Opinion ID: 1844206
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Claim for Damages Incident to Loss of Opportunity to Sell the Property.

Text: As we have indicated, the district court denied plaintiff's claim for damages suffered as a result of the lost sale opportunity in late April of 1988. It posited its decision on the belief that by that time ownership of the improvements in question had fully vested in plaintiff, thus permitting it to sell the property irrespective of the bank's conduct. Plaintiff urges that, even if the court's theory of legal entitlement was correct, it failed to consider the actions of the bank as a slander of title that effectively caused plaintiff to lose the sale opportunity. We believe that the district court's result on the damage issue was correct based on our conclusions concerning the bank's ownership of the improvements. As previously indicated, the prospective buyer in the transaction on which plaintiff's damage claim is based wanted the improvements left in place as part of his offer. The bank, as the owner of the improvements, did have some standing to actively participate in these negotiations. Whether or not its negotiating position was reasonable under the circumstances is a matter over which reasonable minds might differ. Plaintiff has failed to establish any basis for recovering damages from the bank as a result of this transaction.