Jasmin v. Alberico, 259-76
| Decision Date | 07 June 1977 |
| Docket Number | No. 259-76,259-76 |
| Citation | 135 Vt. 287,376 A.2d 32 |
| Parties | Phyllis J. JASMIN v. John C. ALBERICO et al. |
| Court | Vermont Supreme Court |
Peter H. Banse, Bishop & Crowley, Rutland, for plaintiff.
Corsones, Hansen & Griffin, Rutland, for defendants.
Before BARNEY, C. J., and DALEY, LARROW, BILLINGS and HILL, JJ.
In this case an action of ejectment became an action for specific performance. Title to premises now occupied by the defendants, the Albericos, is recorded in the name of the plaintiff, Phyllis Jasmin, and her deceased husband. She sought to evict the defendants as tenants at will. They resisted her action and brought a counterclaim for specific performance, alleging an agreement between the parties to convey title to the Albericos upon payment of $2,000.00.
The trial court heard the matter and denied the action for ejectment. Under the counterclaim, judgment was given for specific performance of the claimed agreement upon payment of $2,000.00. The matter is now here.
The plaintiff's basic challenge to the decision below centers on the lack of legal support for the result. It is her position that specific performance is not an available remedy in this situation. We must agree and accordingly reverse.
This decision is required even with full acceptance of the facts as found below. They disclose that the defendant, John Alberico, and plaintiff's deceased husband, Arthur Jasmin, were life-long friends. Arthur Jasmin was a successful businessman. In 1969, the house, the subject of the present controversy, became available at a modest price. John Alberico attempted to buy it. Financing was refused by the bank involved, even though Arthur Jasmin was willing to co-sign a $2,000.00 note to cover the down payment.
When this occurred, Arthur purchased the house, which he proposed to deed to John whenever John repaid the $2,000.00 down payment. In the meantime the Albericos were to make the mortgage payments, including taxes, credit life insurance on the life of Arthur Jasmin, and water rent.
The Albericos moved in and worked, with the help of Arthur Jasmin, to make it liveable.
The arrangement was known to friends and relatives of both the Jasmins and the Albericos, but was never the subject of a writing. When Arthur Jasmin died, the mortgage was paid off by the proceeds of the insurance policy. Subsequently, John Alberico sought to pay to the plaintiff $2,000.00 and obtain a deed, but he was put off, and finally refused. The Albericos continued to pay the same payments to Mrs. Jasmin after Mr. Jasmin's death until August of 1972, although not always timely. Finally, this ejectment action was brought.
Given a contractual obligation dealing with that classically unique chattel, land, specific performance follows almost as a matter of course. Sparrow v. Cimonetti, 115 Vt. 292, 304, 58 A.2d 875 (1948). However, there are grounds for denying specific performance, even in the presence of a written contract, in that the granting of this particular kind of relief may produce an unsupportably inequitable result. Brower v. Hill, 133 Vt. 599, 602, 349 A.2d 901 (1975).
Where, as here, there is no such writing, the proponent of specific performance has a double burden. First, he has to establish an agreement enforceable in the face of the Statute of Frauds, 12 V.S.A. § 181. If that burden is met, his contract is still subject to the standards for specific enforcement. Towsley v. Champlain Oil Co., 127 Vt. 541, 542-43, 254 A.2d 440 (1969).
The validation of an oral contract to convey real estate in spite of the prohibition against enforcement of the Statute of Frauds depends on the doctrine of part performance. The real issue is change of position by the one claiming relief in reliance on the oral agreement to such a measure that the parties cannot be restored to reasonable equivalence to their former condition. Cooley v. Hatch, 91 Vt. 128, 133, 99 A. 784 (1917). As that case states, it is a requirement that the reliance be something beyond injury adequately compensable in money, since...
To continue reading
Request your trial
-
Heathcote Associates v. Chittenden Trust Co.
...the burden of first demonstrating the existence of an enforceable contract, Reynolds, 136 Vt. at 3, 383 A.2d 609; Jasmin v. Alberico, 135 Vt. 287, 376 A.2d 32 (1977), and second, demonstrating the inadequacy of money damages. Gerety v. Poitras, 126 Vt. 153, 155, 224 A.2d 919 (1966). The Cou......
-
Quenneville v. Buttolph, 02-333.
...Adm'r, 88 Vt. 115, 117, 92 A. 10, 11 (1914), and this may take the oral contract out of the Statute of Frauds. Jasmin v. Alberico, 135 Vt. 287, 290, 376 A.2d 32, 33-34 (1977). Money payments or actions that are indistinguishable from those of a tenant responsible for the maintenance of the ......
-
Stonewall of Woodstock Corp. v. Stardust 11TS, LLC
...by the party seeking enforcement that results in something "beyond injury adequately compensable in money." Jasmin v. Alberico, 135 Vt. 287, 290, 376 A.2d 32, 33 (1977). The payment of the deposit thus does not take the transaction out of the statute. Id. at 290, 376 A.2d at 34 ("[M]oney pa......
-
Bassler v. Bassler
...that, in reliance on the agreement, he or she suffered a substantial and irretrievable change in position. See Jasmin v. Alberico, 135 Vt. 287, 289-90, 376 A.2d 32, 33 (1977). They contend, however, that Linda did not suffer such a substantial and irretrievable change in Initially, we disag......