Court Opinion

ID: 9544687
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 16:59:35.444957+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T15:13:26.117595
License: Public Domain

Mr. Justice Moore
dissenting.
I am firmly of the conviction that the trial court was correct in holding that there was no ambiguity in the terms of the contract entered into between the parties.
The authorities cited in the majority opinion supporting the proposition that the trial court is bound by findings of a master appointed by it have no application to those findings, which amount to nothing more than conclusions of law. In the instant case the conclusion of the master that the contract was ambiguous and for that reason parol evidence was admissible, was a conclusion of law without binding force of any kind.
Where the words used in a contract are not ambiguous the intention of the parties thereto must be determined from the instrument itself, and extrinsic evidence to alter, vary, explain or change the written document is not permissible. Stroup v. Pearce, 87 Colo. 436, 288 Pac. 627. It is the duty of courts to interpret contracts as *385made by the parties, and not to make new ones for them. Yamin v. Levine, 120 Colo. 35, 206 P. (2d) 596.
Where all the provisions, stipulations and conditions may be given effect without one contradicting the other, and where the words used have purpose if given their usual and generally accepted meaning, a contract is not uncertain or ambiguous, and parol evidence is not admissible. Oriental Refining Co. v. Hallenbeck, 125 Colo. 77, 240 P. (2d) 913.
“The mere fact that there is a difference between parties over the interpretation of an instrument does not of itself create an ambiguity.” Brunton v. International Co., 114 Colo. 298, 164 P. (2d) 472.
In the light of these well established fundamentals I now direct attention to the language used in the contract in question which, it is said, is ambiguous. The contract contains the following:
“The ultimate cost of the houses shall include the actual cost of construction plus Contractor’s fixed fee of Four Hundred Thirty-five Dollars ($435.00), plus Owner’s price of Nine Hundred Fifty Dollars ($950.00) for the land upon which each house is to be constructed. Fifty percent (50%) of any amount obtained from the sale of any house exceeding the aforementioned ultimate cost, shall be paid Contractor as additional compensation for construction of said houses.”
I particularly call attention to the fact that the parties specifically provided that 50% “of any amount obtained from the sale of any house” (emphasis supplied) over and above certain specifically named deductions constituting the ultimate cost of the houses, was to be paid to the contractor. The contract did not provide that the “net” amount obtained from the sale of any house after closing costs, or incidental expenses, were first deducted, should be the sum from which the contractor was to be paid 50%. If the parties had intended to so provide it would have been a very simple thing to have included words which qualified the generally accepted meaning *386of the phrase “amount obtained from the sale of any house.” The majority opinion writes into the contract the word “net” which is not present in the instrument signed, and thus makes a new contract for the parties, notwithstanding the fact that the authorized items to be deducted as costs were set forth with careful particularity. I am quite sure that the “amount obtained from the sale of any house,” is the amount which the purchaser pays for that house. What the vendors of the property may do with the sum “obtained from the sale” in paying this or that obligation, which may have been theretofore or thereafter incurred, has nothing whatever to do with the amount obtained from the sale. If the parties intended “net amount obtained from the sale” they should have placed that limitation in the contract. Thé fact that the word “net” is omitted certainly doesn’t create an ambiguity. (Emphasis supplied.)
Moreover, in another section of the contract the parties clearly indicated that the “amount obtained from the sale” of a house, as used in the quoted portion of the contract, meant the purchase price paid by the buyer. This clearly appears from the contract where it is provided that, for certain reasons, in the event of a failure on the part of the contractor to complete the work “in such case the contractor shall be entitled to receive payment on his 6.5% compensation for only the cost of the work up to the date of termination of the contract, and shall not be entitled to receive any percentage of sale price over total cost as provided in paragraph 6 hereof.” (Emphasis supplied.) (Paragraph 6 is the section hereinabove first quoted.) By this language the parties themselves construed money “obtained from the sale of any house” to mean exactly what the words used clearly imply, namely, the sum paid by the purchaser.
I am at a loss to understand how an ambiguity can be found in the contract when the language thereof has a certain and generally accepted meaning. To warrant *387the introduction of parol evidence there should be far more uncertainty than can be found in this case.
In my opinion the trial court correctly decided the question and the judgment should be affirmed.