Title: Community Land Corporation v. Stuenkel

State: missouri

Issuer: Missouri Supreme Court

Document:

436 S.W.2d 11 (1968)
COMMUNITY LAND CORPORATION, a Missouri Corporation, Respondent,
v.
William STUENKEL and Marie Stuenkel, Appellants.
No. 53266.

Supreme Court of Missouri, Division No. 2.
December 31, 1968.
*13 William T. Bellamy, Jr., Bellamy & Bellamy, Marshall, for plaintiff-respondent.
Ike Skelton, Jr., Lexington, for appellants; Bradley, Skelton & Schelp, Lexington, of counsel.
DONNELLY, Judge.
This is a suit for specific performance. Plaintiff is a not-for-profit corporation, incorporated October 26, 1966. Defendants are owners of a 28-acre tract in Lafayette County, Missouri. On the morning of May 21, 1966, before the corporation was incorporated, three members of its board of directors, Melvin J. Frerking, Earl Brockman, and Wendell Olson, went to see defendants for the purpose of purchasing land for the development of a residential area for homes for senior citizens. The northeast portion of defendants' tract was discussed. Later the same day, Frerking and William Vinnedge, another member of the group, returned to defendants' home, a discussion ensued, and the following document was prepared by William Stuenkel and signed by William Stuenkel and Marie Stuenkel:
"Received of Melvin J. Frerking Treasurer of the Community Land Corp. $100.00 down payt. on the following described property. This property can be described before an actual survey is made as follows Starting in North East corner lot number 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10 and part of nine, approximatly 92 ft. then south across the 40 ft. street into east bay lot number 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 then east across the street to the south lot line of lot 3. and then go north to the survey line and follow this line all the way to the point of beginning. In these boundary would be 5 acres more or less. No construction shall start until the full amount is paid which is at the rate of $2000.00 per acre for as many acres as the actual survey shows. All parties agree that streets as laid out on plat shall remain."
The plat referred to is of an undeveloped 28-acre tract. It was prepared for defendants in 1959. It shows proposed residential lots and streets. Its north boundary line adjoins the south right-of-way line of Interstate 70 to which there is no access. Its south boundary line adjoins old U.S. 40, which is now maintained by the Concordia Special Road District, and which affords the only means of access to the tract. The tract claimed by plaintiff, containing 6.34 acres, lies in the northeast corner of the plat. Its south boundary line lies 290 feet north of old U.S. 40. The plat shows a street, thirty feet wide, extending north and south, from old U.S. 40 to the south boundary line of the 6.34-acre tract claimed by plaintiff. The plat also shows a street, with a circular drive, extending through the 6.34-acre tract claimed by plaintiff, together with other streets placed generally over the 28-acre platted area.
On September 9, 1966, defendants were asked to sign a deed to the property claimed by plaintiff, which deed included the street extending from the south boundary line of the 6.34-acre tract to old U.S. 40. Defendants refused to sign the deed.
Plaintiff brought suit for specific performance. Trial was had before the court without a jury. The trial court ordered payment by plaintiff of the sum of $12,580, established title in plaintiff to the 6.34-acre tract, vested in plaintiff a right of ingress and egress over the street, thirty feet wide, described on the plat, and decreed that all streets as laid out on the plat shall remain as laid out on the plat, with certain exceptions not material here. Defendants appeal.
Appellants first contend "the trial court erred in granting plaintiff an easement for *14 ingress and egress because such was not included as part of the alleged agreement." The agreement contained the words, "All parties agree that streets as laid out on plat shall remain." We must determine the legal effect of these words.
Defendant William Stuenkel testified as follows:
A Yes, sir, that is right; that means the roads in here that I was referring to.
Melvin J. Frerking testified as follows:
Earl Brockman testified as follows:
Wendell Olson testified as follows:
We first recognize the general rule "that a court of equity will not make a contract for the parties, and if a contract is indefinite, uncertain or incomplete the court will not order specific performance." Wilkinson v. Vaughn, Mo.Sup., 419 S.W.2d 1, 5; Pomeroy, Specific Performance of Contracts, 3rd Ed., § 159. However, parol evidence "may always be resorted to for the purpose of explaining the position of the *16 parties and of the subject-matter and other surrounding circumstances at the time of concluding the contract, so that the court may be put into the position of the parties, may see with their eyes, and may understand the force and application of the language employed by them." Pomeroy, Specific Performance of Contracts, 3rd Ed., § 161, pp. 412-413; Herzog v. Ross, 355 Mo. 406, 196 S.W.2d 268, 167 A.L.R. 407.
In reviewing the evidence on appeal, we pay deference "to the opportunity of the trial court to judge of the credibility of the witnesses." Section 510.310(4), RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.; S.Ct. Rule 73.01, V.A.M.R. However, it is our duty to "review the record anew and to enter such judgment as, having regard to the applicable, compelling equitable principles, the trial court should have entered." Miller v. Coffeen, 365 Mo. 204, 208, 280 S.W.2d 100, 101.
We have reviewed the evidence and, deferring to the trial court on credibility of the witnesses, are of the opinion that defendants are bound by the language used by William Stuenkel in the written contract. Defendants agreed that "streets as laid out on plat shall remain." He did not limit the agreement to streets "on the land to be sold" as he claims was his intent. His primary concern was the street on which the circular drive was located. However, he did not limit the agreement to such street. We must give consideration to what the contract "actually says and not what * * * [William Stuenkel] intended secretly or without stating or what he might have said if he had decided to further explain his intention." Kerrick v. Schoenberg, Mo.Sup., 328 S.W.2d 595, 599. The trial court did not err in ruling that an easement for ingress and egress was included as part of the contract.
Defendants next contend that "the signing of the receipt does not constitute a binding contract because the parties were looking forward to an attorney drawing a contract between the parties sometime in the future."
Defendant William Stuenkel testified as follows:
Witness Lloyd Beissenherz, publisher of the newspaper in Concordia, Missouri, testified as follows:
Melvin J. Frerking testified as follows:
William Vinnedge testified as follows:
The trial court resolved this fact issue in plaintiff's favor and we defer to the trial court in this regard. Section 510.310(4), RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S.; S.Ct. Rule 73.01, V.A.M.R.
Appellants next contend that "the trial court erred in ordering specific performance when the alleged contract was signed by defendants alone and hence lacked mutuality and was thus unenforceable."
In Ray v. Wooster, Mo.Sup., 270 S.W.2d 743, at 752, this Court said:
Appellants next contend "the trial court erred in granting an ingress-egress easement because plaintiff fails to allege in its petition that such easement is a way of necessity, and the decreeing of such easement deprived defendants of property rights in violation of the Missouri Constitution, and, further, plaintiff has its remedy at law under state constitutional provisions."
Art. I, § 28, Const. of Mo., 1945, V.A. M.S., provides as follows:
Art. I, § 28, supra, does not prohibit the taking of private property "by consent of the owner." We have held that the easement for ingress and egress was included as part of the contract. Appellants' contention is without merit.
Appellants next contend "the trial court erred by decreeing specific performance because there was no valid assignment, in writing, of the rights of Melvin J. Frerking, to the plaintiff corporation."
The parties apparently agree that the original contract was between Melvin J. Frerking and defendants because plaintiff corporation was not in existence when the contract was executed on May 21, 1966. It is also conceded that the assignment from Frerking to plaintiff was not written. Defendants rely upon § 432.010 RSMo 1959, V.A.M.S., the Statute of Frauds. The question presented is whether defendants may question the validity of the assignment in this case.
"* * * Contracts within the statutes of frauds are not void, but only voidable at the election of the party to be charged. * * *" St. Louis, Keokuk & N. W. Ry. Co. v. Clark, 121 Mo. 169, 176, 25 S.W. 192, 196. The provisions of § 432.010, supra, could properly be raised in a dispute between Frerking and plaintiff over the validity of the assignment. However, its benefits cannot be claimed by defendants, who were not parties to the assignment.
We hold that defendants may not, on the basis of the Statute of Frauds, question the validity of the assignment from Frerking to plaintiff. Cf. B. Roth Tool Co. v. Champ Spring Co., 93 Mo.App. 530, 67 S.W. 967. The trial court did not err in this regard.
Appellants finally contend that the trial court erred "in improperly assessing the costs of this action against defendants because defendants were willing to convey the real estate, except for the easement, and for the further reason that defendants were not required by the trial court to convey the 40-foot easement as prayed for by plaintiff, but merely a 30-foot easement."
In Amitin v. Izard, Mo.App., 262 S.W.2d 353, at 356, appears a statement particularly appropriate here:
We recognize that defendants, in their answer, tendered a deed conveying to plaintiff the 6.34-acre tract, and that the trial court granted plaintiff an easement, 30 feet wide, rather than the easement, 40 feet wide, asked by plaintiff. However, the principal issue litigated in the trial court involved plaintiff's right to an easement. The plat referred to an easement, thirty feet wide, and the trial court properly restricted the easement to such width. We cannot say that the trial court abused its discretion in assessing costs against defendants.
The judgment is affirmed.
All of the Judges concur.