Hamill v. Thompson

3 Colo. 518
CourtSupreme Court of Colorado
DecidedDecember 15, 1877
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 3 Colo. 518 (Hamill v. Thompson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Colorado primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hamill v. Thompson, 3 Colo. 518 (Colo. 1877).

Opinion

Elbert, J.

The bill in this case alleges that on the 25th day of July, 1875, the appellant, who was the complainant below, purchased of Davis a one-fourth interest in the Keystone mine ; that at the date of the purchase the mine was owned in common by the said Davis and one Clark; that Davis did not convey the said one-fourth interest to the appellant, but by agreement held the same in trust for him; that on the 25th day of August, 1875, appellant sold said fourth interest to the defendant, Henry C. Thompson, for the sum of one thousand dollars, payable five hundred dollars within twenty days, and five hundred dollars within a reasonable time thereafter; that on the same day, at the request of appellant, Davis made a-deed of the said one-fourth interest to Thompson ; that by agreement of parties the deed was placed in the hands of one Andrew P. Thompson as an escrow, upon the condition that it was not to be delivered until the one thousand dollars was paid as above stipulated; that the defendant, Henry C. Thompson, paid a portion of the purchase-money, amounting in all to eight hundred dollars ; that on the 27th day of September, 1875, [520]*520Andrew P. Thompson, without the consent of appellant, delivered the deed to Henry C. Thompson contrary to and in violation of the conditions of the escrow; that upon the same day Henry C. Thompson filed the deed for record ; that at the time of delivery as aforesaid, there remained due and unpaid of the purchase-money two hundred dollars; that Henry C. Thompson refused to pay the same; that thereupon the appellant rescinded the contract of sale, and gave Thompson, the purchaser, notice thereof; that on the 9th day of December, 1875, and prior to filing his bill, appellant tendered him the amount of the purchase-money paid by him to appellant, with interest, which Thompson refused to accept; that he also demanded from Thompson a conveyance of said one-fourth interest in the mine, which he refused to make; that Andrew P. Thompson and one William H. Taylor, about the time of said sale, acquired by purchase an undivided one-half interest in the mine, and in connection with the said Clark and Henry C. Thompson had possession, occupied and worked the mine since the 25th day of August, 1875, and had taken out large quantities of ore of the value of sixty thousand dollars, and that the said Henry C. Thompson had received and converted to his own use the one-fourth part thereof.

The bill prays that the deed to Henry C. Thompson so placed in escrow be declared null and void, or that he be adjudged to hold said one-fourth interest in trust for appellant, and decreed to convey the same to appellant; that he also be decreed to account for one-fourth of the proceeds of the ore taken out during his occupancy of the mine ; and that he be enjoined from taking ore from the mine, or in any way intermeddling with the same pending the litigation ; also, that the other owners of interests in the mine, Clark, Taylor and Andrew P. Thompson, be enjoined from permitting Henry C. Thompson from interfering with the mine, and that they be enjoined from delivering to him, or accounting to him, for any share of the ore taken out of the mine during the pendency of the suit.

[521]*521To this bill the defendants interposed a demurrer upon the grounds: 1st, want of equity in the bill; 2d, non-joinder of proper parties, in that Simon Davis was not made a party to the bill; 3d, misjoinder of parties in that Andrew P. Thompson, William H. Taylor and Henry H. Clark were made parties to the bill; 4th, that the bill is multifarious. The demurrer was sustained and the bill dismissed.

The bill alleges, and the demurrer admits, that Davis held the title to a one-fourth interest -in the Keystone mine in trust for the appellant, and at his' request conveyed the same to Thompson, to whom appellant had sold.' By the terms of the sale to Thompson, the payment of the purchase-money was a condition precedent to the delivery of the deed, and upon his refusal to pay the whole or any balance due, the appellant was at liberty to rescind the contract. Burnett v. Caldwell, 9 Wall. 290; Jackson ex dem. Shipley v. Moncrief, 5 Wend. 26; 2 Chitty’s Contracts, 1090 (11th Am. ed.); 2 Parsons on Contracts, 679* (6th ed.).

The bill alleges the default of Thompson in making payment, and notice to him of rescission by the appellant. He who seeks equity must do equity, and the appellant having received payment of part of the purchase-money before seeking relief in a court of equity, it was necessary for him to return, or offer to return, the amount received with interest. Story’s Eq. Jur., § 64 (e); Latham v. Hickey, 21 La. Ann. 425; Lee v. Taylor, id. 514.

The bill alleges an offer by the appellant to return the amount of the purchase-money received, with interest, and the refusal by Thompson to receive it. Had the conveyance placed in escrow been a deed direct from the appellant to the purchaser Thompson, upon the rescission of the contract, the appellant might have maintained ejectment. Burnett v. Caldwell, 9 Wall. 290; Jackson ex dem. Shipley v. Moncrief, 5 Wend. 26; Wright v. Moore, 21 id. 230.

The conveyance being from Davis, who held the title in trust for appellant, direct to the purchaser Thompson, the' [522]*522appellant properly sought relief in a court of equity. That the appellant had an action at law on his contract does not oust a court of equity of its jurisdiction. On refusal of payment he had an election either to pursue his remedy at law, and thus affirm the contract, or to rescind the contract and seek the equitable relief to which the facts entitled him. Whether the rescission of a contract will be decreed rests within the sound discretion of the court, exercised with reference to all the equities of the case; “not an arbitrary or capricious discretion, dependent upon the mere pleasure of the judge, but of that sound and reasonable discretion which governs itself, so far as may be, by general rules and principles.” 1 Story’s Eq. Jur. 693, 742.

A chief consideration is always whether the parties can be placed in statu quo. Upon the facts stated, it cannot be said that any difficulty of this character forbids the decree of rescission. We find nothing in the bill to support the proposition that the appellant waived his right to rescind the contract in question. His right to rescind sprang from the refusal of Thompson to pay a portion of the purchase-money then due, and not from the wrongful delivery of the escrow. The bill alleges that after the refusal of Thompson, the purchaser, to pay, the appellant rescinded the contract and gave him notice thereof. What time intervened between the refusal to pay and the rescission does not appear; and if a question whether the rescission was made within a reasonable time could arise in such a case it was not fairly presented by the demurrer.

Acquiescence in the wrongful delivery of the escrow, if shown, might lose the appellant the right to rescind, and leave him to his action at law for the balance of the purchase-money, the same as if the deed had been delivered at the time of the purchase ; but no facts appear in the bill upon which acquiescence can be predicated. “Nothing short of an express satisfaction of the deed, or such an acquiescence after a knowledge of the facts as would raise [523]*523the presumption of an express ratification would give the deed validity.” Hadlock v. Hadlock, 22 Ill. 388.

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Bluebook (online)
3 Colo. 518, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hamill-v-thompson-colo-1877.