Wolter v. Dixon

157 P. 250, 29 Idaho 26, 1916 Ida. LEXIS 56
CourtIdaho Supreme Court
DecidedApril 22, 1916
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 157 P. 250 (Wolter v. Dixon) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Idaho Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Wolter v. Dixon, 157 P. 250, 29 Idaho 26, 1916 Ida. LEXIS 56 (Idaho 1916).

Opinion

BUDGE, J.

By stipulation of counsel two actions brought by appellant against the respondent in the district court of the fourth judicial district in and for Lincoln county, are presented in one transcript and were argued and submitted together. The two cases are the result of an agreement to sell certain real and personal property made by appellant, who is the widow of Peter "Walter, deceased.

The agreement to sell, on the part of appellant, and to buy, on the part of respondent, was signed on September 11, 1913, and recites a cash payment of $100, made at the time, and that the further sum of $5,900 should be paid according to the schedule in the agreement, by which it appears that there was to be $400 paid on November 1, 1913, and $500 paid on January 1, 1914, then beginning with January 1, 1919, there was to be a payment of $1,000 each year until the whole amount of the purchase price agreed upon had been fully paid, these $1,000 payments to be evidenced by five promissory notes to be executed by "respondent. Interest at the rate of six per cent per annum was to be paid by respondent on all deferred payments. The payment of $500 due January 1, 1914, was [31]*31designated as the first deferred payment. This agreement does not purport to include the personal property involved in the second suit, but the record discloses that it was understood by the parties at the time the agreement was made that all personal property on the farm, comprising the horses, cows, hogs, farming implements and crops raised thereon that year, of the value of approximately $3,050, was to be included, with no consideration to be paid therefor, other than that to be paid for the real estate.

After the agreement for the sale was actually signed, and with the knowledge and consent of the parties, a marginal notation was made upon the written document which, as appears from the evidence, the parties agreed meant that respondent was to execute a chattel mortgage on the personal property in favor of appellant, to stand for one year for the purpose of securing appellant for the payment of the first deferred payment to herself, and the next payment of principal and interest to the Idaho Irrigation Company, upon a certain water contract, to be due April 1, 1914. It was understood and agreed, also, that appellant should execute a bill of sale covering the personal property and deposit the same with the agreement to sell the real estate in the First State Bank of Richfield, and that these two instruments should not be delivered to respondent until he had complied with his agreement regarding the execution of the chattel mortgage, etc. The agreement also provided for the payment of the taxes for the year 1913 by respondent.

After the foregoing papers (except the chattel mortgage and the five promissory notes) had been executed, some sort of an understanding was evidently reached between appellant and respondent, to the effect that appellant was to remain on the premises until respondent had returned from Washington with his family and effects, after which he was to occupy the farm and appellant was to remove to Hailey. The respondent arrived about the time specified and made the payment of $400, due November 1, 1913, and took actual possession of the premises involved in the action, but did not then execute the chattel mortgage nor the five promissory notes. [32]*32In the meanwhile, and prior to his arrival, a cow and'calf, which were among the personal property to be thrown in with the purchase of the real estate, had died.

Respondent did not pay the taxes for 1913, as agreed, and appellant paid same on January 3, 1914. Neither did respondent make the payment to appellant, due January 1, 1914. And it appears from the record that on or about January 12, 1914, appellant went to Richfield to see respondent and adjust the matter of these payments. At this meeting a dispute arose between the parties concerning three amounts for which respondent claimed he should be allowed credit upon, or be permitted to offset against, the first deferred payment of $500. Respondent claimed that appellant should pay him for the cow and calf which had died, and also that she should pay him the amount of a certain rebate allowed by the Idaho Irrigation Company, and the interest which had accrued on the water contract between April 1, 1913, and the date of the agreement, September 11, 1913.

It appears that at this time appellant- refused to allow these items, but did offer to allow the rebate and admitted that she should stand that portion of the year’s interest on the water contract. A few days after this meeting respondent, accompanied by a Mr. Brush, the real estate agent who had negotiated the sale of the real estate, called on Mr. Fletcher, who had acted for Mrs. Wolter, and told him that they were ready to pay the amount due her after deducting the three items in dispute, and after Mr. Fletcher had told them that he could not accept the amount, they claimed to have made a tender to him in the form of a check for $331.99. We do not think, however, that it will 'be seriously claimed that upon this occasion respondent tendered to Mr. Fletcher the chattel mortgage he had agreed to execute and deliver to Mrs. Wolter, or the five promissory notes provided for in the written contract.

On April 7,1914, appellant declared the respondent’s rights under the contract forfeited because of his failure to make the first deferred payment, to pay the taxes for 1913, to make the payment on the water contract, to execute the five promis[33]*33sory notes and to give her the security called for by the agreement, and also served a notice on him terminating his tenancy in the premises. The service of the notices was followed by the institution of these two actions. One of these actions was first filed in the probate court for Lincoln county, and was an action to recover the possession of the. real estate, and the complaint set forth the circumstances under which respondent held, the breach of his agreement and the demand for compliance, and prayed for relief. The other action was in claim and delivery for the purpose of recovering the personal property or the value thereof, which was alleged to be $3,050, and was originally brought in the district court. The action in the probate court was later transferred to the district court on respondent’s motion, on the ground that the title or right to the possession of real estate was involved.

The two cases were heard by the trial court, sitting without a jury, on stipulation of counsel, resulting in a judgment in both actions in favor of respondent, from which judgments these appeals are taken.

Counsel for appellant in their brief set out twenty assignments of error, but we do not deem it necessary to separately discuss them. We will confine ourselves to a consideration of the sufficiency of respondent’s amended answer, and whether the evidence is sufficient to support the findings and whether the findings are sufficient to support the judgment.

We will first direct attention to the action of the trial court in overruling appellant’s demurrer to respondent’s amended answer. The action which was originally brought in the probate court was instituted by appellant for the purpose of repossessing herself of the real estate described in the contract entered into by the parties to this litigation, and is an action of unlawful detainer.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
157 P. 250, 29 Idaho 26, 1916 Ida. LEXIS 56, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/wolter-v-dixon-idaho-1916.