Opinion ID: 1688225
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: facts and case

Text: Appellant, Bennie Herring, filed suit below for a declaratory judgment to define the terms of an option to purchase land from the appellees, Hubert and Mary Prestwood. The option granted Herring the right to purchase 320 acres of land from the Prestwoods for a purchase price of $208,000 consisting of a down payment of $96,000 with the balance of $112,000 to be paid in annual installments over a period of ten to twenty years with interest at 8%. The evidence is in dispute as to whether any consideration was paid for the option. The first amendment to the complaint reworded the complaint to allege that the written option did not reflect the total agreement of the parties and added two counts to the complaint, one for breach of contract in refusing to convey, the other for fraud. Herring insists that the written option agreement is incomplete because it does not contain that portion of the actual agreement which would allow Herring to use the 320 acres as security for a loan to pay the down payment. The Prestwoods filed a motion to strike those allegations of the complaint which referred to the alleged oral promise and that motion was granted by the court because that court found proof of those allegations would be inadmissible. The defendants filed a motion for summary judgment based on two grounds: (1) that there was no consideration given for the option, and (2) that the plaintiff had failed to make an effective tender of the down payment in offering to exercise the option and obtain his down payment by pledging the land to a lender simultaneously with his receipt of the deed. The defendants contended in their second ground for summary judgment below that to make an effective tender, plaintiff must pay $96,000 as a down payment to the defendants prior to receipt of the deed. The Circuit Court of Coffee County granted the defendants' motion for summary judgment on May 4, 1979, based on the second ground.