67 Mo. App. 469 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1896
On December 12, 1894, plaintiff and defendant entered into a written contract wherein it was agreed that defendant should sell to the plaintiff one hundred and sixty acres of land therein described, for the price of $7,440. Defendant agreed to take from plaintiff, in part payment, a stock of saddles, harness, etc., at its then present value; plaintiff was to assume a certain mortgage on the property and the balance of the purchase price plaintiff was to pay March 1, 1895, at which time defendant was to make plaintiff a deed. Shortly thereafter (the exact date does not appear on the record) the stock of saddles and harness was invoiced and turned over to defendant at the agreed price of $908.06, and defendant indorsed on the face of the contract his receipt for that sum, stating it to be a payment on account of the land.
In the body of this first and original contract, it was stipulated that “if said second party (plaintiff Huggins) fails or refuses to perform his part of said contract as above stated, he shall forfeit as liquidated damages all payments made, and said first party (defendant Safford) shall forfeit as liquidated damages the sum of $500.”
Plaintiff Huggins failed to pay the balance of the purchase money on the first day of March as agreed, and defendant, on March 15, made out and tendered to plaintiff a deed, at the same time demanding the balance due on the sale, which plaintiff failed to pay. The matter rested then in this unsettled shape until April 8 following, when plaintiff and defendant met and entered into a new and different contract for the
(Signed) “W. O. Huggins, [seal]
“W. Gr. Safeobd. [seal]
“Witness, R. M. Stevenson.”
The new contract was complete in all its parts and provided for the sale of the same land at the price of $6,532, the plaintiff purchaser to pay this amount, less a $3,000 mortgage named in the agreement, on or before June 8, 1895, “and if payment is not made by the eighth day of June, 1895, then this contract to be null and void,” and further, “that in case said Huggins fails to make payment as stated in this contract on or before June 8, 1895, the said Safford is released from all obligations to said Huggins in the matter of this land sale.”
Plaintiff failed to pay the purchase price of the land on or before June 8, 1895, as provided in the last contract, or at any other time, and in August following instituted this suit, whereby he sought, in the form of an action for goods sold and delivered, to recover of defendant the value of the saddle and harness stock, to wit, $908.06. In' a trial before the court, without the aid of a jury, there was judgment for defendant, and plaintiff appealed.
I know of no principle of law upon which the judgment of the circuit court can be upheld. The substance of the case is this: On December 12, 1894, plaintiff and defendant entered into their first, written
If this was all, then neither party could claim anything from the other. But it appears that as part payment on the land, as provided for in the first contract, plaintiff turned over to defendant merchandise of the admitted value of $908.06, and this the defend
Under the undisputed facts, then, the plaintiff should recover, of defendant $908.06, with six per cent interest from the institution of this suit, and the judgment will therefore be reversed and cause remanded, with, directions to enter such a judgment.