Salvatore Cucchiara v. Monica Cucchiara

CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 15, 2021
Docket351199
StatusUnpublished

This text of Salvatore Cucchiara v. Monica Cucchiara (Salvatore Cucchiara v. Monica Cucchiara) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Salvatore Cucchiara v. Monica Cucchiara, (Mich. Ct. App. 2021).

Opinion

If this opinion indicates that it is “FOR PUBLICATION,” it is subject to revision until final publication in the Michigan Appeals Reports.

STATE OF MICHIGAN

COURT OF APPEALS

SALVATORE CUCCHIARA and MARIA UNPUBLISHED CUCCHIARA, April 15, 2021

Plaintiff/Counterdefendant-Appellee,

v No. 351199 Huron Circuit Court MONICA CUCCHIARA, LC No. 19-105600-CK

Defendant/Counterplainitff/Third- Party Plaintiff-Appellant,

v

STOCKPOT, LLC,

Third-Party Defendant.

Before: BECKERING, P.J., and FORT HOOD and RIORDAN, JJ.

PER CURIAM.

Defendant/counterplaintiff1 appeals as of right the trial court’s judgment in favor of plaintiffs, Salvatore and Maria Cucchiarra, quieting title to real property to plaintiffs and dismissing defendant’s counterclaims against plaintiffs and third-party defendant, Stock Pot, LLC (Stock Pot). Defendant also appeals the trial court’s underlying decision denying an earlier motion for summary disposition. Because we agree with defendant that the trial court erred in determining that ambiguities existed in a contract in which there were none, and because the trial court erred

1 As further detailed below, third-party defendant Stock Pot, LLC, has not appeared for this appeal, and, to the extent that Stock Pot continues to have an interest in this case, it is ancillary to the disagreement between the plaintiffs and defendant Monica Cucchiara. As such, the use of “defendant” throughout refers to Monica Cucchiara only.

-1- by failing to apply the contract according to its plain and unambiguous terms, we reverse and remand for entry of a judgment in favor of defendant.

I. FACTUAL BACKGROUND

This case arises out of a contract dispute between plaintiffs and defendant concerning the sale of real property. In 1982, defendant started a restaurant known as Joe’s Pizzeria in Port Austin, Michigan, with her now-deceased husband, Giuseppe Cucchiara. Giuseppe was plaintiff Salvatore’s brother. In 1985, Salvatore immigrated from Italy to work with his brother at the restaurant. Around this time, Salvatore met and married plaintiff Maria.

Beginning around 1992, Giuseppe and Salvatore began orally negotiating the potential sale of Joe’s Pizzeria to plaintiffs. In 1995, Giuseppe approached defendant and expressed an intent to sell the pizzeria to plaintiffs.2 Defendant did not want to sell the restaurant, but after discussing the issue with Giuseppe at length, agreed to the sale on the condition that the subsequent purchase agreement would contain an optional-repurchase provision so that, in the event that plaintiffs ever sought to sell the restaurant, defendant and Giuseppe would have the right to repurchase it for the same price for which it was sold. In February 1995, the parties executed the purchase agreement that is the subject of this litigation. Defendant and Giuseppe agreed to sell the property to plaintiffs for the sum of $130,000. The purchase agreement contained the following provision: “In such time, purchaser decides to sell subject property, must give seller first option to buy at cost.”

Following the sale, plaintiffs operated Joe’s Pizzeria until 2002, when it burned down. Plaintiffs then utilized approximately $347,000 in insurance proceeds following the fire to build a substantially improved restaurant. Later, in 2008, plaintiffs spent approximately $22,000 to obtain a liquor license on the property. Plaintiffs testified that the improved structure and liquor license greatly increased sales at the restaurant.

In 2018, plaintiffs decided to sell the restaurant and contracted their realtor, Casey Bruce. In July 2018, Bruce valued and listed the property for $529,000. Shortly thereafter, Bruce was contacted by defendant, who indicated her interest in repurchasing the property. Bruce and defendant provided conflicting testimony with respect to whether defendant made Bruce aware of the 1995 purchase agreement and the optional-repurchase provision at that time, or whether Bruce was made aware in early 2019, after plaintiffs executed a $450,000 purchase agreement with Stock Pot for the sale of the subject property and liquor license. In any event, around the time that plaintiffs executed their agreement with Stock Pot, defendant hired an attorney and prepared an affidavit of interest on the basis of the optional-repurchase provision, and prepared an offer to repurchase the subject property for $130,000.

In light of defendant having provided the affidavit of interest and $130,000 offer, plaintiffs executed an amendment to their agreement with Stock Pot wherein plaintiffs agreed to file a

2 Defendant contends, and plaintiffs dispute, that Giuseppe sought to sell the restaurant as a family favor to plaintiffs. Notably, at that time, Defendant and Giuseppe had opened and were operating a second restaurant known as Giuseppe’s Pizzeria in Caseville, Michigan.

-2- lawsuit to clear any cloud on their title to the property, and agreed that closing between plaintiffs and Stock Pot would occur after plaintiffs obtained marketable title. Plaintiffs simultaneously executed a lease agreement with Stock Pot so that Stock Pot could begin operating on the premises while the case was litigated.3

Plaintiffs filed the present action for declaratory relief in early 2019, seeking a declaration that the optional-repurchase provision relied on by defendant was unenforceable on the basis that it had no time limitation, and on the basis that, following the 2002 fire and reconstruction of the property, the business and building were fundamentally different from what was sold to plaintiffs in 1995. Defendant filed a counterclaim against plaintiffs and Stock Pot seeking damages for breach of the 1995 purchase agreement, specific performance, quiet title, declaratory relief, and a permanent injunction. Defendant subsequently filed a motion for summary disposition contending that the optional-repurchase agreement was unambiguous, that plaintiffs had no valid defense to the legal enforceability of the option, and that defendant was entitled to relief as a matter of law. The trial court concluded, however, that the “in such time” and “at cost” phrases in the optional- repurchase provision rendered the provision ambiguous. The Court noted that it needed additional evidence to determine the scope and enforceability of the provision, and therefore denied defendant’s motion.

Following a bench trial, the trial court noted its previous conclusion with respect to the summary disposition motion that the language of the optional-repurchase provision was ambiguous, but found that defendant’s testimony at trial seemed to resolve the ambiguities. The court agreed with defendant that “at such time” meant “when,” and “at cost” meant “for the price the subject property was originally sold.” Thus, the court concluded that the plain terms of the optional-repurchase provision afforded defendant the right to repurchase the subject property at the price for which it was sold whenever and if ever plaintiffs expressed an intent to sell it. The court continued, however, that the provision “was for the business founded by Giuseppe” and defendant in 1982.

Although the optional-repurchase provision ordinarily would apply, the trial court concluded that it was not enforceable in this case because an unreasonable amount of time had lapsed. The court based its determination with respect to reasonability largely on the events that occurred in 2002:

[T]his is what I call the potential death, so to speak, of Joe’s Pizzeria in 2002; there was a fire in 2002 where the business was completely destroyed. The business was closed for over eight months. During that timeframe, there is no business; there is no good will; there is not building [sic]; there is no equipment; there’s nothing.

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Bluebook (online)
Salvatore Cucchiara v. Monica Cucchiara, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/salvatore-cucchiara-v-monica-cucchiara-michctapp-2021.