,761SC997 |
| Citation | 239 S.E.2d 589,34 N.C.App. 644 |
| Court | North Carolina Court of Appeals |
| Parties | D. T. HURDLE v. Raymond T. WHITE and Thomas L. Jones. |
Twiford, Seawell, Trimpi & Thompson by C. Everett Thompson, Elizabeth City, for plaintiff-appellant.
White, Hall, Mullen & Brumsey by Gerald F. White and John H. Hall, Jr., Elizabeth City, for defendants-appellees.
The question presented by this appeal is whether the check was a sufficient memorandum of the contract to meet the requirements of our statute of frauds, G.S. 22-2, which provides that "(a)ll contracts to sell or convey any lands . . . shall be void unless said contract, or some memorandum or note thereof, be put in writing and signed by the party to be charged therewith . . .." We hold that under the facts of this case the check endorsed by White was a sufficient memorandum of the contract, and accordingly we reverse the judgment dismissing plaintiff's action.
A memorandum, by its very nature, is an informal instrument, and the statute of frauds does not require that it be in any particular form. A check can be a sufficient memorandum, provided it contains expressly or by necessary implication the essential elements of an agreement to sell. Annot., 153 A.L.R. 1112 (1944); Annot., 20 A.L.R. 363 (1922). A signature endorsed on the back of such a check has been held to be a sufficient signing. Harper v. Battle, 180 N.C. 375, 104 S.E. 658 (1920). Essential elements of an agreement to sell include a designation of the vendor, the vendee, the purchase price, and "a description of the land, the subject-matter of the contract, either certain in itself or capable of being reduced to certainty by reference to something extrinsic to which the contract refers." Lane v. Coe, 262 N.C. 8, 12, 136 S.E.2d 269, 273 (1964).
In the present case the check was clearly adequate to identify the vendor and the vendee, and the purchase price was unequivocally stated as being $45,000.00. The amount of the purchase price was not rendered fatally uncertain, as defendants contend, because the check did not of itself establish whether the $500.00 paid by the check was intended as a down payment to be applied against the purchase price or was intended only as consideration for granting the option. The writing clearly stated the price for the land, and parol evidence was competent to ascertain the intended application of the $500.00 payment. Moreover, although the price to be paid is certainly an essential element of a contract for the sale of land, our Supreme Court has held that where, as in the present case, the vendor is the party to be charged, our statute of frauds does not require that the price be stated in writing. Lewis v. Murray, 177 N.C. 17, 97 S.E. 750 (1919); Bateman v. Hopkins, 157 N.C. 470, 73 S.E. 133 (1911); Thornburg v. Masten, 88 N.C. 293 (1883). Thus, in the present case parol evidence was in any event competent to establish the purchase price.
The land was described on the check as being the "rest of Tuttle tract." The designation of a tract of land by its popular name has long been recognized as sufficient under the statute of frauds to permit the introduction of extrinsic evidence to identify the particular tract intended. Cherry v. Long, 61 N.C. 466 (1868) (); Simmons v. Spruill, 56 N.C. 9 (1856) (); Annot., 23 A.L.R.2d 6, at p. 32-39 (1952). See also Smith v. Low, 24 N.C. 457 (1842). In the present case plaintiff introduced in evidence a deed dated 24 October 1969 from Thomas L. Jones, Commissioner, to defendant White and his wife, Della (who is now deceased), recorded in Deed Book 59, Page 603 in the office of the Register of Deeds of Perquimans County. This deed described the lands conveyed thereby as follows:
The Tuttle tract containing 431.5 acres as described and delineated on a plat prepared by T. J. Jessup, Register (sic) Surveyor entitled "Charlie Frank White-Tuttle Tract Craney Island 431.5 acres, Belvidere Township, Perquimans County, North Carolina" which plat is now duly recorded in Plat Book 4 on page 93 in the office of the Register of Deeds of Perquimans County . . ..
Plaintiff also introduced in evidence the plat above referred to recorded in Plat Book 4 on page 93. This plat shows the boundary lines, marked by courses and distances and by reference to adjoining property owners, of a tract of land which is designated thereon as the "Tuttle Tract 431.5AC." No question was raised as to the accuracy or authenticity of this plat. Plaintiff also presented evidence that the tract of land shown on the plat was commonly known in the community as the "Tuttle Tract" and that no other property in the county was known by that name. Plaintiff's evidence thus shows that the words "Tuttle Tract" appearing on the check refer to a well-known and unique tract of land; that a deed has been recorded conveying that tract by that name to defendant White; that there is no other tract in Perquimans County known by that name; and that the Tuttle tract can be clearly identified and accurately located upon the ground by reference to the metes and bounds description on the recorded plat.
Defendants nevertheless contend that even if the description is sufficient as to a tract of land in Perquimans County, the failure of the description to pinpoint the location of the tract by "village, town, city, county, state or country" amounts to a patent ambiguity. We do not agree. The transaction must be evaluated in light of the circumstances of the parties.
"The presumption is strong that a description which actually corresponds with an estate owned by the contracting party is intended to apply to that particular estate . . . ."
. . . "When all the circumstances of possession, ownership and situation of the parties, and of their relation to each other and the property, as they were when the negotiation took place and the writing was made, are disclosed, if the meaning and application of the writing, read in the light of those circumstances, are certain and plain, the parties will be bound by it as a sufficient written contract or memorandum of their agreement."
Lewis v. Murray, 177 N.C. 17, 20-21, 97 S.E. 750, 752 (1919). See also Norton v. Smith, 179 N.C. 553, 103 S.E. 14 (1920). Here, plaintiff and defendant White were both citizens and residents of Perquimans County, and all the facts point inescapably...
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