97 N.W. 869 | N.D. | 1903
This is an action to compel the specific perform■ance of the written contract of defendant Coe to sell and convey to the plaintiff a certain eighty-acre tract of 'land situated in Ram•sey county, and to cancel and declare void a deed of conveyance of said land executed and delivered by said Coe to the defendant Me‘Devitt after he had entered into the contract to convey the same to the plaintiff. The plaintiff alleges, in substance, that the land in ■question was formerly owned by Nettie Coe; that upon her death, which occurred on April 28, 1900, the defendant Alfred N. Coe, ‘her husband, was appointed administrator of her estate, and has since acted as such; that said estate does not exceed in value the ■sum of $5,000, and no claims ■ have been filed against it; that the said defendant Alfred N. Coe is the sole heir of said deceased, .and entitled to a decree from the county court conveying to him .all of the property of decedent, including these premises; that the -administration of the estate has not been completed, in this r that the ■final decree of distribution of said estate, formally assigning the .above real estate to the defendant Alfred N. Coe, has not been made; that on April 24, 1901, the plaintiff and the defendant Alfred N. Coe, entered into a written contract, through correspondence, wherein the plaintiff agreed to purchase and the defendant Coe agreed to ;sell to the plaintiff the land in question, and convey the same upon :a good and sufficient deed upon said Alfred N. Coe receiving from "the plaintiff the sum of $475, and that by the terms of said contract the plaintiff received possession of the premises, and was to have clear title upon the county court issuing its decree vesting title in defendant Alfred N. Coe; that in pursuance of said con
Three propositions are urged in this court by counsel for the appellant as grounds for reversing the decree. It is contended (1) that McDevitt was a bona fide purchaser for value, with neither actual nor constructive notice of Hunter’s rights; and (2) that, in any event, the decree should provide for the payment of the purchase price by Hunter to this appellant, instead of to Coe; and (3) that the improvements were erected by McDevitt in good faith, and the decree should therefore require Hunter to render compensation therefor to McDevitt. In our opinion, the evidence does not sustain appellant’s contention that he purchased without either actual or constructive notice of Hunter’s contract. Section 3594,
The case is one, therefore, in which the remedy by specific performance may properly be invoked. But it does not follow that plaintiff’s right to a decree is absolute, for it is well settled that: “The specific performance of a contract of sale rests largely in the sound discretion of the court upon a view of all the circumstances.”' Benson, Adm’x, v. Cutler, 53 Wis. 107, 10 N. W. 82; Williams v. Williams, 50 Wis; 311, 6 N. W. 814; Taylor v. Longworth, 14 Pet. 172, 10 L. Ed. 405. The court may grant or refuse this-remedy, or impose conditions for granting it, in the exercise of a sound discretion, according- to the equities peculiar to each case. In our qpinion, the facts in this case do not entitle the plaintiff to-an unconditional decree, nor sustain the judgment which was entered. In the first place, the judgment provides that the plaintiff shall pay to Coe the unpaid purchase price of $475. This is clearly erroneous. There is nothing due to Coe. He transferred all his title and interest to the defendant McDevitt, and was succeeded by him as the-holder of the legal title. Coe cannot transfer the title, because he has none, having parted with it by the delivery of a' deed to the-defendant McDevitt. Under his contract with the plaintiff Coe was: to receive $475 for the land. He has in fact received $525 for the-conveyance of the title to the defendant McDevitt. We are not able-to understand on what theory Coe should be rewarded for his:
We are also of opinion that the judgment is erroneous in not requiring, as a condition for relief, that plaintiff reimburse Mc-Devitt for the permanent improvements placed upon the land by him prior to the service of the summons and complaint in this action. The contract which plaintiff seeks to have enforced called for the land without improvements. Under the decree he gets not only the land which he bargained for, but also permanent improvements made by McDevitt, which the trial court found to be approximately of the value of $1,400, and this upon payment of only $415, and that sum to be paid not to McDevitt, but to Coe, who has already heen paid for the land. The theory on which the improvements were awarded to the plaintiff undoubtedly was that they were placed on the premises by the defendant in bad faith. It seems to have been assumed that, if the defendant was not a good-faith purchaser within the meaning of the recording act, he could not have made the improvements in good faith, and therefore would not be entitled to an allowance for them. This by no means follows. One is not a purchaser in good faith, so as to be protected against an outstanding contract, who has constructive notice of such contract; and this because the law itself imputes, in the case of constructive notice, knowledge to him. But one may honestly believe that he has good title when in fact he has not, and, while this belief will not avail him as against an outstanding contract or title of Avhich he has constructive notice, he will nevertheless be entitled to be protected in his permanent improvements, for the test of good faith as to them is his honest belief that he has good
The condition of the record in this case, including the pleadings and the evidence, will not warrant a final judgment in this court disposing of the case according to its equities. The case must therefore be remanded to the district court for further proceedings, with leave granted to permit such amendments as shall be necessary for a final disposition of the remaining issues. The district court will set aside its judgment and order a new trial for the purpose of determining (1) the cost of the improvements placed upon the premises by the defendant prior to the service of the summons and complaint in this action; and (2) the reasonable cash rental value of the premises during the period of defendant’s occupancy. Upon the ascertainment of these facts the district court will enter judgment requiring the defendant, MeDevitt, to execute