Opinion ID: 1678628
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: payments under the dirksen/zwach contract

Text: The Lengkeek/Dirksen contract provided for payments of $3,465 in 1984, and $3,380 in 1985. The Dirksen/Zwach contract provided for payment of $8,350 in 1984 and $8,125 in 1985. Lengkeeks contend that they should receive from Zwach the amount due under the Dirksen/Zwach contract ($8,350) because they (Lengkeeks) received a quitclaim deed on their property from Dirksen. Lengkeeks therefore refused a tender of payment from Bank (as assignee of the Dirksen/Zwach contract) for the amounts due under the Lengkeek/Dirksen contract ($3,465). After Lengkeeks refused payment from Bank for the amount due under the Lengkeek/Dirksen contract, Lengkeeks returned the checks sent by Bank for the 1984 payment (one made by Bank for $3,465 payable to Lengkeeks; the other made by Zwach for $8,350 payable to Bank of Toronto and Leon Lengkeek, which Lengkeek was to endorse and return to Bank), stating that, because the three contracts for deed were consolidated into one contract by virtue of Exhibit B, full payment in the amount of $11,765 (the total amount payable on the property by Dirksens to Lengkeeks under the Lengkeek/Dirksen contract) was due and owing. A postscript to the letter accompanying the unendorsed checks, sent to Bank's attorney, Gordon Gunderson, by Lengkeeks' attorney, suggested that the Zwach check be placed in an interest-bearing account until the dispute was resolved. Bank, however, returned Zwach's check to her. [] Lengkeeks received no payments for 1984 and 1985. The dispute surrounding Lengkeeks' refusal of payment by Bank culminated in this court's remand of Lengkeek I to the circuit court to determine the amount of the payments to be made to Lengkeeks. On remand, the circuit court determined that Lengkeeks were entitled to $7,642 plus interest at the judgment rate. This is equivalent to the amount due under the original Lengkeek/Dirksen contract. Lengkeeks appeal, arguing that as assignee of the Dirksen/Zwach contract they are entitled to $16,475 (the amount due under the Dirksen/Zwach contract). Bank argues that the doctrines of res judicata and collateral estoppel preclude Lengkeeks from arguing that the trial court erred in concluding that Lengkeeks were entitled to receive only the amount due under the original Lengkeek/Dirksen contract. Bank also raises several issues in this appeal through its notice of review. On remand of Lengkeek I, the circuit court heard testimony from Gordon Gunderson, counsel for Bank, regarding Bank's letter and tender of the two checks to Lengkeek in March of 1984. Gunderson wrote the letter to Lengkeeks, instructing them that the smaller check ($3,465) made payable to them represented Bank's payment on the Lengkeek/Dirksen contract and that the larger check ($8,350), which was made payable to Lengkeeks and Bank, was to be endorsed by them and returned to Bank. Lengkeeks' counsel objected several times during the course of Gunderson's testimony. The first objection was overruled, but the second objection, based on relevancy, materiality, and because the question called for a conclusion, led the court, after posing several questions to Gunderson, to strike Gunderson's testimony in its entirety. Bank contends that Gunderson's testimony is crucial to establishing that Bank never received or retained any money from Zwach in 1984, thus precluding Bank from receiving any benefit on the contract. Second, Bank contends that the trial court erred in holding that Bank should make any payment to Lengkeeks. Bank's argument rests upon the fact that it did not retain Zwach's 1984 check, but instead returned such check to Zwach. Bank contends that the mere fact that it was the assignee under the Dirksen/Zwach contract does not personally bind it to make such payments on the Lengkeek/Dirksen contract because Bank never retained or had use of any payments made to Bank by Zwach. Bank's third issue relates to the circuit court's order that Bank make the 1985 land payment with interest at the judgment rate. Bank contends that it never received any payment from Zwach and that the circuit court, on remand of Lengkeek I, was not instructed to order payment of such interest. Bank argues that the circuit court thus failed to follow this court's instructions on remand, and that the circuit court's order regarding interest should be reversed. Bank further argues that Lengkeeks' refusal to accept the 1984 payment under the Lengkeek/Dirksen contract negates any requirement that Bank pay interest on the balance due under the contract. Bank contends that its tender of payment to Lengkeeks, which Lengkeeks would not accept, releases it from any liability to pay interest from the date that Lengkeeks refused such tender.