Court Opinion

ID: 9559444
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 17:29:24.311939+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:11:03.626394
License: Public Domain

Thompson, J.,
dissenting:
A contract for the sale of land shall be void unless the contract, or some note or memorandum thereof, expressing the consideration, be in writing and subscribed by the party by whom the sale is to be made. NRS 111.210. Whether the “writing” required by the statute is legally sufficient presents a question of law. The court to whom the written memorandum is submitted, looks to the writing alone to decide its adequacy. Resort to oral or parol evidence is not authorized for the purpose of providing essential terms.
*210In Stanley v. Levy & Zentner Co., 60 Nev. 432, 446, 112 P.2d 1047, 1053, 158 A.L.R. 76, it is stated: “The substantial parts of the contract must be embodied in the writing- with such a degree of certainty as to make clear and definite the intention of the parties without resort to oral evidence.” The court in Stanley v. Levy & Zentner Co., supra, approved Restatement, Contracts § 207, reading: “A memorandum, in order to make enforceable a contract within the Statute, may be any document or writing, formal or informal, signed by the party to be charged or by his agent actually or apparently authorized thereunto, which states with reasonable certainty, (a) each party to the contract either by his own name, or by such a description as will serve to identify him, or by the name or description of his agent, and (b) the land, goods or other subject-matter to which the contract relates, and (c) the terms and conditions of all the promises constituting the contract and by whom and to whom the promises are made.” The Restatement standard was again approved in Johnson v. Watson, 70 Nev. 443, 272 P.2d 580. In short, unless the writing, considered alone, expresses the essential terms with sufficient certainty to constitute an enforceable contract, it fails to meet the demands of the statute. Montanaro v. Pandolfini, 148 Conn. 153, 168 A.2d 550; Ellis v. Klaff, 96 Cal.App.2d 471, 216 P.2d 15. The object of the statute would be frustrated if an essential term of the contract could be provided by parol. Craig v. Zelian, 137 Cal. 105, 69 P. 853. A court must first determine, as a matter of law, that the writing in question satisfies the statute before parol proof is admissible to establish the supplementary details of the contract. Cf. Johnson v. Watson, supra.
In the case before us neither of the written memoranda (Exhibits “A” and “E”) satisfies the statute when considered alone. However, the appellant (buyer) contends that they may be considered together and, when so *211considered, reflect a meeting of thé minds upon all essential terms of a contract for the sale of the Apache Motel.1 I believe that, when the two writings are read together (assuming, without deciding that the doctrine of incorporation by implied reference applies), the conclusion is inescapable that the parties did not agree on at least two of the essential terms of the alleged contract. In Exhibit “A” the down payment is stated to be $25,000, while in Exhibit “E” it is $30,000. The principal sum to be secured by the second trust deed is specified as $67,-500 in Exhibit “A,” and $62,500 in Exhibit “E.” Thus, instead of proving a meeting of the minds on all essential terms, the opposite is irrefutably shown on the face of the exhibits. The differences may not be explained by other testimony because the statute of frauds requires the “writing” to reflect the agreement. The majority opinion holds, inter alia, that such an explanation is permissible. Respectfully I suggest that such holding permits proof of some of the essential terms of an alleged oral contract by oral evidence, rather than by the writing demanded by the statute. In my view, the summary judgment entered below should be affirmed.
I dissent.