Jonestown Place Corp. v. 153 West 33rd Street Corp.

New York Court of Appeals

Jonestown Place Corp. v. 153 West 33rd Street Corp.

422 N.E.2d 820, 53 N.Y.2d 847, 440 N.Y.S.2d 175, 1981 N.Y. LEXIS 2431

New York Court of Appeals·Decided May 5, 1981·Published·Cited by 19 cases

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

It is axiomatic that an oral agreement for the sale of real property is unenforceable under the Statute of Frauds (General Obligations Law, § 5-703, subd 2). Part performance will render the contract enforceable only where such performance is “unequivocally referable” to the alleged agreement of sale (e.g., Burns v McCormick, 233 NY 230, 232). Inasmuch as the mere purchase of an adjoining parcel of land from a third party is equivocal, it is not sufficient part performance to remove the bar of the statute (cf. Gracie Sq. Realty Corp. v Choice Realty Corp., 305 NY 271, 279-281). Nor in these circumstances may plaintiff rely upon the same alleged performance to create an estoppel and thereby circumvent the part performance rule (see Burns v McCormick, supra, at pp 234-235).

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur in memorandum.

Order affirmed.

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OPINION OF THE COURT

Memorandum.

The order of the Appellate Division should be affirmed, with costs.

It is axiomatic that an oral agreement for the sale of real property is unenforceable under the Statute of Frauds (General Obligations Law, § 5-703, subd 2). Part performance will render the contract enforceable only where such performance is “unequivocally referable” to the alleged agreement of sale (e.g., Burns v McCormick, 233 NY 230, 232). Inasmuch as the mere purchase of an adjoining parcel of land from a third party is equivocal, it is not sufficient part performance to remove the bar of the statute (cf. Gracie Sq. Realty Corp. v Choice Realty Corp., 305 NY 271, 279-281). Nor in these circumstances may plaintiff rely upon the same alleged performance to create an estoppel and thereby circumvent the part performance rule (see Burns v McCormick, supra, at pp 234-235).

Chief Judge Cooke and Judges Jasen, Gabrielli, Jones Wachtler, Fuchsberg and Meyer concur in memorandum.

Order affirmed.

Jonestown Place Corp. v. 153 West 33rd Street Corp., 422 N.E.2d 820, 53 N.Y.2d 847, 440 N.Y.S.2d 175, 1981 N.Y. LEXIS 2431 (N.Y. 1981).

Pincite

422 N.E.2d 820 (Jonestown Place Corp. v. 153 West 33rd Street Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Opinion

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