Court Opinion

ID: 9573688
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 20:57:46.17933+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:42:20.113211
License: Public Domain

*68Yetka, Justice
(dissenting).
I dissent. The senior Theisen is now deceased, as is his attorney who worked with him in negotiating the lease, so neither are here to testify. No great emphasis should be given to the fact that Theisen accepted 1968 as the base year for billings to Red Owl for several years prior to his death. It would be customary for him to follow the advice and counsel of Red Owl in sending his yearly billings. There is adequate evidence that experienced personnel in the Red Owl organization were well aware that Theisen’s attorney had made the changes in the lease which made 1967 the base year, rather than 1968, for the purpose of determining the additional payments to be made by the lessee based on taxes and special assessments. That being so, it seems to me Red Owl had a duty to propose proper changes in the lease to reflect the parties’ intent before it was executed, or, if it was simply oversight on the part of Red Owl, to make proper amendments to the lease within a reasonable period after its execution. It seems to me to wait several years after Theisen’s death before Red Owl raised the issue should require us to invoke the doctrine of equitable estoppel against it.
Needless to say, I also believe Red Owl has not sustained its burden of proof because, as the majority opinion clearly states, there is a heavy burden on one who would seek reformation of a contract. Fritz v. Fritz, 94 Minn. 264, 102 N. W. 705 (1905).