Homan Farms v. Carleton

877 S.W.2d 638, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 714, 1994 WL 160173
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedMay 3, 1994
DocketNo. WD 47890
StatusPublished

This text of 877 S.W.2d 638 (Homan Farms v. Carleton) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Homan Farms v. Carleton, 877 S.W.2d 638, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 714, 1994 WL 160173 (Mo. Ct. App. 1994).

Opinion

ULRICH, Judge.

Robert H. Carleton and Ana Carleton, husband and wife, appeal the summary judgment entered for Homan Farms, a partnership, on its claim against them and on their counterclaim. Homan Farms sold farm land to Ludwig C. Renner and Eugenia G. Renner who, to finance their purchase, signed a promissory note payable to Homan Farms. The note was secured by a deed of trust on the property. The Renners then sold the land with additional farm land to Mr. and Mrs. Carleton. The note was defaulted, Ho-man Farms foreclosed on the deed of trust, and Homan Farms then brought this action against Mr. and Mrs. Carleton for the deficiency. The Carletons raised the defenses of fraud in the inducement and mutual mistake of fact. The trial court entered summary judgment for Homan Farms on its claim and on the Carletons’ counterclaim. The Carle-tons appealed.

The Carletons assert two points on appeal. They claim the trial court erred in entering summary judgment because, they aver, Mr. Renner fraudulently induced them to purchase the property and, thus, the promissory note and the' deed of trust on the farm property were voidable. Alternatively, as their second point on appeal, the Carletons contend that the agreement between them and the Renners was the result of mutual mistake, both parties believing that the farm included 1,200 tillable acres when it encompassed fewer acres.

The trial court’s order of summary judgment is affirmed.

Homan Farms sold farm acreage in Gentry County to Ludwig C. Renner and Eugenia G. Renner on January 2, 1980. To finance the sale, the Renners signed a promissory note in the amount of $390,000 secured by a deed of trust on the farm. The Renners sold the farm to Robert and Ana Carleton on January 1,1981. The sale was subject to the deed of trust, and the Carletons specifically agreed to pay the note given by the Renners to Homan Farms.

[640]*640The Carletons defaulted on the promissory note, and Homan Farms foreclosed on the deed of trust. The farm was sold at the trustee’s sale, and Homan Farms purchased the property at the trustee’s sale for $225,-000. A deficiency balance existed, including delinquent taxes, in the sum of $209,396.12. This lawsuit was brought against the Carle-tons for the deficiency.

In defense of Homan Farms’ claim, the Carletons contended that they were fraudulently induced to purchase the farm by the representation of seller Ludwig C. Renner that the farm had 1,200 tillable acres. Additionally, the Carletons claim that the realtor who was involved in the sale of the property in behalf of the Renners also represented that the farm included 1,200 tillable acres. Mr. Carleton reviewed the records of the local A.S.C.S. office, and they reflected that the farm had 1,194 tillable acres. After the Carletons purchased the farm, Mr. Carleton initially questioned whether the farm included 1,200 tillable acres when, in June of 1981, he operated a grain drill which reflected that he had planted 860 acres and not 1,200.

The note matured January 1, 1983; in December 1982 the Carletons obtained a one-year extension of the promissory note with Homan Farms in exchange for a higher interest rate.

The Carletons defaulted on the note in the spring of 1983. The Carletons continued to make payments on the farm through January 1983 and contend that they were unaware that the farm consisted of only 910 tillable acres until 1983, when another official measurement of the farm was made available by the local A.S.C.S. office. The Carletons claimed that Mr. Renner’s and the realtor’s representation of the amount of acreage was false and fraudulent. Mr. Renner acknowledged the false statement but contended that the misrepresentation was a mistake. The Carletons’ counterclaim sought recovery for the reasonable value of the improvements they made to the farm which included two grain storage bins.

On April 23, 1993, the trial court entered summary judgment in behalf of Homan Farms and against the Carletons on the claimed deficiency in the amount of $462,-800.48 and against the Carletons on their counterclaim. Mr. and Mrs. Carleton appealed.

The Carletons claim, as their first point on appeal, that the trial court erred in granting summary judgment because the seller fraudulently represented that the farm sold included 1200 tillable acres when the farm included 290 fewer tillable acres. Although the Carletons assert fraud, their brief does not support the claim. They claim the representation by Mr. Renner — that the farm contained 1,200 tillable acres when it did not — sufficiently supports an allegation of fraud. They cite no case law to support their position. Point one is abandoned and is denied.

As point two on appeal, the Carletons assert that the purchase contract is voidable because the false belief that the farm contained 1200 tillable acres was a mutual mistake of the seller and buyer and that the contract is voidable because of the mistaken belief of the parties.

Rule 74.04 provides for summary judgment “if the pleadings, depositions, answers to interrogatories, and admissions on file, together with the affidavits, if any, show that there is no genuine issue as to any material fact and that the moving party is entitled to a judgment as a matter of law.” Rule 74.04(c). When reviewing appeals from summary judgment, appellate courts review the record in the light most favorable to the party against whom judgment was entered. ITT Commercial Finance Corp. v. Mid-Am. Marine, 854 S.W.2d 371, 376 (Mo. banc 1993). The nonmovant is accorded the benefit of all reasonable inferences from the record. Id. Because appellate review of summary judgment is essentially de novo, appellate courts apply the same criteria that the trial courts apply when considering the motion for summary judgment initially. Id. Just as the trial court considers the submitted record and applies appropriate law to decide a motion for summary judgment, so shall appellate courts determine the propriety of summary judgment in each ease appealed from summary judgment. Id. The key to summary judgment is the undisputed right to [641]*641judgment as a matter of law. Id. at 380. “Where the defendant has raised an affirmative defense, the claimant’s right to judgment depends just as much on the nonviability of that affirmative defense as it does on the viability of the claimant’s claim.” Id. at 381. The claimant moving for summary judgment just need establish that any affirmative defense asserted by the defense fails as a matter of law. Id. An affirmative defense may be defeated by establishing that any one of the facts necessary to support the defense is absent. Id.

In this ease, Homan Farms is the claimant and movant and the Carletons are defending. The claimant must establish that no genuine issue as to any material fact exists and that it is entitled to judgment as a matter of law. Because the Carletons assert the affirmative defense of mistake, Homan Farms must establish that the affirmative defense fails as a matter of law. Id.

The default and deficiency are based on the promissory note with Homan Farms, not the sales contract and note between Mr. Renner and the Carletons. Homan Farms claims, assuming arguendo that both Mr.

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Bluebook (online)
877 S.W.2d 638, 1994 Mo. App. LEXIS 714, 1994 WL 160173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/homan-farms-v-carleton-moctapp-1994.