Court Opinion

ID: 9701631
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-25 22:28:07.014233+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:21:26.145811
License: Public Domain

Murphy, C.J.,

concurring:

I agree with the Court that the judgment below must be vacated. The trial judge, sitting in the Superior Court of Baltimore City in an action at law, possessed no equity powers and was therefore without jurisdiction to rescind the contract. I would go no further in disposing of the appeal, preferring on remand not to shackle the future course of this litigation with the trial judge’s characterization of the misrepresentation as being an unintentional and honest one. Whether the trial judge’s conclusion in this regard — which he erroneously found to supply a sufficient predicate for rescinding the contract — was influenced by a desire to facilitate future settlement negotiations is, of course, problematical at best. I simply see no need to do more here than vacate the judgment and return the parties to the status quo occupied prior to the aborted contractual agreement.