Opinion ID: 2195817
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: The Status of the Plaintiff's Proof at the Close of the Testimony

Text: The conflicting testimony above discussed raised several issues the resolution of which might have resulted in findings of fact by the jury, one or more of which findings could have denied the Plaintiff the specific performance he sought. In each instance the determination of the issues rested largely in the respective amounts of credibility the jurors gave to the testimony of the Plaintiff and Mr. Petriw, whom they observed in person. The jury could have found that, as the Defendants alleged, the Plaintiff with a fraudulent purpose induced Mr. Petriw to draw the written agreement and to omit any reference to the dentures or to a reservation of a life estate to Mr. Petriw. [4] See Eldridge v. May, 129 Me. 112, 115, 150 A. 378, 379 (1930). The jurors could have believed Mr. Petriw's version that the Plaintiff immediately broke his agreement to pay the $200.00 deposit or to make the dentures and that one or both breaches were sufficiently substantial to justify the Defendants in treating the agreement as no longer binding upon them. See Weisberg v. Ashcraft, 194 Cal.App.2d 225, 14 Cal. Rptr. 817 (1961). Or the jurors could have interpreted the testimony relating to the Plaintiff's demand for performance in such a manner that it would not have constituted either tender of the purchase price or excusable nontender at law. See Miller v. Shea, 300 Ill. 180, 181, 133 N.E. 183, 184, 185 (1921). We conclude that in the posture in which the case was tried these questions of fact, at least, should have been answered by the jury by a special verdict in the form of special written findings, by means of which the presiding Justice would then have determined the Plaintiff's claimed entitlement to the equitable type of relief sought. M.R.C.P., Rule 49(a).