Court Opinion

ID: 9630485
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 10:12:04.191791+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:07:38.943576
License: Public Domain

BUTTLER, P. J.,
dissenting.
Aside from what appears to me to be a grossly unfair result reached by the majority, this case presents an important issue involving the scope of an appellate court’s authority on de novo review. Must the appellate court wear blinders, or may it review the record anew, even though there is no cross-appeal?
In this action, plaintiff seeks specific enforcement of an earnest money agreement. Defendants contended that the agreement was not enforceable because, inter alia, it was not sufficiently definite and because subsequent to its execution plaintiff attempted to modify it in certain particulars which were not accepted by defendant Uyeda. The trial court concluded that the agreement was enforceable but could not be specifically enforced for numerous reasons. Accordingly, it awarded plaintiff monetary damages.
*840Plaintiff appealed, contending that he is entitled to specific performance. Neither defendant cross-appealed. However, they counter plaintiffs argument with the contention that plaintiff is not entitled to specific performance, because the agreement was not enforceable. Obviously, if the agreement is not enforceable, it may not be specifically enforced. Defendant Uyeda also contends that the trial court should not have awarded damages to plaintiff.
The majority hold that defendants may not even contend, in response to plaintiffs appeal, that the agreement is not specifically enforceable because plaintiff failed to prove an enforceable agreement. 56 Or App at 837. Accordingly, the majority start with the assumption that the agreement is enforceable and, given that starting point, conclude that it should be specifically enforced. They say they are compelled to approach our review de novo in that manner, because a “respondent who has not cross-appealed cannot obtain here a judgment more favorable to him and less favorable to the appellant than the judgment entered below.” 56 Or App at 837. The cases cited support that statement.
But that proposition is substantially different from a non-cross-appealing respondent arguing that he should not come out any worse in this court, because the trial court gave the appealing plaintiff more than he was entitled to. I find it impossible to accept the majority’s view that we must treat as inviolate the trial court’s legal conclusion without even considering the respondent’s contention. That permits the appellant to bootstrap himself, as here, into a better position. In my opinion, the agreement was not enforceable, specifically in equity or for damages at law.1 *841Therefore, I would not grant plaintiff specific performance. Further, accepting Gas-In Corporation v. Newton, 263 Or 227, 501 P2d 1288 (1972), at face value, the most I would do is leave plaintiff with his ill-gotten award of damages, but give him no more.
Accordingly, I respectfully dissent.

 At the time the earnest money agreement was signed, Mr. Uyeda, now deceased, was dying of cancer; Mrs. Uyeda, the defendant, required an interpreter, because she was fluent only in Japanese. A mere reading of the earnest money agreement and the addendum boggles the mind, even to one who reads and understands English. It is obvious that not only was a definitive integrated contract both contemplated and necessary, but that the proposed agreement, as best I can decipher it, was grossly unfair to the sellers, particularly without express limits on plaintiff-buyer’s right to mortgage the property, express agreement on additional security to be given the sellers and the release of that security from time to time.
*841Plaintiff paid no cash down; the total down payment was to come from a first mortgage loan to be taken by plaintiff when the property was deeded to him. The balance of $85,500, secured by a second mortgage with interest at 8 percent, was to be paid at $625 per month — a 25-year amortization period. If plaintiff failed to pay insurance and taxes, sellers were required to pay them and plaintiff was required to pay one-twelfth of the total with each mortgage payment, apparently without interest.
In apparent recognition of the many problems, plaintiff, for the first time, now says he will pay cash. That is a magnanimous offer, now that the property has doubled in value. If he had made that offer two years ago when the purported agreement was signed, this case would not be here.