Moore v. Townsend

421 F. Supp. 378, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13041
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedSeptember 27, 1976
DocketNo. 74 C 960
StatusPublished

This text of 421 F. Supp. 378 (Moore v. Townsend) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Moore v. Townsend, 421 F. Supp. 378, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13041 (N.D. Ill. 1976).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM ORDER

MARSHALL, District Judge.

This is the aftermath of our earlier decision in this fair housing action brought under the Civil Rights Act of 1968, 42 U.S.C. § 3601, et seq., and the Civil Rights Act of 1866, 42 U.S.C. § 1982, in which we ordered defendant Mary Ryan Townsend to convey residential real estate located at 2078 West Hopkins Place, Chicago, Illinois, to the plaintiffs Stanley and Judith Moore, at a price of $77,000. Mrs. Townsend obtained a supersedeas or stay of the decree posting a $25,000 undertaking secured by the subject real estate. Our decision was affirmed in all respects by the Court of Appeals, Moore v. Townsend et al., 525 F.2d 482 (7th Cir. 1975). The action is again before us on plaintiffs’ motion to assess damages caused by the delay in closing which was occasioned by the appeal and Mrs. Townsend’s cross claim and third party action against Jane Melnick and Jean Spencer Real Estate, Inc., for damages allegedly suffered by Mrs. Townsend as a result of Mrs. Melnick’s and Jean Spencer’s breach of their fiduciary duties to Mrs. Townsend as her real estate agent or broker. The latter claims were severed for trial at the time of the original hearings pursuant to Rule 42(b), Fed.R. Civ.P. While jury demands had been made by various of the parties, they have all been withdrawn. This memorandum will stand as our findings of fact and conclusions of law pursuant to Rule 52(a), Fed.R.Civ.P.

Plaintiffs’ Claims for Damages

At the time of the entry of the original decree, Mr. and Mrs. Moore were residing in an apartment in Clarendon Hills, Illinois. For reasons which need not be recited here, they found the living conditions there intolerable and when Mrs. Townsend stayed the effective date of our injunction, they moved to a townhouse in Wheaton, Illinois, which they purchased. They seek to recover substantial costs and expenses which they incurred in that move. In our judgment, those costs and expenses are not recoverable.

The measure of damages occasioned by an unsuccessful appeal from an order granting a litigant possession of real property is the reasonable rental value of that property while possession is withheld under the supersedeas attending the appeal.1 The effect of our earlier judgment, regardless of its substantive underpinnings, was to direct Mrs. Townsend to convey the subject property to the Moores at a specified price. In all essential respects, the decree was no different than one for specific performance of a real estate contract. Plaintiffs were then entitled to possession of the property. That possession had an economic value. That economic value was withheld pending the appeal. That is the measure of plaintiffs’ damages. No evidence has been adduced with respect to the fair rental value of the subject property. Mrs. Townsend adduced considerable evidence with respect to the expenses she incurred in maintaining the property. We need not decide whether those would stand as a credit against or deduction from any amount the plaintiffs might be entitled to recover had they proved fair rental value. Their failure to do so precludes recovery on this element of their alleged damages.

We want to make clear that we do not reject the notion that their expenses might be compensable as. damages under the Civil Rights Act of 1968 in addition to the equitable relief which they have sought and obtained. They have, however, withdrawn all claims for damages under the Act. Their claim here is limited to the damages [382]*382occasioned by the appeal and this opinion is limited in its rejection of their living expenses to that theory of their case.

Plaintiffs also claim that they are entitled to damages occasioned by an increase in the rate of interest they must pay on the mortgage loan they have now obtained to close the transaction as previously ordered by us. At the time of our earlier decree, they had arranged for a mortgage loan at Harris Trust & Savings Bank of Chicago in the amount of $50,000 for 25 years at a rate of 7%%. Because of the appeal and delay in closing, they did not take down that proffered loan. Now the Harris Bank, because of the increase in interest rates generally, has charged them 9% interest. The evidence shows that the difference in gross interest which will be paid by the plaintiffs over the life of the mortgage will be $10,063.20. This amount they seek to recover.

Mrs. Townsend urges that this element of damage is speculative; that the likelihood that the Moores will remain in the subject premises for the life of the loan and thus pay the full amount of increased interest is highly unlikely. But the plaintiffs have committed themselves to a loan at the increased interest rate and if they elect to retain ownership of the property to which we have held they are entitled, they will be obliged to pay that increased interest rate. It does not lie with Mrs. Townsend to urge that that obligation is in reality a speculative one. 1

We do hold, however, that the gross amount of potential interest liability should be discounted to its present value. Currently the plaintiffs may conveniently invest any award of damages made in this regard at a rate of 6%. The present value factor for an investment of 6% for 25 years (which is the length of the loan) is .2329. Accordingly, the present value of $10,063.20 over 25 years at 6% interest is $2,343.72 and plaintiffs are entitled to recover that amount.

Apart from the living expenses attributable to their change in residence to Wheaton, plaintiffs claim that they are entitled to moving expenses. However, the move from Clarendon Hills to the subject residence would have been incurred by the plaintiffs had Mrs. Townsend sold them the subject residence irrespective of the litigation or immediately upon entry of the decree. Accordingly, that item is not recoverable. The expenses they incurred as a result of the interim move to Wheaton are as we have previously held not compensable.

Next plaintiffs assert that the delay in closing occasioned by the appeal caused them to lose their eligibility for so-called “rollover” deferment of the capital gain they realized on the sale of their home in Silver Springs, Maryland, on April 17, 1974 under Section 1304 of the Internal Revenue of 1954. They and their accountant, Mr. Hochfelder, assert that their Silver Springs gain had to be invested in a residence within a year of the Silver Springs closing. The tax attributable to that gain was in excess of $4,500.

We do not believe this is a compensable item of damage. In the first place, the tax liability of which plaintiffs complain is merely deferred, not avoided, under Section 1304. Secondly, plaintiffs did not seek any extension, of time for rollover treatment which might have been available to them under the special circumstances which confronted them. Indeed, the plaintiffs did not timely file their 1974 return.

Finally, the Moores complain of the condition of the subject property as it has now been conveyed to them. While they have not been specific in this regard, their position appears to be that Mrs. Townsend permitted the property to fall into a state of disrepair. There is, however, substantial evidence from Mrs.

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Bluebook (online)
421 F. Supp. 378, 1976 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13041, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/moore-v-townsend-ilnd-1976.