Court Opinion

ID: 9528483
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 03:41:33.042988+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T13:26:55.028623
License: Public Domain

MACY, Justice,
dissenting.
I agree with Justice Cardine in his dissent that the parties entered into an unambiguous bilateral contract. It is clear from reading the contract in its entirety that the buyer agreed to pay the seller in installments and, upon the buyer’s failure to do so, the seller had the option to repossess the property. I part company with Justice Cardine, however, when he insists:
In the absence of a specific provision for alternative remedies, where sale is by contract for deed or agreement for warranty deed, as in this case, such remedies do not exist.
At 877 (Cardine, J., dissenting). This is contrary to our holding in Walters v. Michel, 745 P.2d 913 (Wyo.1987). In Walters, the buyers argued the sellers could pursue only those remedies enumerated in the contract. We disagreed and ruled the sellers were not limited, in the absence of an “exclusive remedy” clause, to those contractual remedies enumerated in the real estate purchase agreement.1 The contract at issue in the case at bar does not contain an “exclusive remedy” clause.
For additional support, see Glacier Campground v. Wild Rivers, Inc., 182 Mont. 389, 597 P.2d 689 (1978). In Glacier Campground, the Montana Supreme *878Court, quoting an earlier Montana case, stated the general rule:
“It is the general rule that the clause of forfeiture in a contract of the sale does not operate to make the contract void, when there is a default on the part of the vendee, so as to terminate the liability of the vendee, but the vendor may elect whether to declare a forfeiture or rely upon the liability of the vendee as fixed by the contract, and sue for the purchase price.” (Emphasis added.)
Id. 597 P.2d at 696 (quoting Alexander v. Wingett, 63 Mont. 254, 259, 206 P. 1088, 1089 (1922)). The Montana Supreme Court went on to rule, “In the absence of a contractual provision expressly limiting the remedy or remedies available, a party may pursue any remedy which law or equity affords, as well as the remedy or remedies specified in the contract.” Id. This Court has ruled, “[F]ailure to make payments, while constituting grounds for forfeiture of a conditional [installment land] contract, does not operate to terminate the contract absent appropriate notice to the nonperforming party.” Kost v. First National Bank of Greybull, 684 P.2d 819, 823 (Wyo.1984).
In this instance, it is the seller who must notify the buyer (the nonperforming party) if the contract is being forfeited. Instead of declaring a forfeiture, however, the seller has elected to keep the contract in force. Through the default notice, the seller informed the buyer it was not declaring a forfeiture and it would continue to enforce the contract with a lawsuit, if necessary.2 The language, “at their option,” suggests alternative remedies other than forfeiture were intended upon the buyer’s default. I reject the notion a buyer can avoid liability by defaulting and forcing the seller to declare a forfeiture.
I would reverse and permit the seller to maintain successive actions against the buyer for the amount of unpaid installments and attorney fees. Because the contract lacks an acceleration clause, the seller is not entitled to sue for the entire balance of the purchase price.

. I recognize real estate purchase agreements and contracts for deed are directed at different time periods in the transaction. That fact, however, does not necessarily dictate a different result.

. The contract, in detailing the purchase price, employs mandatory language directed at the buyer; e.g., “Buyers shall pay to Sellers.” This language indicates that, as long as the seller elects to keep the contract in force, the buyer has a duty to pay the installments when they are due.