Court Opinion

ID: 9675926
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 05:09:55.856415+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:16:41.423547
License: Public Domain

DALTON, J.
(dissenting). — It is with regret that I find it necessary to dissent from certain conclusions reached in the opinion of Hyde, J.
Let ús assume without question that a valid contract of compromise and settlement of plaintiff’s pending damage suit was entered into between plaintiff and defendant and that this is the contract specifically enforced by the decree as such decree is ordered modified by the opinion. Let us assume further that, on the next day after the settlement agreement was entered into, it was repudiated by plaintiff on the ground that the compensation agreed upon was inadequate and *1143that plaintiff had her counsel notified that the settlement was not to be consummated. Assuming' these facts, we reach the essential question presented by this record, to wit, can a defendant, who also promptly repudiated the same contract (by insisting that another and different contract was entered into, and by demanding performance by plaintiff and her husband of a contract that was never made, and by seeking specific performance of a contract, which its own evidence shows was never made) have the aid of a court of equity to have specific enforcement of the contract that was in fact made and promptly repudiated by both parties.
The facts in this case are not in dispute. In so far as they are stated in the principal opinion and in the opinion of the Court of Appeals they are correctly stated. The record, however, shows additional facts which are not in dispute. These undisputed facts, we believe, bar affirmative relief to defendant in a court of equity. The cause turns upon the application of well established equitable principles to admitted facts, to wit, to the defendant’s own evidence, oral and documentary, and to the defendant’s own pleadings in the cause wherein relief has been granted. As stated, this is an action in equity and not an action at law for damages for breach of contract. It is immaterial that plaintiff may have been the first to repudiate the contract, since the ultimate question is whether, on the admitted facts, the defendant is entitled to affirmative equitable relief.
The remedy of specific performance is not a matter of right, but rests within the sound judicial discretion of a court of equity. Rockhill Tennis Club of K.C. v. Volker, 331 Mo. 947, 949, 56 S.W. (2d) 9, 18. “But it requires a much less stronger case on the part of a defendant to resist a bill to perform a contract, than it does on the part of the plaintiff to maintain a bill to enforce a specific performance. ’ ’ Rosenwald v. Middlebrook, 188 Mo. 58, 89, 86 S.W. 200. Relief is granted in equity only to one who can show his own good faith and the equities of his own position. Frederich v. Union Elec. Lt. & Power Co., 336 Mo. 1038, 82 S.W. (2d) 79, 85(2). A party may be barred from relief by specific performance where subsequent to the inception of the contract he has been guilty of inequitable conduct. 81 C.J.S. 607, Sec. 90. Equitable relief by way of specific performance does not follow as a matter of course merely by establishing the existence and validity of the contract involved. ‘1 Equity may require that a party accept damages in lieu of specific performance, and may refuse the equitable remedy of specific performance and remit the party asking it to an action at law for damages.” Rockhill Tennis Club of K.C. v. Volker, supra, 56 S.W. (2d) 9, 18. When the court simply refuses to specifically perform a contract, it leaves the party to his remedy at law. Rosenwald v. Middlebrook, supra. In view of these well established equitable principles, let us look to the admitted facts, the documentary evidence and defendant’s own pleadings.
*1144The attorneys for the respective parties were duly authorized to and did enter into an agreement to compromise and settle the plaintiff’s pending damage suit for $1750. No other claims and no other parties were mentioned. A stipulation between counsel was signed and filed as follows: “Cause passed for settlement.” Defendant’s counsel' was to prepare and submit release' forms and stipulation for dismissal. These forms were to be forwarded to plaintiff’s counsel to be executed by plaintiff. Of course plaintiff was not to be paid until the release and stipulation were signed and delivered.
Before the release forms were prepared, defendant’s attorney, Lloyd E. Boas, knew the terms of the settlement; knew that plaintiff’s husband was not involved; and that plaintiff was only settling he.r pending damage suit. He testified: “Q. Did you ever at any time discuss the settlement of all claims which Mrs. Landau had from the beginning of time to and including the date hereof; was that ever discussed by you with Mr. Cox at any time ? A. No. * * * Q. Did he ever tell you that he was settling anything beyond that claim that was in the courtroom at that time? A. No-, Mr. Landau. * * * Q. Now, was there any discussion between you and Mr. Cox of settling every claim which her husband had, all claims of whatsoever kind that her husband had, against the Public Service Company from the beginning of time to and including the date - hereof. A. No, there wasn’t.”
The opinion concedes that the release form submitted to plaintiff’s counsel was to be signed by plaintiff and her husband. The opinion correctly states: ‘ ‘ This release recited that it released not only the claim on which plaintiff sued but also all other claims plaintiff might have ‘from the beginning of time to and including the date hereof’ and also covered all claims her husband might have for the same period which would have included his action for loss of services etc. and for property damage to his automobile which plaintiff was driving when injured. ’ ’
The release was intentionally prepared in this form. Defendant’s eounsel by his testimony and by statements to the trial court sought to explain his conduct by saying that he assumed that Mr. Landau was making no claim and that he assumed that all of Mrs. Landau’s claims were included, nevertheless it clearly appears that the release was intentionally submitted in the above form. Counsel testified that after the settlement agreement was made he “immediately, dictated a release and stipulation. ” He further testified: “ I told the girl to prepare the usual release * * * I don’t dictate them, but we have a form which has a blank space, and if it is a married man or a married woman they put in the husband’s or the wife’s name.” (Italics ours).
Defendant’s counsel ratified and confirmed the terms of this release in his letter of June 12, 1952 addressed to plaintiff’s husband, in which letter he stated “So that there will be no misunderstanding on your *1145part, the release and stipulations were not sent as a settlement offer. The ease has already been settled.” Defendant’s counsel still stood by the terms of this release as evidencing' the terms of the settlement when, on February 10, 1953, he drafted and filed defendant’s amended answer and equitable defense, including the petition for equitable relief by way of an action for specific performance of the settlement agreement. In this cross-petition for affirmative relief he specifically alleged that, after the date the cause was passed for settlement, defendant “prepared releases and a stipulation and forwarded the same to plaintiff’s counsel for execution in accordance with the settlement agreement, but that the plaintiff and her husband failed, neglected and refused to sign the same,' and have continued to fail and refuse to sign the same to this date, and still refuse to carry out the terms- of said agreement by executing the aforementioned documents and accepting the One Thousand Seven Hundred Fifty Dollars ($1,750.00) in settlement of the claim.” (Italics ours). The relief prayed was ‘ ‘ that this cause shall be dismissed with prejudice in accordance with the settlement and compromise agreement heretofore entered into as aforesaid; that plaintiff be required to execv,te a release in accordance xoith said agreement; that the court order plaintiff to specifically perform said contract of compromise and settlement * * (Italics ours). Defendant is of course bound by the action and conduct of its attorney in repudiating the very contract that the decree enforces in its favor.
Even at the trial of this case, after the evidence had definitely shown the true terms of the settlement agreement and after the court had permitted the defendant, over plaintiff’s objections, to amend its petition for equitable relief to conform to the true terms of the contract by striking out the words “and her husband” from its petition and to state to the court that defendant was seeking relief strictly against plaintiff’s claim as evidenced by her pending suit, defendant’s witness Boas, the attorney who negotiated the settlement, testified with reference to the release form in question, as follows: “ A. That is a standard release form as used throughout the business world and every case that is settled contains that kind of a release. Q. Was that the settlement that was made in this case ? A. Yes, I think so. Q. Was that the.settlement that you agreed upon? A. Yes.” However, the record clearly shows that'no such agreement was ever made and the opinion so concedes, and no such agreement is ordered to be specifically enforced by the trial court’s decree as ordered modified by the above opinion.
After the hearing below, the trial court judge directed defendant’s counsel to prepare the decree and the decree as entered below ordered plaintiff “to execute and deliver to defendant a release”, not only of the claim sued on, but also “ * * * in full settlement of all claims due the said plaintiff”, all in accordance with defendant’s theory as to the terms of the contract of settlement.
*1146Regardless of the fact that the defendant by and through its counsel has always taken the position that the release form submitted was in accordance with the settlement agreement, the opinion finds that such was not the true agreement, but nevertheless grants specific performance of the true agreement, and thereby enforces a contract that defendant has always repudiated. Where one party has repudiated a contract “as actually made”, the other party is entitled to have it rescinded. Schwear v. Haupt, 49 Mo. 225, 226. Clearly, the record shows that no agreement having the terms contended for by defendant was ever entered into, j^et the opinion affirms a decree for the specific performance of the contract that was in fact made. Defendant’s conduct should bar it from obtaining affirmative relief by way of .specific performance of a contract differing in terms from the one that defendant has continuously insisted was the true contract. The record shows that the defendant has continuously repudiated the very contract upon which relief is granted.
A party seeking specific performance of a contract has the burden to prove a right to such relief by clear, definite and certain evidence. There is no evidence in this record that defendant was ever ready and willing to pay to plaintiff the agreed consideration, except upon the execution and delivery of the release submitted, which release did not conform to the contract as made. No burden rested upon the plaintiff to disprove defendant’s right to specific performance of the contract, that burden rested upon defendant.
We think the clean hands doctrine of equity, which bars relief to one guilty of improper or inequitable conduct in the very matter as to which he seeks relief, is sufficient to bar affirmative relief under the facts in this case. Equity will not aid one who comes into court with unclean hands. Stierlin v. Teschemacher, 333 Mo. 1208, 64 S.W. (2d) 647, 652; 30 C.J.S. 475, Sec. 93. On this issue it is defendant’s conduct and not the conduct of plaintiff that is for consideration. To say that plaintiff made no request for a change in the form of the release puts the shoe on the wrong foot, but plaintiff did construe, as a cross-offer of settlement, the submission of the release form which included the new matters and party.
The defense of clean hands need not be pleaded, since the doctrine will be applied by the court sua sponte. ITe who comes into equity must come with clean hands, and this maxim does not depend upon the averments of pleadings, or the wish of counsel, but is invoked and applied, ex mero motu, by courts of equity. Creamer v. Bivert, 214 Mo. 473, 485, 113 S.W. 1118; 30 C.J.S. 487, Sec. 97. Defendant’s continuous insistence upon a contract that was never made should bar affirmative equitable relief by way of specific performance of the contract that was in fact made.
Further, we do not agree with the position taken in the opinion that specific enforcement of the contract, as the court now finds its *1147terms to be, was a matter within the sound discretion of the trial chancellor to be determined from his view of the entire situation. Nor do we agree that the decree may be affirmed on the theory that “the chancellor did not abuse his discretion in requiring it to be performed.” We assume that “it” refers to the true contract, as the opinion now finds it to have been made, and not to the contract contended for by defendant, or as the trial court found its terms to be.
The essential facts are not in dispute, particularly the facts that ought to bar affirmative equitable relief. The cause is for review de novo on this appeal. Established equitable principles are to be applied to undisputed facts. The discretion to be exercised is the discretion of this court. While the trial court had a discretion to grant or refuse equitable relief in the first instance, that duty now rests upon this court. Since the facts are not in dispute, this court on this appeal must exercise its own discretion. It is not a question of whether the chancellor could reasonably find from all of the evidence that there was “no more than a minor breach”, or that there was no repudiation of the contract “as made.” That question is for this court on the record presented. -This court on this appeal must decide the same issues as were decided by the trial court, and in so doing there is no deference to a trial court’s conclusions in connection with factual issues. The appeal involves the application of equitable principles to the undisputed facts of a case. There is no discretion as to the applicable law. The application of equitable principles to the admitted facts bars affirmative equitable relief to defendant. The judgment should be reversed and the parties left in the position in which their own conduct has placed them.