Aycock Realty Co. v. Brown

148 S.E. 291, 39 Ga. App. 649, 1929 Ga. App. LEXIS 488
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedMay 14, 1929
Docket19450
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 148 S.E. 291 (Aycock Realty Co. v. Brown) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aycock Realty Co. v. Brown, 148 S.E. 291, 39 Ga. App. 649, 1929 Ga. App. LEXIS 488 (Ga. Ct. App. 1929).

Opinion

Bloodworth, J.

C. G. Aycock Realty Company brought suit in the municipal court of Atlanta against J. B. Brown to recover $300 commissions. These commissions were alleged to be due because of a contract to exchange real estate, the petition alleging that “the said J. B. Brown agreed to sell Mrs. Julia B. Russell two certain parcels of land in the city of Atlanta, Georgia, through C. G. Ay-cock Realty Company, and to pay said C. G. Aycock Realty Company a commission of $300 for making the sale.” The defendant Brown demurred to the petition, on the ground that the contract sued on was too indefinite in several particulars and was not a binding and legal contract. The trial court sustained the demurrer, and Aycock Company appealed the case to the appellate division of the municipal court, which affirmed the trial judge, and Aycock Company carried the case by certiorari to the superior court. The judge of the superior court overruled the certiorari and sustained the judgment of the lower court, and Aycock Company then brought the case to this court by bill of exceptions assigning error on the overruling of his certiorari.

The contract which is the basis of the suit is as follows: “State of Georgia, County of Eulton. Atlanta, Ga., Eeb. 7, 1928. The undersigned hereby agrees to exchange through C. G. Aycock Realty Co., agent, the following described property, to wit: all that tract or parcel of land lying and being in the City of Atlanta, Eulton County, Georgia, same being a eight unit apartment known as 264 N. Moreland Ave. as shown for the sum of thirty thousand ($30,-OO'O.OO) dollars to be paid as follows: Assumes a loan of $18,-000.00 bearing 6% reducible $500.00 in 1929 and will give my property known as two houses and lots Nos. 861 and 865 Norcross Street subject to $4000.00 loan bearing 7% interest, and will give $6000.00 payable $80.00 per month secured by loan deed on above apartment [650]*650bearing 7% interest. It is agreed that the vendor shall furnish good and marketable title to said property and purchaser shall have a reasonable time in which to investigate same. In the event the title is objected to, the vendor shall be furnished with a written statement of all objections and be allowed a reasonable time thereafter in which to furnish a valid title. It is agreed that such papers as may be legally necessary to carry out the terms of this contract shall be executed and delivered by the parties at interest as soon as the validity of the title to said property has been established. Special Stipulations. Taxes for 1928 to be paid as fixed by law insurance. Interest and rents to be prorated at date of closing. This proposition is open for acceptance until the end of the-day of-, 19— J. B. Brown. The above proposition is hereby accepted, this the-day of-, 19— Mrs. Julia B. Russell.” .

The first ground of Brown’s demurrer is general and alleges that “no cause of action is set out;” and the second ground of demurrer alleges that the $18,000 loan referred to in the contract is not described with sufficient certainty. Obviously the contract is too ambiguous and indefinite to be capable of enforcement. Certain amendments to the petition were offered, but these were not amendments to the contract; and since the contract is the basis of the action, plaintiff’s case must stand or fall according to the validity of this contract. In the first place it is uncertain as to which piece of property Brown was to sell. The contract is in the form of a written proposition by Brown and an acceptance by Mrs. Russell. It states that “The undersigned hereby agrees to exchange . . the following described property, to wit: all that tract or parcel of land lying and being in the City of Atlanta, Fulton county, Georgia, same being a eight unit apartment know as 264 N. Moreland Ave. . .” Since the proposition was made by Brown and he was “the undersigned” first signing, the above-quoted language would indicate that he was the party selling the apartment; and yet other portions of the record show that Mrs. Russell was selling the apartment. The contract speaks of “the vendor,” but since the contract provides for an exchange of property, both parties are selling, and neither party is specifically designated as the vendor, and the contract does not name the owners of the properties in question, and the obligations alleged to be assumed are somewhat indefinite.

[651]*651Again, the description of each of the three properties named in the contract is indefinite. While it is not necessary to describe the property in a sale contract with the same degree of particularity as in a deed, yet in the instant contract neither the dimensions of the properties, the boundaries, nor the directions that the properties face are given. See Young v. Flournoy, 139 Ga. 634 (77 S. E. 807).

Again, the contract does not show how long Brown’s proposition was open for acceptance, nor does it show when Mrs. Russell accepted it; the day, year, and month of each being left blank.

Again the contract refers to certain loans neither of which is definitely described. The contract contains the following: “Assumes a loan of $18000.00 bearing 6% reducible $500.00 in 1929.” The contract does not show who assumes the loan, what company or person has the loan, what time in 1929 the $500 is reducible, when the remaining portion of .the principal is due or payable, nor when the interest is due. In the case of Trust Company of Georgia v. Neal, 161 Ga. 965 (3, 4) (132 S. E. 385) it was held that an amendment seeking to describe more definitely a loan mentioned in a sale contract was not allowable; but even though such an amendment was allowed in the instant case, it merely amended the petition and did not amend the alleged contract for sale as executed by the parties which is the basis of the action and without which the action can not stand. In the Neal case, supra, the first paragraph of the decision is in part as follows: “A paper provided: ‘The undersigned hereby agrees to purchase . . the following described property, to wit: [then follows a description of particular realty] for the sum of twenty-seven thousand, five hundred dollars ($27,500.00) to be paid as follows: Assumption of loan $9500.00, cash $7000.00, and the balance represented by [then follows a description of other realty]. [Signed] L. G. Neal. The above proposition is hereby accepted . . [Signed] D. J. Griffin.’ Held, that the language, ‘assumption of loan $9500.00,’ construed in connection with its context, is too indefinite to identify any particular loan.” And in paragraph 2 of the decision it is ruled that the language quoted above is an essential and inseparable part of the contract and should be definite and certain, and, failing to be so, the contract could not be enforced. There is a marked similarity between the contract in the Neal case and the contract in the in[652]*652stant case; but the contract in the instant case is even less definite than that in the Neal case, because the contract in the instant case is indefinite both as to the description of the property and the description of the loan, while the indefiniteness in the Neal contract is as to the loan only. In the case of Crawford v. Williford, 145 Ga. 550 (89 S. E.

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Bluebook (online)
148 S.E. 291, 39 Ga. App. 649, 1929 Ga. App. LEXIS 488, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aycock-realty-co-v-brown-gactapp-1929.