Opinion ID: 1517392
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Documents Included in the Written Agreement

Text: [¶ 16] The general rule is that in the absence of anything to indicate a contrary intention, instruments executed at the same time, by the same contracting parties, for the same purposes, and in the course of the same transaction will be considered and construed together, since they are, in the eyes of the law, one contract or instrument. Kandlis v. Huotari, 678 A.2d 41, 43 (Me. 1996) (quoting 17A AM. JUR.2d Contracts § 388 (1991)), quoted in Bumila v. Keiser Homes of Me., Inc., 1997 ME 139, ¶ 12, 696 A.2d 1091, 1094. Extrinsic evidence may be offered to prove that separate writings should be read together as a single transaction. See Kandlis v. Huotari, 678 A.2d at 43 (relying, in part, on affidavits to conclude that guarantee agreements signed by several shareholders during a two week period were part of the same transaction). [¶ 17] Here, contrary to the contentions of the Morins, the bill of sale cannot be read in isolation. The purchase and sale agreement, the letter, and the bill of sale, executed at the same time by the same contracting parties, for the same purpose, in the course of the same transaction, and in the absence of contrary intention, should be considered and construed together because they are, in the eyes of the law, one contract or instrument. See Kandlis v. Huotari, 678 A.2d at 43; see also Rosenthal v. Means, 388 A.2d 113, 115 (Me.1978). [¶ 18] Both the language of the purchase and sale agreement and the letter make it clear the written agreement consisted of those documents and the bill of sale. Moreover, the court found that there was no dispute between the parties [to the sale] but that the conditions listed in Attorney Gosselin's letter were part of the agreement between these parties. That factual finding is not clearly erroneous, supported as it is by testimony that the letter was delivered together with the other documents and that the attorney for Andy Valley Racquet Club intended and believed that the letter was part of the agreement. The finding is further supported by Jane Brainerd's testimony that she was aware of the conditions imposed by the Gosselin letter and that she agreed to them. Accordingly, the District Court committed no error in considering all of the written documents as parts of a single agreement.