Matanuska Valley Bank v. Abernathy

445 P.2d 235, 1968 Alas. LEXIS 149
CourtAlaska Supreme Court
DecidedSeptember 16, 1968
Docket893, 895
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 445 P.2d 235 (Matanuska Valley Bank v. Abernathy) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Alaska Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Matanuska Valley Bank v. Abernathy, 445 P.2d 235, 1968 Alas. LEXIS 149 (Ala. 1968).

Opinion

OPINION

NESBETT, Chief Justice.

These appeals result from litigation which grew out of the purchase by Nona Abernathy and her husband, now deceased, of the Copper Kettle Roadhouse located on the Glenn Highway. At the time of the purchase the property was being foreclosed by the Matanuska Valley Bank, hereinafter referred to as the Bank, against a prior purchaser named Goolsby.

The real property described in the sale agreement executed by the parties was located on both sides of the existing highway. Unknown to both parties at the time they entered into the agreement, Public Land Order No. 1613 had been in effect for approximately six years. This Order reserved to the United States an easement 150 feet wide on each side of the Glenn Highway and prohibited the area from being used for other than highway, telegraph, or pipeline purposes. Abernathy learned of the existence of the easement on July 21, 1965, some 13 months after execution of the sale agreement. By measurement it was then ascertained by Abernathy that a substantial portion of the main roadhouse building and a portion of the related buildings were located within the highway easement.

*237 Abernathy immediately notified the Bank and was advised not to “panic,” that the problem could be worked out. By letter dated October 12, 1965, Abernathy rescinded the sale agreement, tendered a return of the property, demanded return of payments made, the cost of improvements made, and reimbursement for taxes and insurance premiums paid in the total sum of $12,500.

On February 10, 1966, Abernathy commenced an action seeking recision of the sale agreement. The trial court found that the buildings were the principal consideration and were located substantially in the area reserved by the easement. The court’s Conclusion of Law No. 1 stated:

1. That defendant is unable to convey to plaintiff a substantial portion of the property under the Sales Agreement due to mutual and substantial mistake of the parties.

We shall consider first the points raised by appellant Bank in File No. 893.

Appellant’s main point questions the validity of the court’s conclusion that the parties contracted under a mutual mistake of fact. Appellant’s argument is that ignorance by both parties of the existence of the easement cannot legally support a finding that the parties acted under a mutual mistake of fact. The Bank relies upon the authority of McNeely v. Philadelphia National Bank 1 where the court defined mutual mistake of fact as:

* * * a clear impression in the minds of the parties as to the existence of a material fact, sufficient in importance to influence and govern a man of ordinary intelligence, and on which both parties relied and acted, which fact did not exist.

The Bank contends that since the parties were acting in total ignorance of the fact that the easement existed, they were not acting under an erroneous impression concerning a material fact.

We are of the opinion that the trial court was correct in ordering recision based on its finding that the parties had acted under a mutual mistake of fact. The evidence supports the conclusion that the Abernathys purchased the land and buildings for the sole purpose of engaging in the business of operating a roadhouse. The land and buildings were adapted to and had previously been used for this purpose. There can be no question but that both parties were of the belief, and acted in reliance upon their belief, that the buildings constituting the Copper Kettle, which were necessary for the conduct of the roadhouse business, were located on land which would continue to be available for this purpose. Both parties were mistaken in this belief. A substantial portion of the roadhouse buildings were located on land under the permanent control of the United States. The terrain was such that the cost of moving the buildings was greater than their worth.

Appellant’s contention that clear and convincing proof of mutual mistake of fact was not produced is without merit. Ap-pellee testified that she and her husband had discussed and corresponded with the Bank for approximately two years concerning acquiring a restaurant or roadhouse in Alaska; that the Bank eventually advised them of the availability of the Copper Kettle premises; that the inspections they had made of the premises caused them to notice that the roadhouse buildings were, as Nona Abernathy testified,

set quite a ways off of the highway and that there was ap — ample parking room an — room there so it [the location of the boundary lines] never entered my mind,

and that after learning of the easement, actual measurement disclosed that a substantial portion of the buildings were located within the right-of-way.

The inferences to be drawn from the above testimony and the fact that the Aber-nathys were obligating themselves to pay the Bank $30,000 for the premises and furnishings was evidence of sufficient strength to support the court’s finding that “the buildings were the principal consideration in the purchase” and its conclusion that the *238 parties were mutually mistaken regarding the status of the buildings.

The Bank argues that since paragraph 8 of the sale agreement only required it to “deed all of its interest in said real property to the Buyer” 2 and paragraph 10 specifically provided for delivery of a quitclaim deed, 3 that it had fully performed its obligation under the sale agreement.

In this argument the Bank emphasizes that the sale contract repeatedly refers to the real property involved in the sale, but refers to the “Copper Kettle” and the buildings only once. The Bank points out that although the sale agreement in paragraph six states in part that:

[the buyer] * * * is prepared to await the delivery of clear title to said real property to them until the Bank has concluded foreclosure proceedings * *.

any implication that the Bank was required to convey any other title than that obtained through the foreclosure proceedings is negated by the provisions contained in paragraphs 8 and 10 just quoted. The Bank’s position is that it was contracting in accordance with sound business practice and not binding itself to deliver a “title free of encumbrances and restrictions since it was ignorant as to whether or not such encumbrances or restrictions then existed.” In this connection the Bank goes on to state:

It did not know what title it would ultimately get from A. E. Goolsby since Goolsby himself at the time had no title to the property. Possibly the bank could have ascertained the existence of the highway easement but it chose not to do so and instead placed the risk of encumbrances and restrictions squarely on the appellee, Nona Abernathy and her late husband.

The Bank’s argument does not deal with the full scope of the problem presented. As Abernathy points out, it was not just the fact that an encumbrance in the form of a highway right-of-way was later found to exist that persuaded the trial court to order recision.

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Bluebook (online)
445 P.2d 235, 1968 Alas. LEXIS 149, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/matanuska-valley-bank-v-abernathy-alaska-1968.