Matteson v. United States & Canada Land Company
| Decision Date | 21 February 1908 |
| Docket Number | 15,514 - (229) |
| Citation | 115 N.W. 195,103 Minn. 407 |
| Parties | C.E. MATTESON v. UNITED STATES & CANADA LAND COMPANY |
| Court | Minnesota Supreme Court |
Action in the district court for Hennepin county to recover $12,000 damages for the breach of a contract. From an order, Holt J., overruling its demurrer to the amended complaint defendant appealed. Affirmed.
Complaint -- Breach of Executory Contract.
Complaint construed, and held to state a cause of action for the breach of an executory contract for the sale of land.
Rescission by Vendor -- Tender.
Where the vendor in such a contract, before the time of performance is due, expressly renounces or repudiates the same and declares his inability to, or that he will not, perform it, no tender by the vendee of the balance due on the purchase price is essential to the right of action for the breach.
Rescission by Vendor
A mere refusal, however, before performance is due, not amounting to an unqualified repudiation or renunciation of the obligations of the contract, will not obviate the necessity of a tender by the vendee.
Wm. H. Hallam, for appellant.
Albert E. Clarke, for respondent.
Action to recover damages for the breach of an executory contract for the sale of land. Defendant interposed a general demurrer to the complaint, and appealed from an order overruling it.
It is alleged in paragraph 2 of the complaint, among other things, that on April 17, 1906, plaintiff and defendant entered into an agreement by which the plaintiff agreed to purchase and did purchase from defendant, and defendant agreed to sell and did sell to plaintiff, twenty four hundred acres of land in the province of Saskatchewan, Canada, which is described, for the agreed price of $19,200, to be paid as follows: $4,800 at the time of making the contract, and the balance, with interest, on or before five years from that date. Paragraph 3 alleges that at the time the contract was entered into plaintiff paid to defendant the first instalment of the purchase price, viz., $4,800. In paragraph 4 we find the following: "Defendant further agreed with the plaintiff that it would, within a reasonable time, furnish to the plaintiff such proper writings, contracts, or conveyances as should be sufficient to invest the plaintiff with a valid title thereto in fee simple upon the completion of the payments as provided in the original contract of purchase." The complaint then further alleges that the plaintiff has been at all times ready to execute and perform the contract in accordance with its terms, but that defendant has failed "and definitely and specifically refused to perform" the same, and "has declared its inability to do so"; that it has refused to convey or cause to be conveyed to plaintiff the land so purchased, or to take any steps necessary to the performance of the contract. Other allegations have reference to the damages alleged to have been suffered by plaintiff and are not material to the substantial questions presented by the demurrer.
Three points are made in support of the contention that the complaint fails to state a cause of action, viz.: (1) That there is no allegation that plaintiff tendered to defendant the balance of the purchase money, which it is claimed is not waived in cases of this kind by the vendor's renunciation of the contract before performance is due; (2) that no renunciation of the contract is charged, that at most a mere refusal to perform is pleaded, and that this is not sufficient to authorize an action for damages before performance is due, in the absence of tender by the vendee; and (3) that the measure of damages, if a right of action is shown by the complaint, is the difference between the unpaid purchase price of the land and the market value thereof "at the time of the breach," and that the complaint contains no allegations showing the date of the breach, nor any allegation of the value of the land when it occurred. The allegations of the complaint on this subject are in substance that since the contract was entered into the land has increased from $8, the purchase price, to $15 per acre, and that "it now is" worth the latter sum.
The complaint is somewhat indefinite and uncertain in some respects; but it is sufficient as against the demurrer. The second paragraph distinctly and clearly alleges that the parties entered into an agreement by which defendant sold to and plaintiff purchased the land, and that plaintiff paid upon the purchase price the sum of $4,800. Nothing appearing to the contrary, we are bound to assume that the contract was in writing and valid in law, and that it conferred upon plaintiff the right to the possession of the land purchased. The only uncertainty disclosed is found in the allegation of the fourth paragraph quoted in full. Just what papers, writings, contracts, or conveyances are intended to be there referred to is not made clear. But, whatever may be the proper construction of that portion of the complaint, it is certain that those allegations do not negative or impair the affirmative allegations of paragraph 2, by which the contract of sale is distinctly shown. Construing the complaint as a whole, we hold, therefore, that it states facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action, unless some of the specific objections made by the defendant are well founded.
1. The principal contention of defendant is that, to give rise to a cause of action for the breach of an executory contract for the sale of land of the character of the one here under consideration, a tender of the purchase money must be made by the vendee, and that, inasmuch as no such tender is pleaded, plaintiff cannot recover. In other words, it is insisted that the refusal of the vendor to perform before performance is due does not waive the obligation of the vendee to make the proper tender, even though the refusal amounts to a renunciation of the contract.
The contention is not without supporting authorities; but whatever may be the rule in other states on the subject, the position of defendant is not sustained by the decisions of this court. It was held in Alger-Fowler Co. v. Tracy, 98 Minn. 432, 107 N.W. 1124, that where one party to an executory contract, before the performance is due, expressly renounces the same and gives notice that he will not perform it, his adversary, if he so elects, may treat the renouncement as a breach of the contract and at once...
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