Smoliak v. Myhr

361 N.W.2d 153, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 3781
CourtCourt of Appeals of Minnesota
DecidedJanuary 22, 1985
DocketC2-84-1028
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 361 N.W.2d 153 (Smoliak v. Myhr) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Minnesota primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Smoliak v. Myhr, 361 N.W.2d 153, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 3781 (Mich. Ct. App. 1985).

Opinion

OPINION

LESLIE, Judge.

The appellants brought this action to compel specific performance of a real estate contract. The trial court determined that there had been no meeting of the minds concerning the amount of the property to be sold, and denied the appellants’ request. We affirm.

FACTS

In September 1980 appellant Gary Smol-iak and his wife purchased a parcel of land in Cook County, Minnesota adjacent to the property which is the subject of this lawsuit. At the time he purchased the land, Smoliak indicated to his real estate agent, *155 respondent Marlene Dahlgren, that he would also be interested in purchasing the adjoining land, which was owned by respondent John Myhr.

In May 1981 Myhr entered into a listing agreement with Dahlgren to sell a portion of the land which adjoined Smoliak’s property. Myhr informed Dahlgren that he wished to sell 600 feet of shoreline property, and after the listing agreement was signed he took Dahlgren out to the property and pointed out the land he wished to sell.

Smoliak was still interested in purchasing the land, and in August 1981 Smoliak and Myhr signed a purchase agreement which described the land to be sold as follows:

“Government Lot 4, Section 26 — Township 62 North — Range 3 East — Legal to be expanded.”

Smoliak believed he was purchasing 600 feet of shoreline measured in a straight line from east to west, but Myhr had measured 600 feet along the shoreline in a meandering fashion, and only wished to sell that much land. No map was attached to the copies of the purchase agreement which Smoliak and Myhr received and signed.

Dahlgren attached a map of the property to a third copy of the purchase agreement which was forwarded to Smoliak’s attorney. When the attorney examined the map in preparation for drawing up a Contract for Deed, he discovered that the 600 feet measured by Myhr in a meandering line only amounted to approximately 525 feet measured in a straight line from east to west.

Both parties refused to sign the Contract for Deed which described the land as only 525 feet, and Smoliak brought this action to compel Myhr to sell 600 feet of shoreline property measured in a straight line. Myhr submitted a counterclaim, requesting that the court compel Smoliak to purchase 600 feet measured in a meandering line.

The action was tried to the court, which concluded that there had been no meeting of the minds between Smoliak and Myhr concerning the exact land to be sold. Smol-iak has appealed.

ISSUES

1. Whether the trial court erroneously refused to order specific performance of the contract.

2. Whether respondent Myhr should be liable for allegedly false representations of real estate agent Dahlgren.

3. Whether the trial court’s findings of fact contain errors which require reversal.

4. Whether the damages and costs awarded by the trial court should be sustained.

ANALYSIS

I.

Specific performance

The trial court denied the parties’ requests for specific performance based on its conclusion that there had been no meeting of the minds between the parties concerning the amount of land to be sold. This determination finds support in all of the testimony submitted by the parties, and the court’s denial of equitable relief is supported by relevant caselaw.

In Minneapolis Cablesystems v. City of Minneapolis, 299 N.W.2d 121 (Minn.1980) our supreme court noted that “[a] contract requires a meeting of the minds concerning its essential elements.” Id. at 122. With respect to the particularity with which property must be described in a contract to convey, the court in Doyle v. Wohlrabe, 243 Minn. 107, 66 N.W.2d 757 (1954) stated:

In passing upon the particularity with which the property must be described, it is to be borne in mind that a written contract for the conveyance of land, to satisfy the statute of frauds, need only provide that degree of certainty which is reasonably necessary to identify the parties, the land to be conveyed, and the terms and conditions of the promises made by the respective parties to each other.

*156 Id. at 110, 66 N.W.2d at 761 (footnote omitted). The test for determining the requisite specificity was explained in Miracle Construction Co. v. Miller, 261 Minn. 320, 87 N.W.2d 665 (1958):

The description of land which a written sales contract purports to convey satisfies the statute of frauds * * * if, in the light of the circumstances and conditions surrounding the parties with respect to the land during the negotiations * * * such description provides, when applied to the physical features of the surrounding terrain, a reasonably certain guide or means for identifying such land to the exclusion to all other lands. Since even the most specific and precise description may require some parol proof to complete the identification of the property, the test is — does the writing furnish a reasonably certain means of identification?

Id. at 323, 87 N.W.2d at 669 (footnotes omitted; emphasis in original).

In the present case the legal description of the land to be conveyed was not included in the purchase agreement. Rather, the agreement stated “legal to be expanded.” Smoliak testified that he intended to purchase 600 feet of shoreline measured in a straight line, whereas Myhr testified that he intended to sell 600 feet measured in a meandering line. These facts support the trial court’s determination that the contract was insufficient and could not be specifically enforced by either party. As stated in Ortendahl v. Bergmann, 343 N.W.2d 309 (Minn.Ct.App.1984):

[E]quity denies specific performance “where to grant it would be to compel the defendant to perform a contract which he did not intend to make or which he would not have entered into had its true effect been understood.”

Id. at 312, quoting Damazo v. Neal, 32 Md.App. 536, 543, 363 A.2d 252, 257 (1976).

II.

Agency relationship

Smoliak argues that the agency relationship between Myhr and Dahlgren estops Myhr from denying Dahlgren’s actual or apparent authority. The trial court did not address this issue, nor does Myhr contest the authority which Dahlgren had to make representations on his behalf concerning the land which was being sold. The parties have, however, contested the substance of the alleged representations by Dahlgren.

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361 N.W.2d 153, 1985 Minn. App. LEXIS 3781, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/smoliak-v-myhr-minnctapp-1985.