Hoover Community Hotel Development Corp. v. Thomson

167 Cal. App. 3d 1130, 213 Cal. Rptr. 750, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2053
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 8, 1985
DocketCiv. 70057
StatusPublished
Cited by24 cases

This text of 167 Cal. App. 3d 1130 (Hoover Community Hotel Development Corp. v. Thomson) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hoover Community Hotel Development Corp. v. Thomson, 167 Cal. App. 3d 1130, 213 Cal. Rptr. 750, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2053 (Cal. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

Opinion

EARLY, J. *

Hoover Community Hotel Development Corporation, plaintiff below, appeals from summary judgments granted to defendants in an action arising out of the refusal of defendant the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod (Church) to sell a parcel of real estate (Parcel M-4) to Hoover on March 30, 1978, and its subsequent alleged sale to defendant Michael Thomson.

Plaintiff has alleged “conspiracy and breach of contract against all defendants,” “tortious interference with business relations against all defendants except Church,” seeks declaratory relief against all defendants and specific performance against the Church.

Neither in this court nor the trial court has plaintiff contended that the declarations in support of defendants’ motions for summary judgment, considered separately, do not establish complete defenses to the complaint. Thus plaintiff has effectively waived any such contention in this court. (Henderson v. Security Nat. Bank (1977) 72 Cal.App.3d 764, 769 [140 Cal.Rptr. 388].) Instead, plaintiff contends that triable issues of fact are created by the declarations and depositions it filed in opposition to the motions.

Hoover does complain, however, that it filed detailed written objections to the declarations submitted by defendants in support of their motions for summary judgment but that the trial court failed to consider them, stating that “I have not considered nor will I rule specifically upon 103 . . . evidentiary objections.” However, this experienced, esteemed and truly learned trial judge immediately added that “I will only consider legally admissible evidence in connection with any rulings I make.” ' Hoover fails to specify a single evidentiary objection which the trial court should have, but did not sustain to Hoover’s prejudice. This failure constitutes a *1134 waiver on appeal of any possible error in this respect. (Henderson v. Security Nat. Bank, supra, 72 Cal.App.3d at p. 769 and cases cited therein.)

Hoover desired to purchase Parcel M-4 to develop it jointly with an adjacent site (Parcel M-3) which it had agreed to develop pursuant to a participation agreement with the Redevelopment Agency of the City of Los Angeles, California (CRA), executed on August 20, 1971. By an implementation agreement which Hoover signed on March 17, 1978, and CRA signed on April 10, 1978, Parcel M-4 was added for the first time to the original site (Parcel M-3) that Hoover agreed to develop for CRA.

Defendant Thomas C. Butz was the business administrator of the Church. Defendant the Seely Company through its employee, defendant Thomas E. Taylor, acted as the Church’s broker in selling Parcel M-4. Defendants Bruce Gelker, L. Wayne Gertmenian and S. Joseph Spence are alleged to have tortiously conspired with the other defendants to interfere with Hoover’s contract with CRA to develop a site which included Parcel M-4 in direct violation of a contract, the option agreement, dated February 29, 1972, between Gelker, Spence and Thomson on one hand and Hoover’s predecessor in interest on the other. The option agreement was drafted by counsel for Hoover. By paragraph 7(d) Gelker, Spence and Thomson expressly agree “that they will not for a period of five (5) years, either individually or jointly, or through a partnership, corporation, or other entity or organization, directly or indirectly engage in the development, construction or operation of any improvements within” an area that included Parcel M-4 “which would in any way compete with the operation or development of said Project . . . .” Elsewhere in the option agreement the parties thereto recite that they “have heretofore entered into an agreement for the joint development of certain property designated Parcel M-3 in the area known as the ‘Hoover Redevelopment Area’ herein referred to as the ‘Project’ ” and that Hoover (an entity in which the parties to the option agreement were then “equal shareholders”) had entered into a written participation agreement dated August 20, 1971 with CRA. That participation agreement describes the site to be developed as Parcel M-3 in the project area, i.e., Parcel M-3A and Parcel M-3B with reference to an attached map which also shows Parcels M-l, M-2, M-4 and M-5. Parcel M-4 is contiguous to Parcel M-3B which separates it from Parcel M-3 A.

The option agreement also provided in paragraph 7(a) that Gelker, Spence and Thomson “shall not take any actions . . . which would in any way affect the existence or performance of this agreement, [or] the said Participation Agreement . . . .”

*1135 The option agreement recites that Gelker, Spence and Thomson “further desire to ultimately withdraw from and to grant to [Hoover’s predecessor in interest] the right to acquire their position in said Project consistent with the time to time requirements of the CRA and the Participation Agreement at [their] out of pocket costs, expenses, and services.” (Italics added.)

The option agreement of February 29, 1972, represented a resolution of the efforts of two competing groups each of which desired to acquire and develop Parcel 3-M under contract with CRA. These groups included Hoover’s predecessor in interest on one hand and Thomson, Spence and Gelker on the other.

The option agreement is silent as to the date of commencement of the covenant not to compete for a five-year period in paragraph 7(d). The agreement was dated February 29, 1972. On the same date the same parties executed escrow instructions designating plaintiff’s counsel as escrow holder. The escrow was closed on September 8, 1972.

Appellant states that “the parties intended the covenant to commence on January 30, 1974” which is the date the option was exercised by Hoover. However, defendants contend that it was effective upon execution and delivery of the option agreement on February 29, 1972. Defendants rely on the provisions of Civil Code sections 1626, 1654 and 1657 to the effect that a contract in writing takes effect immediately upon its delivery to the party in whose favor it is made, that in cases of uncertainty the language of a contract should be interpreted most strongly against the party who caused the uncertainty to exist and that if there is no specified time for the performance of an act under a contract and the act can be performed instantly the time for performance is immediately. The declarations and depositions filed by Hoover in opposition to the motions for summary judgment include no evidence that, during the negotiations for the execution of the agreement, any of the parties expressly stated an intent that the covenant not to compete should not commence to run until the option was exercised on January 30, 1974, or that any defendant subsequently expressed such an understanding.

The declaration of Glen Arbogast, president of Hoover, filed in opposition to the motion for summary judgment states that “the Option Agreement became effective on September 8, 1972, upon such delivery to Optionee out of Escrow.” If true, this admission destroys Hoover’s contention that the five-year covenant not to compete did not commence to run until the option was executed on January 30, 1974; likewise, it destroys Hoover’s conten *1136

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
167 Cal. App. 3d 1130, 213 Cal. Rptr. 750, 1985 Cal. App. LEXIS 2053, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hoover-community-hotel-development-corp-v-thomson-calctapp-1985.