Suitts v. First Sec. Bank of Idaho, N. A.

• Citation: 602 P.2d 53,100 Idaho 555
• Decision Date: 09 October 1979
• Docket Number: No. 12501,12501
• Parties: Richard O. SUITTS and Kathryn W. Suitts, husband and wife, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. FIRST SECURITY BANK OF IDAHO, N. A., W. E. McMurtrey and Pauline McMurtrey, husband and wife, Defendants-Respondents.
• Court: Idaho Supreme Court

Page 53

602 P.2d 53

100 Idaho 555

Richard O. SUITTS and Kathryn W. Suitts, husband and wife, Plaintiffs- Appellants, v. FIRST SECURITY BANK OF IDAHO, N. A., W. E. McMurtrey and Pauline McMurtrey, husband and wife, Defendants-Respondents.

No. 12501.

Supreme Court of Idaho.

Oct. 9, 1979.

Rehearing Denied Nov. 20, 1979.

Francis H. Hicks of Hicks & Kevan, Mountain Home, for plaintiffs-appellants.

Perce E. Hall of Hall & Friedly, Mountain Home, for defendant-respondent First Sec. Bank.

Loren C. Ipsen of Moffatt, Thomas, Barrett & Blanton, Boise, for defendants-respondents McMurtrey.

DONALDSON, Chief Justice.

Plaintiffs-appellants, Richard O. Suitts and Kathryn W. Suitts (hereinafter Suitts) commenced this action on January 8, 1975, seeking damages for breach of contract based upon the alleged wrongful refusal of the escrow holder First Security Bank of Idaho, N. A. (hereinafter First Security Bank) and vendors, W. E. McMurtrey and Pauline M. McMurtrey (hereinafter McMurtreys), defendants-respondents herein, to deliver a certain warranty deed held in escrow to them pursuant to a written contract also held in escrow.

This action arises out of a contract entered into by the Suitts and the McMurtreys on or about April 15, 1969, whereby the Suitts agreed to purchase over a period of time certain real property, cattle and farm equipment from the McMurtreys. An escrow agreement was executed by the Suitts and McMurtreys, in which the Mountain Home branch of the First Security Bank was designated as escrow holder. The land sale contract, the bill of sale, a warranty deed from the McMurtreys to the Suitts, and a quitclaim deed back to the McMurtreys from the Suitts were placed in escrow. The contract provided that these documents placed in escrow would be delivered to the Suitts upon payment of the purchase price.

Prior to the full payment of the purchase price and complete execution of the contract, a series of disputes arose between the Suitts and the McMurtreys. The Suitts brought two separate actions against the McMurtreys which were ultimately consolidated into one action. The Suitts sought reformation of the legal description of the real property contained in the agreement and in addition alleged the McMurtreys were obstructing an easement granted to the Suitts over land reserved by the McMurtreys. The McMurtreys counterclaimed for breach of contract seeking a declaration of default. The trial court entered judgment reforming the property description and ordering the McMurtreys to remove a portion of a tree obstructing the easement in question. In addition, the court ruled that the Suitts were not in material breach of the contract and dismissed with prejudice the McMurtreys' counterclaim.

In response to this decision, the McMurtreys filed and perfected an appeal to the Idaho Supreme Court. While this appeal was pending, on January 2, 1975, the Suitts tendered to the First Security Bank, as escrow holder, $20,917.81, the remaining balance of the purchase price plus interest. The bank accepted the entire contract balance and tendered the same to the McMurtreys who refused to accept the payment. There is a factual dispute as to whether the bank then tendered the payment back to the Suitts, who refused to accept the payment. The bank then tendered notice to both parties that it was holding the escrow at status quo until the rights, powers and duties of the parties became finally determined by judicial action.

The Suitts then commenced this present action against the bank and the McMurtreys for the sum of $250,000 in damages for alleged wrongful failure to deliver the escrow documents. On February 18, 1976, the Idaho Supreme Court handed down its decision, which affirmed the reformation of the contract made by the trial court and also affirmed the refusal of the trial court to declare a forfeiture of the contract. However the Idaho Supreme Court reversed the part of the trial court's decision ordering the McMurtreys to remove the alleged obstruction of the easement across their land. Suitts v. McMurtrey, 97 Idaho 416, 546 P.2d 62 (1976).

After the Idaho Supreme Court decision, the bank received authorization from the McMurtreys to release the escrow documents to the Suitts on March 4, 1976. The bank delivered the escrow instruments to the Suitts and the payment was delivered to the McMurtreys to close the escrow.

This present appeal is from district court orders granting summary judgment in favor of both the First Security Bank and the McMurtreys and dismissing the Suitts' action for breach of contract based on wrongful refusal to deliver the escrowed documents.

I

The trial court granted summary judgment in favor of the McMurtreys dismissing Suitts' claim for relief against them holding that "there was no breach of duty owed by the McMurtreys to Suitts for instructing the escrow holder not to deliver the deed and other escrow documents pending the decision on appeal." The trial court held the McMurtreys had a right to stay the operation of the escrow contract pending a final determination on appeal. The trial court came to this conclusion based on its determination that under the terms of I.C. § 13-208 and I.C. § 13-211 all proceedings or actions which would affect the status quo during the pendency of an appeal are stayed. ¹ The trial court stated that the continuation of the escrow contract would have ultimately led to the vesting of title in the Suitts during the appeal, thus changing the status quo and making the McMurtreys' appeal meaningless. The trial court concluded that since the purpose of the above statutes was to preserve the status quo during an appeal, the taking of an appeal in the instant case stayed the operation of the escrow contract.

We disagree with the trial court's analysis of the effect of the McMurtreys' appeal on the operation of the escrow contract. Idaho Code § 13-211 provided:

"In cases not provided for in sections 13-204 (money judgment), 13-205 (judgment in replevin), 13-206 (judgment in specific performance) and 13-207 (judgment in ejectment), the perfecting of an appeal by giving the undertaking, or making the deposit mentioned in section 13-203, stays proceedings in the court below upon the judgment or the order appealed from . . . ."

It is clear that under I.C. § 13-211 the mere perfecting of an appeal by the McMurtreys stayed further proceedings in the district court pertaining to the action which was the subject of the appeal. Idaho Code § 13-211 in effect provides an automatic stay or supersedeas upon the perfecting of an appeal, thus divesting the trial court of "jurisdiction to act in any manner (with relation to the rights and liabilities of an appellant) except in aid of and not inconsistent with the appeal." Coeur d'Alene Turf Club, Inc. v. Cogswell, 93 Idaho 324, 329, 461 P.2d 107, 112 (1969); Anderson v. Pickrell, 115 Ariz. 589, 566 P.2d 1335 (1977). While it is clear that the actions of the trial court below are stayed by the taking of an appeal, it is not evident that the operation of an escrow contract itself is stayed.

"(I)t has sometimes been said that self-executing judgments are not affected by a supersedeas or a stay of proceedings, on the theory that supersedeas operates only to prevent action by the trial court and not to suspend the effect of the judgment, and as a self-executing judgment requires no process for its enforcement, there is nothing upon which a supersedeas could operate." 4 Am.Jur.2d Appeal and Error § 368, p. 842.

The California Supreme Court in Caminetti v. Guaranty Union Life Insurance Co., 22 Cal.2d 759, 141 P.2d 423, 425 (1943), in dealing with a statute which closely resembled I.C. § 13-211, stated:

"The order appealed from is self-executing in that it requires no process of the court to carry it into effect. The appeal does not stay the effectiveness of such a judgment. The writ of supersedeas acts only upon proceedings to enforce the judgment in the court below not on the judgment itself. Sec. 949, Code Civ.Proc.; Dulin v. Pacific W. & C. Co., 98 Cal. 304, 33 P. 123; In re Imperial Water Co. No. 3, 199 Cal. 556, 250 P. 394. In the Dulin case it was pointed out that the writ of supersedeas 'cannot be used to perform the functions of an injunction against the parties to the action, restraining them from any act in the assertion of their rights, other than to prevent them from using the process of the court below to enforce the judgment * * *.' "

We agree with the approach of the California court and find it particularly applicable to the fact situation in the instant case. The judgment of the lower court finding no default by the Suitts on the land sale contract for the property required no further process by the lower court for its enforcement and had intrinsic effect. A self-executing judgment, like this one, leaves no proceedings to be stayed by operation of I.C. § 13-211. "(A) judgment, order, or decree which does not command or permit any act to be done, or is not of a nature to be actively enforced by execution or otherwise, but is self-executing, is not within the statute, as there is nothing upon which a stay bond can operate in such a case." Higgins v. Fuller, 48 N.M. 215, 148 P.2d 573, 574 (1943). The operation of the escrow contract was not stayed by the appeal perfected by the McMurtreys since the judgment of the trial court was self-executing. Upon completion of the terms of the escrow contract the Suitts had a right to the escrowed documents, notwithstanding the appeal.

McMurtreys complain that a successful prosecution of their appeal in the original action would have been a meaningless act if during the pendency of the appeal the Suitts could have compelled First Security Bank to deliver the escrowed documents to them. Therefore, the McMurtreys argue, it was imperative to stay the operation of the escrow to preserve the property in status quo. McMurtreys contend that if the escrowed documents were...