Gartley v. Ricketts

760 P.2d 143, 107 N.M. 451
CourtNew Mexico Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 22, 1988
Docket17370
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 760 P.2d 143 (Gartley v. Ricketts) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New Mexico Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Gartley v. Ricketts, 760 P.2d 143, 107 N.M. 451 (N.M. 1988).

Opinion

OPINION

SCARBOROUGH, Chief Justice.

In 1983, plaintiffs-appellees Irene'Gartley and Barbara Schriber filed a complaint to reform a deed to void certain conditions as being a cloud on their title, as being void under the rule against perpetuities, and being void as restraints on alienation. The defendant-appellant, Phyllis Ricketts, counterclaimed against Gartley and Schriber alleging that Gartley had breached the condition subsequent in the deed when she conveyed an interest in the property to Schriber. The trial court granted final judgment in favor of Gartley and Schriber, holding that the deed was in violation of the rule against perpetuities and was an illegal and unreasonable restraint on alienation. We affirm.

In April 1971, Louise Cunningham, now deceased, gave a warranty deed to her sister Irene Gartley for a .344 acre tract of a 35.67 acre farm in Dona Ana County, New Mexico. A house was to be built on the land shortly after the contract was signed. One was begun but not completed at an approximate cost of $26,700. The agreement and deed contained certain conditions as follows:

(a) So long as Grantor lives, Grantee nor her heirs or assigns may sell the tract of land, and the home which Grantee will build thereon, to any person or firm, nor shall she or her heirs rent the same to any person or firm; provided, however, each of the same may be done with the written consent of the Grantor.
(b) After grantor dies, Grantee may not sell the above described premises to any person or firm without first offering the same to Phyllis Ricketts [daughter of Cunningham], or if she be not alive to the heirs or devisees of Phyllis Ricketts, for the sum of Twenty-Five Thousand Five Hundred and no/100 ($25,500.00) Dollars.
(c) No housetrailer or mobile home may be located upon the premises conveyed at any time.
(d) Grantee’s heirs and devisees, after the death of Grantor and Grantee, shall have the same power and authority, and are subject to the same limitations as prescribed for Grantee hereinabove in sub-paragraphs (a) and (b). In other words, Grantee’s heirs are empowered with the same rights as Grantee is empowered with herein, but are also subject to the same restrictions and limitations and conditions placed herein upon Grantee.
(e) Ip the event that either Grantee or her heirs desire to sell the above described property as set forth in sub-paragraphs (b) and (d) above, the procedure shall be as follows: Grantee or her heirs shall offer the same to Phyllis Ricketts or her heirs at price required; after receipt of such offer Phyllis Ricketts or her heirs shall have thirty days within which to elect whether to accept the offer or to reject the offer; if not accepted within thirty days the Grantee or her heirs may proceed to sell the property to such person or firms as they elect; if Phyllis Ricketts or her heirs desire to accept the offer they shall, within thirty days, deposit with an Escrow Agent ten percent of the purchase price, and shall thereafter complete the purchase within 120 days from the time that the offer is accepted; Grantee or her heirs will be required to present evidence of merchantable title.

Gartley was aware of the conditions contained in the agreement, and a short time later she conveyed the property for consideration to herself and her daughter Barbara Schriber as joint tenants without notice or consent of Cunningham. The house was never completed and has remained unoccupied. Thirteen years later Gartley and Schriber brought this action to clear title.

The trial court issued conclusions of law stating that the warranty deed was in violation of the rule against perpetuities, that the conditions in the deed were illegal and unreasonable restraints upon alienation, and that the grantor’s interest in the deed could not be reformed to approximate the intention of the creator of the interest. The trial court then reformed the deed to convey an interest in fee simple from Cunningham to Gartley.

We first construe the grant in question. Ricketts argued that the deed created a fee simple on condition subsequent with a possibility of reverter in the transferor. In New Mexico,

[n]o exact language is required to create a determinable fee or a condition subsequent, but there must be a clear indicatoin [sic] in the dedication of an intent that an interest is given or granted as a determinable fee or on condition subsequent.

Wheeler v. Monroe, 86 N.M. 296, 298, 523 P.2d, 540, 542 (1974). The trial court, however, found that the grant contained both conditions subsequent and a preemptive right of first refusal* A right of first refusal has been recognized as differing from an option to buy in that

a pre-emption does not give to the preemptioner the power to compel an unwilling owner to sell, but merely requires the owner, when and if he decides to sell, to offer the property first to the person entitled to the pre-emption at the stipulated price, and upon receiving such an offer, the pre-emptioner may elect whether he will buy, and if he elects not to buy, then the owner of the property may sell to a third party.

Barnhart v. McKinney, 235 Kan. 511, 517, 682 P.2d 112, 117 (1984) quoting, Anderson v. Armour & Co., 205 Kan. 801, 473 P.2d 84, (1970). In this case, the trial court correctly concluded that Cunningham had created a right of first refusal in Ricketts when she conveyed the property to Gartley, but concluded also that it was one of the conditions creating an unreasonable restraint on alienation.

In New Mexico, the rule against perpetuities relates only to a future interest in property. Price v. Atlantic Refining Co., 79 N.M. 629, 630, 447 P.2d 509, 510 (1968). A right of first refusal or preemption is not a future interest and we decline to subject it to the rule. Robroy Land Co., Inc. v. Prather, 95 Wash.2d 66, 69, 622 P.2d 367, 369 (1980). Feider v. Feider, 40 Wash.App. 589, 592, 699 P.2d 801, 803 (Wash.App.1985). A possibility of reverter is also not subject to the rule. Klawitter v. U.S., 423 F.Supp. 1349, 1351 (1976). Furthermore, we recognize that the current trend is to “temper the rule [against perpetuities] if possible where its harsh application would obstruct or do violence to an intended scheme of property disposition.” Barnhart, 235 Kan. at 518, 682 P.2d at 118 (1984); First Nat’l Bank & Trust Co. v. Sidwell Corp., 234 Kan. 867, 678 P.2d 118 (1984); Smerchek v. Hamilton, 4 Kan. App.2d 346, 606 P.2d 491 (1980).

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Bluebook (online)
760 P.2d 143, 107 N.M. 451, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/gartley-v-ricketts-nm-1988.