Court Opinion

ID: 9645041
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-22 21:11:14.173378+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:11:22.360210
License: Public Domain

Melvin Mayfield, Chief Judge, dissenting. I dissent. The appellees sold the back half of the lot for $35,000, but the appellants have refused to make the payment. Since the appellees own the front half, they have access to the back half, and their own expert witness says the value of the back half with access is $30,250. We, however, are allowing appellees to keep the $30,250 piece of property, keep the $2,500 down payment they got when they sold the property, and keep a judgment for $16,000. No wonder the majority says the appellees are in a better position than they would have been if the appellants had paid them the $35,000 and taken the property. But as wrong as that is, the real problem is that the parties agreed in advance that if the appellants refused to pay the balance of the purchase price the appellees could keep the $2,500 down payment as liquidated damages. In my opinion, there is simply no such thing as optional liquidated damages. If damages are optional, they are not liquidated. If the appellees were not satisfied with the liquidated damages for which they contracted, they could have sought to enforce the contract which is one of the “other” rights their contract provided they might assert. See Hearrell v. Rogers, 7 Ark. App. 230, 646 S.W.2d 703 (1983). As a matter of fact, that is what the appellees originally asked for in this case. They would have been entitled to specific performance or they would have been entitled to liquidated damages, but they are not entitled to what they got. Cooper, J., joins in this dissent.