Plummer v. Kelly

73 N.W. 70, 7 N.D. 88, 1897 N.D. LEXIS 52
CourtNorth Dakota Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 3, 1897
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 73 N.W. 70 (Plummer v. Kelly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering North Dakota Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Plummer v. Kelly, 73 N.W. 70, 7 N.D. 88, 1897 N.D. LEXIS 52 (N.D. 1897).

Opinion

Corliss, C. J.

Two actions have been consolidated and tried as one. We will speak of the parties according to their positions as plaintiff and defendant in the first suit, in which A. L. Plummer was plaintiff, and Mrs. Kelly was defendant. Plaintiff having failed to secure a favorable judgment in the District Court, brings the whole case before us for anew hearing. The two actions, which, by the consent of the parties, were tried as one case, were, respectively, actions to annul a contract for the sale of land, and to secure the specfic performance of such contract. The plaintiff Plummer instituted the action to have the contract canceled; and thereafter the defendant Kelly commenced an action against [89]*89Plummer to compel the specific performance of such contract by him. The only question in either case was the right of the defendant Kelly to a decree directing Plummer to convey the land to her on making payment of the balance due under the contract. It was therefore entirely proper that the issues in these two suits should all be tried at the same time. The contract of which Mrs. Kelly seeks the specific performance was entered into between her and Plummer on the 13th of April, 1891, and, omitting formal parts, is in the following language: “This agreement, made and entered into this thirteenth day of April, A. D. 1891, by and between A. L. Plummer, of Hillsboro, Traill County, North Dakota, of the first part, and Mrs. A. E. Kelly, of Portland, Traill County, North Dakota, of the second part, witnesseth: That the said party of the first part, in consideration of the covenants and agreements of said party of the second part hereinafter contained, hereby sell and agree to convey unto said party of the second part, or her assigns, by deed of warranty, upon the prompt and full performance of said party of the second part of her part of this agreement, the following described premises, situate in the County of Traill and State of North Dakota, to-wit: West one-half of section twenty-nine, town one hundred forty-five, range fifty-three, (west yi of section 29, town 145, range 53). And the said party of the second part, in consideration of the premises, hereby agree to pay said party of the first part, as and for the purchase price of said premises, the sum of four thousand dollars, in manner and at the times following, to-wit: According to one promissory note, dated April 13, 1891, and due April 12, 1895. Interest at 8 per cent, from June 12, 1891, payable annually, payable in one-half of all crops raised on the above tract, delivered in any elevator in Clifford, not later than December 1, 1891, and every year thereafter until the above described note and interest has been paid in full. The proceeds of all grain to be applied as follows: First, to pay all taxes or assessments that may hereafter be levied or assessed upon said premises; second, in the payment of the accrued interest, balance to be indorsed on the note. But [90]*90should default be made in the payment of said several sums of money, or any or either of them, or any part thereof; or in the payment of said interest or taxes, or any part thereof, or in any of the covenants herein to be by said party of the second part, kept or performed, then this agreement to be void, at the election of the said party of the first part, time being the essence of this agreement. And in case of default by the said party of the second part, in whole or in part, in any or either of the covenants of this agreement to be by her kept and performed, she hereby agrees, upon demand of said party of the first part, quietly and peaceably to surrender to him possession of said premises, and every part thereof; it being understood that, until default, said party of the second part is to have possession of said premises. Party of the second part further agrees to give party of the first part a chattel mortgage on her share of the crops grown on the above described tract during the years of 1891, 1892, 1893, 1894, and 1895, and every year thereafter until the above note is paid in full. It is mutually agreed that all the covenants and agreement as herein contained shall extend to and be obligatory upon the heirs, executors, administrators, and assigns of the respective parties to this contract.”

Whether Mrs. Kelly delivered one-half of the grain grown on the farm during the season of 1891 is a controverted question. We can safely assume that she failed to do so, for the plaintiff did not elect to treat her lights under the agi-eement as in any manner affected by such default, but, on the contrary, allowed her to remain in possession of the land, and cultivate the same, during the next two seasons, and received from her, at the close of each of these seasons, a large amount of grain raised upon the land, in payment of the purchase price under the terms of the contract. Whatever breach of contract she was guilty of in 1891 was waived by plaintiff’s subsequent conduct. It is undisputed that in 1892 and 1893 more than one-half of all crops grown upon the land in those two seasons, respectively, was delivered to Plummer according to the agreement. It is true that in 1893 [91]*91only a small payment was made on the purchase price, not enough to pay the interest in full; but this was owing to the fact that Plummer applied the proceeds of the 1893 crop turned over to him in payment of the debts of Thomas Kelly, the husband of Mrs. Kelly, owing to him (Plummer), and to the bank with which he was connected. As a matter of fact, the grain was delivered to Plummer to be applied on the debt of Mrs. Kelly for the land, and the diversion of any portion of the proceeds to the payment of her husband’s debts was an unwarranted act on the part of Plummer. Mrs. Kelly, however, is not complaining of this, and certainly Plummer cannot avail himself of this illegal use of Mrs. Kelly’s money to liquidate her husband’s debts, as the basis of the claim that she violated her contract in 1893. When the spring of 1894 arrived, Mrs. Kelly was in the possession of the land through her tenant, Charles W. Moran, and her right to retain that possession and operate the farm and carry out the terms of the agreement could not at that time be challenged in any court. She had faithfully kept her part of the agreement, and was preparing, through her tenant, to crop the land during the season of 1894, when the plaintiff, without right in law or morals, and on a mere suspicion that she might not put in a crop, served upon her notice that unless she furnished her tenant, Moran, with the necessary seed to sow the land within ten days, he would annul the agreement for the sale of the land. This was on the fifth of April. Mrs. Kelly, in her lease to Moran, had agi'eed to furnish him four horses to work the farm, but he was to furnish the seed. It appears that the horses were taken from Mrs. Kelly some time before this, and Moran refused to go on under his lease unless Mi's. Kelly would agree to supply him with the seed grain in place of the horses. While this condition existed, and sometime before it could be known whether Moran would put in the crop, or whether, if he did not, Mrs. Kelly could not make other arrangements about seeding the land, the plaintiff, in defiance of the rights of Mrs. Kelly under the agreement, assumed to inter-meddle with her private affairs, to dictate on what terms she [92]*92should settle with Moran for her failure to furnish him the horses, and when she should sow her farm lawfully in her possession, and held over her head the threat that, in case she did not surrender to him the management of her own business matters, he would annul the agreement.

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Related

Erickson v. Kelly
81 N.W. 77 (North Dakota Supreme Court, 1899)

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Bluebook (online)
73 N.W. 70, 7 N.D. 88, 1897 N.D. LEXIS 52, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/plummer-v-kelly-nd-1897.