Nann v. Pignatelli

485 A.2d 922, 3 Conn. App. 74, 1984 Conn. App. LEXIS 728
CourtConnecticut Appellate Court
DecidedDecember 25, 1984
Docket2326
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 485 A.2d 922 (Nann v. Pignatelli) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Connecticut Appellate Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Nann v. Pignatelli, 485 A.2d 922, 3 Conn. App. 74, 1984 Conn. App. LEXIS 728 (Colo. Ct. App. 1984).

Opinion

Daly, J.

The plaintiff has appealed1 from a judgment of the trial court in favor of the defendant2 denying [75]*75him specific performance and damages involving an option to purchase a lot.

The court found the following facts: The plaintiff, John Nann, is an insurance agent and a financial planner specializing in tax shelter plans. The defendant’s decedent, Constance Wilcox Pignatelli, was in her late seventies and blind at the time the 1973 agreement was entered into. At one time, by virtue of inheritances from the Wilcox family of Madison, she had had substantial land holdings. Through the years, she and her only child, Maria Elena Pignatelli, now her executrix, frequently found themselves short of funds and sold parcels of the land to generate cash.

The parties entered into a written agreement on December 26,1973, whereby the plaintiff secured options to purchase two lots owned by the defendant’s decedent in the Middle Beach Road West area of Madison. In return for the options, the agreement called for the plaintiff to lend the defendant’s decedent the sum of $5000, secured by a blanket mortgage on the subject lots. Interest on the loan was to be paid monthly at 8 percent. The option agreement provided that if the plaintiff were to exercise the first option, which concerns Lot No. 2, the $5000 loan would be applied toward the purchase price of $20,000, with the balance to be seller-financed in the form of a $15,000 purchase money mortgage. If the plaintiff were to exercise the second option, which concerned Lot No. 1, then the $15,000 purchase price would be similarly seller-financed with a purchase money mortgage.

Lot No. 1 was a landlocked parcel, bounded on two sides by other Pignatelli property. The plaintiff’s attorney had drawn up the 1973 agreement in such a way as to insure that Lot No. 1 would have access through Lot No. 2, since under the option agreement the plaintiff would be exercising his option to buy Lot No. 2 first. [76]*76The option to buy Lot No. 1 had a year longer to run than the option on Lot No. 2.

As mortgagee, the plaintiff applied considerable pressure to the defendant’s decedent, and in January, 1975, demanded payment of the mortgage in full together with unpaid interest from the preceding year. The plaintiff agreed to withdraw his demand in return for having his options to purchase Lots No. 1 and No. 2 extended. The interest rate on the mortgage was increased from 8 percent to 10 percent a year, and payment in full was to be made no later than January 1, 1976.

In December, 1975, the plaintiff instituted foreclosure proceedings against the defendant’s decedent. Those proceedings were withdrawn in February, 1976, when the defendant’s decedent repaid the loan in full with the proceeds from the sale of another of her properties.

On June 15, 1976, the plaintiff notified the defendant’s decedent that he was exercising his option to purchase Lot No. 1. The option to purchase Lot No. 2 had already lapsed, on July 1, 1975. The plaintiff’s stated position at the time he chose to exercise his option to purchase Lot No. 1 was that he expected a twenty-five foot access to go along with it. The defendant’s decedent’s response was that the option to buy Lot No. 1 did not include a twenty-five foot right of way and that, in fact, it had been knowingly excluded. The defendant’s decedent contended that the parties had agreed that the plaintiff would have access through Lot No. 2, or that he would seek access elsewhere through the property of one of the abutting owners. A letter written by the plaintiff confirmed that he knew the option to purchase Lot No. 1 did not include a twenty-five foot right of way.3

[77]*77The defendant refused to comply with the plaintiffs demands, and would not sell him Lot No. 1. The plaintiff then instituted his action for specific performance of the contract for a conveyance of Lot No. 1 and monetary damages. The trial court found for the defendant, indicating that the plaintiffs failure to exercise the first option made the second option impossible to perform since an easement by necessity would be necessary.

The plaintiff first claims that the trial court erred in admitting parol evidence regarding the intent of the parties to contradict the unambiguous terms of the written contract for the sale of land. The law in Connecticut is that an objection must be made and an exception must be taken to make a ruling a ground for appeal. Practice Book § 288; Holden & Daly, Connecticut Evidence (1966 and Sup. 1983) § 13. The plaintiff did not appropriately object or take exception at the trial level. We thus will not consider the evidentiary ruling where no claim of error was preserved for review on appeal by proper objection and exception. State v. Braman, 191 Conn. 670, 684, 469 A.2d 760 (1983).

The plaintiff next argues that, as the defendant failed to show that obtaining an alternative right of way was a condition precedent to the existence of the contract, the plaintiffs inability to do so does not excuse the defendant’s refusal to perform. “Whether the perform[78]*78anee of a certain act by a party to a contract is a condition precedent to the duty of the other party to act depends on the intent of the parties as expressed in the contract and read in the light of the circumstances surrounding the execution of the instrument.” Brauer v. Freccia, 159 Conn. 289, 293, 268 A.2d 645 (1970).

The option agreement did not contain any description of a right of way or access over other Pignatelli property bounding on the two lots. Together, the two lots offered the plaintiff access. If he chose to bypass the purchase of Lot No. 2, he left himself with an option to purchase a landlocked piece of property. The trial court specifically found that this was the bargained for agreement, and it did not find any condition precedent involving a right of way.

The plaintiff next claims that the court abused its discretion in failing to grant specific performance on equitable grounds. It is basic law that an action for specific performance of a contract to sell real estate is an equitable action and is to be determined by equitable principles. Morris v. Costa, 174 Conn. 592, 599, 392 A.2d 468 (1978). Parkway Trailer Sales, Inc. v. Wooldridge Bros., Inc., 148 Conn. 21, 25, 166 A.2d 710 (1960).

“Applications for specific performance of agreements to sell land are addressed to the discretion of the court which must determine upon the facts and under the circumstances whether the contract is fair, reasonable, on good consideration, free from fraud, surprise or mistake and made according to the requirements of the law. Sidor v. Kravec, 135 Conn. 571, 573-74, 66 A.2d 812 [1949]. As a general rule, equity, in deciding whether to grant specific performance in enforcing a contract, will consider the fairness of an agreement in accordance with the circumstances as they existed at the time of the execution of the contract even though [79]

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

Related

Webster Trust v. Roly
802 A.2d 795 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 2002)
Landmark Development Group v. Tmk Assoc., No. Cv 00-0554947-S (Mar. 5, 2002)
2002 Conn. Super. Ct. 2826 (Connecticut Superior Court, 2002)
Schmidt v. McLaughlin, No. 530899 (Sep. 30, 1997)
1997 Conn. Super. Ct. 8776 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1997)
Gebbie v. the Cadle Company, No. 108046 (Aug. 30, 1996)
1996 Conn. Super. Ct. 5887 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1996)
Foley v. the Huntington Company, No. Cv87 24 61 45 S (Mar. 16, 1994)
1994 Conn. Super. Ct. 2872 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1994)
Norwich Community Development Corp. v. Arbucci, No. 92201 (Jan. 6, 1993)
1993 Conn. Super. Ct. 731 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1993)
Gaudio, Zoning Inspector v. Gerdis, No. Cv 89-0435650s (Jan. 14, 1991)
1991 Conn. Super. Ct. 541 (Connecticut Superior Court, 1991)
Nann v. Pignatelli
492 A.2d 1240 (Supreme Court of Connecticut, 1985)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
485 A.2d 922, 3 Conn. App. 74, 1984 Conn. App. LEXIS 728, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/nann-v-pignatelli-connappct-1984.