Opinion ID: 2631219
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Words of Grant

Text: Mission next maintains that the December 19, 1990, agreement is defective in that the words of grant used in the agreement do not evidence a present intent to transfer title but rather show a promise to convey in the future. The agreement provides that the City desires to purchase the lodge and ski lift and that Bunker agrees to sell to the City the lodge and the land on which it sits, along with the ski lift, which Mission claims expresses only a promise to convey in the future. In construing a deed the trial court should, if possible, give effect to the intent of the parties. When issues arise concerning the meaning of language used and its operation upon the property being conveyed, the general rule is that the intent of a plain and unambiguous deed must be ascertained from the deed, and parol evidence is not admissible. Vanoski v. Thomson, 114 Idaho 381, 382, 757 P.2d 244, 245 (Ct.App.1988). If a deed is ambiguous, interpretation of the instrument is a matter of fact for the trier of fact. Nationsbanc Mortgage of New York v. Cazier, 127 Idaho 879, 883, 908 P.2d 572, 576 (Ct.App.1995), citing Latham v. Garner, 105 Idaho 854, 673 P.2d 1048 (1983). In interpreting and construing deeds, uncertainties should be treated as ambiguities subject to be cleared up by resort to intention of the parties as gathered from the deed, circumstances attending and leading up to its execution, subject matter and situation of the parties at the time. Id., citing Hogan v. Blakney, 73 Idaho 274, 251 P.2d 209 (1952). See generally Crenshaw v. Crenshaw, 68 Idaho 470, 199 P.2d 264 (1948) (intent to transfer title may be determined from surrounding circumstances). The determination of whether an agreement is ambiguous is a question of law over which we may exercise free review, and in determining whether a contract is ambiguous, our task is to ascertain whether the contract is reasonably subject to conflicting interpretations. Bondy v. Levy, 121 Idaho 993, 996-97, 829 P.2d 1342, 1345-46 (1992). The district court concluded that the words in the agreement constituted sufficient evidence of an intent to make a present conveyance. The district court relied on Martin v. Adams, 104 Mass. 262, 1870 WL 8916 (1870), in which the words agree to sell were interpreted by the court to evidence a present sale, upon the court's consideration of the circumstances surrounding the conveyance. The district court found in the instant case, as in Martin, that the property purportedly being conveyed was already in the possession of the grantee, nothing remained to be done by the seller (Bunker), and there was nothing in the document to show that title was not to pass until the happening of some future event. Referring to the four corners of the executed agreement, the district court found that only if the parties intended to make a present conveyance thereby would paragraph four [1] of the agreement have any meaning. There is substantial evidence in the record to support the district court's determination that the words of the agreement reflect the parties' intent to transfer title at the time of the conveyance. We agree with the district court's construction of the language in the agreement, and the district court's decision in this regard is affirmed.