Opinion ID: 2971924
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: transfers of fractional interests

Text: 4.1 First Right to Purchase. Fractional interests may be assigned and transferred, subject to the terms and conditions of this Agreement; provided, however, that the remaining co-owners shall have the first right to purchase any fractional interest or interests which any co-owner may at any time desire to sell, except for any sales at public auction as provided for in paragraph 4.5 below. Any co-owner who receives an acceptable offer shall notify the Syndicate Manager, in writing, stating the amount of the offer, the name and address of the proposed purchaser and the terms and conditions thereof. The Syndicate Manager, as agent for the remaining co-owners, shall have fifteen (15) days immediately thereafter to accept or reject the offer. Upon receipt of such notice, the Syndicate Manager or his designated representative shall immediately notify the remaining co-owners of such offer, and any co-owner who desires to purchase the offered fractional interest or interests upon such terms and conditions shall so notify the Syndicate Manager, in writing, within ten (10) days of the mailing of the notice by the Syndicate Manager. If more than one co-owner desires to accept such offer, then the Syndicate Manager shall determine the purchase thereof by lot. If the first right to purchase herein granted is not exercised, the co-owner desiring to sell the fractional interest or interests may then sell the same to the person originally making the offer upon the terms stated, subject to the provisions of this Agreement. All such transfers must be completed within sixty (60) days of the date on which the offer is approved by the Syndicate. JA 19 (emphasis added). Both sides contend that this provision is unambiguous and should be enforced in accordance with its plain meaning. The dispute boils down to the question whether and when Airdrie, as Syndicate Manager, received notice that a co-owner had received an “acceptable offer” to purchase that co-owner’s fractional interest or interests. 4 Never Tell insists that the September 22, 2003 Blooming Hills offer, contingent upon Blooming Hills securing a controlling interest in YOU AND I, was not then acceptable by any coowner or by Airdrie as agent for the co-owners, because the assent of the owners of at least 35 shares was a condition precedent to acceptance. Hence, Never Tell argues, the September 23, 2003 memorandum could not have been the Syndicate Manager’s notice of an acceptable offer and could not trigger the running of its 10-day period for exercise of its first right to purchase. Rather, notice that the offer had become “acceptable” is said not to have been given until September 29, 2003, when Airdrie advised Never Tell that 39 of 40 shareholders had voted to accept Blooming Hills’ offer. Because Never Tell undisputedly asserted its first right to purchase within 10 days thereafter, on October 8, 2003, it maintains that it timely and effectively asserted the right. Airdrie and Blooming Hills point out that the September 23, 2003 memorandum included co-owner Brereton Jones’s statement that “I shall elect to sell my own shares and believe this to be a fair offer.” JA 25. This was sufficient, they contend, to give Never Tell notice that an “acceptable” offer had been received by a co-owner. Because Never Tell did not exercise its first right to purchase within 10 days thereafter, it is said to have effectively waived its right to preempt the sale to Blooming Hills. The district court agreed with Airdrie and Blooming Hills and dismissed Never Tell’s complaint. The district court concluded that “the only notice Never Tell was entitled to receive was the notice of an offer to purchase.” JA 40. To require the Syndicate Manager, the court reasoned, to issue a second notice after polling the other co-owners regarding their desire to sell, would be to improperly read a term into the parties’ unambiguous agreement. 5