Opinion ID: 2024164
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Analysis of Magina's breach of contract claim.

Text: On further review to us, defendant Bartlett contends that the court of appeals erred in reversing the judgment of the district court. Specifically, Bartlett asserts that the undisputed facts in the record show that he received the fourth floor, which was property other than cash, in return for transfer of the air rights to Engle, and thus he had no duty to pay Magina one-half of the value of the fourth floor. We conclude that the district court was correct in granting judgment notwithstanding the jury's verdict. To clarify, the only agreement at issue in this case is the September 22, 1980, Settlement Agreement between Magina and Bartlett. The questions presented are whether the evidence shows that Bartlett breached the Settlement Agreement and whether Magina is entitled to damages for any such breach. Construction of a contract is the process of determining the legal effect of the provisions of a contract and is always a matter of law to be resolved by the court. Taylor Enter. v. Clarinda Prod. Credit Ass'n, 447 N.W.2d 113, 115 (Iowa 1989). When interpreting the provisions of a contract, the parties' intent controls. Lange v. Lange, 520 N.W.2d 113, 119 (Iowa 1994). In doing so, we give effect to language of the entire contract in accordance with its commonly accepted and ordinary meaning. Id. Here, there seems to be no dispute concerning the proper interpretation of the language used in the Settlement Agreement. The real dispute concerns the proper application of that language to Magina's relationship with Bartlett at the time Bartlett received the fourth floor. The narrow issue we must examine is which of the three possible contingent forms of consideration available under the Settlement Agreement governs the relationship between Magina and Bartlett as presented under the undisputed facts. As previously stated, the Settlement Agreement established three possible types of consideration that Magina would receive upon Bartlett's transfer of the air rights to a third party. [4] Thus, Magina's share of the proceeds from the development were dependent or contingent upon Bartlett's future business dealings with third parties. Paragraph one requires Bartlett to pay Magina one-half of any cash payments that he receives in exchange for transfer of his interest in the air rights lease. The undisputed facts in the trial record show, however, that Bartlett at no time received cash or cash payments from Engle concerning the transfer of the air rights and the purchase of the fourth floor. Since Bartlett received no cash, he had no duty under the Settlement Agreement to pay Magina any money at this time. Bartlett, however, received the fourth floor of the development in exchange for transfer of the air rights lease to Engle, which clearly qualifies as property other than cash. This is exactly the scenario contemplated by paragraph three of the Settlement Agreement. Thus, of the three possible forms of consideration available to Magina under the Settlement Agreement, Magina is only entitled to ten percent of the net sale proceeds upon Bartlett's sale of the fourth floor. [5] Because Bartlett received no cash concerning his transfer of his interest under the air rights lease in exchange for the fourth floor of the development, Bartlett had no duty to pay Magina one-half of the value of the floor. Magina thus failed to present substantial evidence to support his claim that Bartlett breached any of the terms of the September 22, 1980, Settlement Agreement. Accordingly, the district court properly set aside the jury's verdict in granting defendant Bartlett's motion for judgment notwithstanding the verdict. We note that the only claim tried to the jury was Magina's breach of contract claim. Therefore, nothing in our decision affects Magina's remaining claims, if any, including his rights against Bartlett under paragraph three of the Settlement Agreement. We have considered other contentions raised by Magina in this appeal and find them either to be without merit or unnecessary to address.