Jerger v. Rubin

463 P.2d 78, 11 Ariz. App. 183, 1969 Ariz. App. LEXIS 702
CourtCourt of Appeals of Arizona
DecidedDecember 30, 1969
DocketNo. 1 CA-CIV 970
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 463 P.2d 78 (Jerger v. Rubin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Arizona primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jerger v. Rubin, 463 P.2d 78, 11 Ariz. App. 183, 1969 Ariz. App. LEXIS 702 (Ark. Ct. App. 1969).

Opinion

JACOBSON, Judge.

This case involves a rescission of a land transaction based upon fraud or misrepresentation.

On June 1, 1964, appellants-defendants, Frank I. Jerger and Bertha Jerger, his wife, sold a five-acre parcel of land located on North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, Arizona, to plaintiffs-appellees, Morris J. Rubin and Sari J. Rubin, his wife. The sale was negotiated by cross-appellant-defendant, Ed Thirkhill Realty, through its salesman, R. L. Stamper. Stamper was a defendant at the trial but is not a party to this appeal.

The plaintiffs were first- contacted in February of 1964, by defendant Stamper who advised them that he had an unusually attractive real estate deal consisting of a five-acre commercial parcel. What made this deal particularly attractive, according to plaintiffs’ version, was that Stamper told them that Shell Oil Company had agreed to purchase a corner portion of this property for $75,000.00; that the entire purchase price for all five acres was only $125,000.00, and that the Shell Oil deal could be closed right after plaintiffs acquired the property. When plaintiffs inquired as to the reason why the seller wished to part with this property under such favorable conditions, again according to plaintiffs, Stamper advised them that the seller would have adverse tax consequences if he accepted the Shell Oil offer and that he had to sell the parcel as a five-acre unit. Following these alleged representations, plaintiffs purchased the property. The evidence is uncontradicted that the seller defendants did not authorize any other defendant to make any representations at all concerning the property and that the seller defendants merely listed the property with the defendant broker only as to description, selling price and sale terms.

The purchase contract, which took the form of a trust agreement, required a down payment of $36,250 and the balance in four annual payments with the first annual principal and interest payment due on or before June 2, 1965.

After the closing of the transaction, plaintiffs inquired of defendant Stamper on several occasions as to the progress being made on the purchase by Shell Oil Company and were informed by Stamper that he felt he could obtain $85,000 from Shell Oil or an additional $10,000 over and above the alleged original deal. These inquiries by plaintiff continued from shortly after the closing date until late January or early February of 1965, at which time plaintiffs advised Stamper to' accept the original $75,000 purchase price from Shell Oil. At this time, Stamper advised plaintiffs that Shell Oil had decided against the [185]*185purchase due to a sign ordinance adopted by the City of Scottsdale, but that he had contacted a Ray A. Brashear who was willing to purchase the service station site for $65,000.00.

Pursuant to this representation, plaintiffs authorized Stamper to set up an escrow for the sale of the service station site to Brashear, which was done on March 4, 1965. In April, 1965, Stamper again contacted the plaintiffs and advised that because of domestic problems, Mr. Brashear would be unable to purchase the site. Stamper then advised that he had an additional purchaser for the service station property (the Rothschilds) who would purchase the site for the same price.

Pursuant to this last representation, the plaintiffs and the Rothschilds both signed escrow instructions agreeing to the sale and purchase of the service station site for the sum of $65,000 contingent upon a lease being secured with American Oil Company, which Stamper represented would be forthcoming.

While the Rothschild escrow was pending, plaintiffs contacted defendant sellers on May 15, 1965, asking for an extension of time to make the initial annual payment due on June 2, 1965. Pursuant to this contact, defendant sellers agreed to forego the principal payment due on that date, provided that the interest payment due on June 2, 1965, was paid.

On May 16, 1965, plaintiffs contacted another real estate agent and from that contact requested defendant Stamper to show them his files concerning the original Shell Oil Company deal, which Stamper was unable to do.

Mr. Brashear testified at the trial that he was interested in purchasing the service station site provided an oil company lease was executed but that escrow instructions had never been tendered to him. Also representatives of American Oil Company and Shell Oil Company testified that their respective companies had no files that would reflect any dealing on the particular parcel of ground in question.

Plaintiffs failed to make the interest payment due on June 2, 1965, and on June 25, 1965, defendant sellers caused notice of forfeiture to issue against plaintiffs. On July 13, 1965, plaintiffs, through their attorneys, offered to rescind the transaction because of the alleged fraud of defendant Stamper. This offer was rejected, the property was forfeited back to defendant sellers and this suit for rescission by the plaintiffs followed.

The trial court found for the plaintiffs, based upon the alleged- misrepresentation concerning the Shell Oil Company deal, and granted rescission to plaintiffs. Since the forfeiture of plaintiffs’ interest had already occurred, the trial court granted judgment against defendant sellers for the down payment price, granted judgment for the defendant sellers against the defendant Thirkhill for the amount of commission paid and for defendant sellers and against defendant Stamper for the balance of the down payment. Further defendant Thirkhill was granted judgment against defendant Stamper for the amount of commission paid him.

The trial court further indicated in his remarks following trial that the value of the property in question was commensurate with the price paid by plaintiffs and that the representations made by Stamper were probably innocently made.

Defendant sellers appeal from the judgment granting rescission and the money judgment against them, and defendant Thirkhill appeals from that portion of the judgment entered in favor of defendant sellers against it.

Both defendants contend that the statements by Stamper concerning the transaction with Shell Oil Company were not actionable as being in the realm of “puffing”, opinion or of a futurity. There appears, on the face of the evidence, to be some merit to the last contention.

Since plaintiff Morris Rubin was unavailable at the time of trial an affidavit as to what his testimony would be was admitted by defendants in lieu of a continuance [186]*186of the trial to secure his presence. This affidavit, together with plaintiff’s deposition which was admitted in evidence, contains the only evidence concerning a representation as to the actual present intention of Shell Oil to purchase the corner site.

The plaintiff’s affidavit, which does not differ materially from the deposition in this regard, stated:

“Stamper again advised him that Shell Oil Company had agreed to purchase the corner for $75,000.00 and that this deal could he closed right after he acquired the property from Jerger.”

It is the.general rule that a misrepresentation, to be actionable must be as to a present fact and not as to a future possibility. Waddell v. White, 56 Ariz. 420, 108 P.2d 565 (1940), rehearing denied 56 Ariz. 525, 109 P.2d 843 (1941).

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Jerger v. Rubin
471 P.2d 726 (Arizona Supreme Court, 1970)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
463 P.2d 78, 11 Ariz. App. 183, 1969 Ariz. App. LEXIS 702, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jerger-v-rubin-arizctapp-1969.