Mayer v. Beondo

189 P.2d 327, 83 Cal. App. 2d 665, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1128
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedFebruary 11, 1948
DocketCiv. No. 16171
StatusPublished
Cited by19 cases

This text of 189 P.2d 327 (Mayer v. Beondo) 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
Mayer v. Beondo, 189 P.2d 327, 83 Cal. App. 2d 665, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1128 (Cal. Ct. App. 1948).

Opinion

WILSON, J.

The judgment rendered in favor of plaintiff directing specific performance by defendant of a contract to convey real estate must be reversed.

[667]*667(1) The contract which is in the form of an option provides for the payment of $5,680 in cash less the amount of a trust deed on the property. It appears that approximately $2,500 remained unpaid on the trust deed. The complaint alleges “that plaintiff has duly performed all of the conditions of said agreement on his part to be performed, and has tendered to defendant the purchase price set forth in said option.” This allegation is denied in defendant’s answer. There is no evidence that plaintiff ever offered or tendered the purchase price to defendant or deposited it for the latter’s account. Plaintiff testified that he opened an escrow at a bank and made a deposit in the escrow but did not state the amount. He testified that he had sufficient money available to complete the transaction. The escrow instructions signed by plaintiff recite “I will hand you $3180.00 approx.” The evidence of the escrow officer who handled the transaction at the bank is that plaintiff opened an escrow and deposited $500 therein, and no more. This is the only evidence concerning any tender or deposit of any part of the purchase price. Although (1) there was no evidence of tender and (2) defendant’s counsel expressly directed the attention of the court to that fact, the court made a finding that plaintiff had fully performed his part of the contract and had tendered the amount of the purchase price.

Since at the time of the commencement of the action no tender had been made of the purchase price and only a small portion thereof had been deposited in escrow the allegations of the complaint to the effect that plaintiff had performed the conditions of the contract imposed upon him and that he had made the tender are untrue and plaintiff therefore is not entitled to maintain an action for specific performance. (Milton Kaufman, Inc. v. Smith, 82 Cal.App.2d 302, 314 [186 P.2d 11]; hearing in Supreme Court denied January 5, 1948.)

Moreover, before plaintiff could require defendant to perform the latter’s part of the agreement he must have fulfilled or offered to fulfill all conditions imposed upon him by the contract. (Civ. Code, § 1439; Boone v. Templeman, 158 Cal. 290, 298 [110 P. 947, 139 Am.St.Rep. 126] ; Lifton v. Harshman, 80 Cal.App.2d 422, 432 [182 P.2d 222, 228]; hearing in Supreme Court denied August 14, 1947.)

(2) Specific performance cannot be enforced against a party to a contract if he has not received an adequate [668]*668consideration therefor and if it is not, as to him, just and reasonable. (Civ. Code, § 3391, subds. 1 and 2.) The complaint fails to state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action for the reason that it contains no allegation that the consideration was adequate or that the contract was just and reasonable as to defendant, and there are no allegations of fact from which conclusions to that effect may be drawn. (Mayers v. Alexander, 73 Cal.App.2d 752, 762 [167 P.2d 818] and eases cited; Milton Kauffman, Inc. v. Smith, supra.

Plaintiff closed his case without offering any evidence upon this subject, whereupon counsel for defendant directed attention to the provisions of the code above mentioned, to the deficiency in the complaint in that regard and to the fact that no evidence had been offered upon the subject. Thereupon the court on its own motion, over defendant’s objection, permitted plaintiff to reopen the case for the purpose of introducing evidence upon that point. Defendant’s counsel objected, stating that he was not prepared to meet the issue and that he “would have to get in witnesses to testify on the question of the adequacy of the consideration.” The objection should have been sustained. Notwithstanding defendant’s protest the court received evidence as to the value of the property, counsel for the defendant making timely objections to questions asked in that regard. When the evidence was closed and the case was submitted defendant’s counsel again called the court’s attention to the provisions of section 3391 of the Civil Code.

Disregarding the insufficiency of the complaint and the constant objections made by defendant’s counsel, the court made a finding of fact that the consideration provided in the agreement “was and is a fair, adequate and equitable consideration for said property.” Findings of fact must be responsive to the pleadings. (Consolidated Lumber Co. v. City of Los Angeles, 33 Cal.App. 698, 700 [166 P. 385]; Graydon v. Doane, 55 Cal.App. 642, 643 [203 P. 1018].) The admission of evidence as to matters not within the pleadings is prejudicial error. (Richter v. Adams, 19 Cal.App.2d 572, 576 [66 P.2d 226].) Hence the court erred in receiving the evidence and in making the finding referred to for the obvious reason that the evidence was not responsive to any allegation in the pleadings and the finding of fact was outside the issues.

[669]*669Plaintiff concedes in Ms brief “that the complaint herein was technically deficient as a complaint for specific performance, in failing to state facts which would show that the consideration specified in the contract was adequate and that the contract was just and reasonable as to the defendant.” Having made this concession he relies on sections 469 and 470 of the Code of Civil Procedure which provide that a variance between the allegations in a pleading and the proof will not be deemed material unless it has actually misled the adverse party to his prejudice. Manifestly those sections have no application to the instant ease for the reasons (1) the question of variance between pleading and proof cannot arise because there is a total absence from the complaint of an indispensable allegation and there is no pleading on behalf of either party that justifies the admission of the evidence to which we have referred; and (2) since defendant objected to the introduction of evidence on issues not pleaded, plaintiff was not misled by any act of commission or omission on the part of defendant.

Plaintiff has cited cases in which the complaints were deficient in their averments but which were tried on the theory that they contained sufficient allegations, the defendants having made no objection to the evidence offered. Examples of such cases are Asnon v. Foley, 105 Cal.App. 624, 629 [288 P. 792], and Greiss v. State Inv. & Ins. Co., 98 Cal. 241, 244 [33 P. 195]. The instant ease was not tried on the theory that the complaint was sufficient or that the justness or reasonableness of the contract to defendant or the adequacy of the consideration were in issue, for, as we have pointed out, defendant’s attorney, by his repeated objections to the introduction of evidence concerning those matters, never for a moment permitted the court or plaintiff’s counsel to overlook the insufficiency of the complaint or to assume that defendant was consenting to the trial of unpleaded issues.

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Bluebook (online)
189 P.2d 327, 83 Cal. App. 2d 665, 1948 Cal. App. LEXIS 1128, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mayer-v-beondo-calctapp-1948.