Altman v. Blewett

It has been stipulated that these two appeals may be heard and determined together, the issues involved being practically identical in both cases. Both actions are for the specific enforcement of contracts for the conveyance of real property, or for damages in case specific performance cannot be decreed.

In action No. 3530, Altman v. Blewett, conveyance from defendant to plaintiff of the southerly twenty feet of lot 6 of the George A. Blewett Home Tract, as per map book 3, page 53, of Los Angeles County records, is asked, or in the event this cannot be decreed, for damages in favor of plaintiff for $5,580. In action No. 3531, Anderson and Anderson v. Blewett', conveyance from defendant to plaintiffs of the southerly twenty feet of lot 12 of the George A. Blewett Home Tract, as per map book 3, page 53, Los' Angeles County records, is asked, or, in the event this cannot be decreed, for damages in favor of plaintiffs for $1,190.

An answer to the complaint was filed in both actions and when the cases came on for trial, objections were sustained

In action 3530 plaintiff and defendant are the original parties to the contract of sale on which the controversy is based, while in action 3531 the plaintiffs Charles B. Anderson and Segrid Anderson are the successors in interest of Mary Altman, the original party to the contract of sale with defendant Sophia L. Blewett, on which the controversy is based.

The contract involved in action 3530 is set forth in full in the complaint and reads as follows:

“Los Angeles, Nov. 20, 1905.

“This contract between George A. and Sophia L. Blewett and J. J. Altman for the purchase of lot 5 of the George A. Blewett Home Tract. The price to be paid for said lot 5 being four hundred and fifty dollars, $450.00, two hundred dollars to be paid at the execution of said contract, the balance of the money on said lot 5 to be paid on or before two years .from date, the sum being two hundred and fifty dollars $250.00 at the rate of ten per cent enterst per annum, the enterest to be paid semi-annually, and if buyer pays taxes on said lot 5, a rebate of three per cent is to be returned to said J. J. Altman, and when balance of of money is paid on said lot 5 a deed and certificate of title will be given free of charge to J. J. Altman and in case that the street is put through lots 6, 12 and 18, the remaining twenty feet, more or less of said lot 6 can be bought for the same price as lot 5 is sold at. A building restriction on said lot 5 to be nothing less than $1500.00, fifteen hundred dollars and the ■main building not to be erected any closer than twenty five feet from the lot line.

■ “Restriction to hold good for five years.

“■Sophia L. Blewett. .

“George A. Blewett.

“J. J. Altman.”

The contract involved in action 3531 is set forth in full in the complaint and reads as follows:

“Los Angeles, April 27, 1906.

“This contract between George A. & Sophia L. Blewett and Mary Altman, for the purchase of lot 11, of the George A. Blewett Home Tract. 'The price to be paid for said 11, being $550.00, five hundred & fifty dollars, two hundred to be paid at the execution of said contract, the balance of the money, three hundred and fifty dollars due on said lot 11, to be paid on or before eighteen months from date of said contract at the rate of ten per cent interest per annum, the interest to be paid semi-annually, and if buyer pays the taxes on said lot 11, a rebate of three per cent is returned to said Mary Altman. And when balance on said lot 11 is paid, a deed, & Certificate of Title, will be given free of charge to Mary Altman. And in ease that the street is put through lots 6, 12 & 18, the remaining 20 feet (more or less), of said lot 12 can be bought for the same price, lot 11 is sold for, building restrictions on said lot 11 to be nothing less than fifteen hundred dollars $1,500.00, the main building not to be erected any closer than twenty-five feet from the lot line. Building restrictions to hold good for five years.

‘ ‘ Sophia L. Blewett.

‘ ‘ George A. Blewett. ’ ’

“Mart Altman.”

The material allegations averred in the complaint are: Ownership and subdivision and placing upon the market prior to November 20, 1905, by defendant of the George A. Blewett Home Tract situated in the city of Los Angeles, between Vermont Avenue and Hoover Street of that city; location of lots 5 and 11 of said tract as being back to back, lot 5 facing easterly on Hoover Street and lot 11 facing westerly toward Vermont Avenue, and lot 6 of said tract lying immediately north of lot 5 and lot 12 immediately north of lot 11, lot 6, when the contract was made on November 20, 1905, being 50 feet in width, and lot 12, when the contract was made on April 27, 1906, being 50 feet in width; entry into on November 20, 1905, by defendant with plaintiff Altman of the contract of that date concerning lots 5 and 6 above set forth, and entry into on April 27, 1906, by defendant with predecessors in interest of plaintiffs Anderson of the contract of that date concerning lots 11 and 12 above set forth; representation by defendant to the

The complaints allege readiness, willingness, and ability on the part of plaintiffs to purchase the southerly 20 feet of lots 6 and 12 at all times since the date of the contracts whenever Forty-first Drive should be opened from Vermont Avenue to Hoover Street, and it is alleged that the reasonable market value of the southerly 20 feet of lots 6 and 12 at the time of the making and execution of the contracts did not exceed $9 and $11 per front foot respectively, and that the consideration so to be paid defendant was and is adequate consideration for the properties. In a second cause of action it is alleged in action 3530 that the market value of the southerly 20 feet of lot 6 when the tender of $420 was made therefor on November 15, 1924, was not less than $6,000, and in action 3531 in a second cause of action it is alleged that the market value of the southerly 20 feet of lot 12 when the tender of $510 was made therefor on January 2, 1925, was not less than $2,500.

The record shows that the complaint in action 3530 was filed in the superior court of Los Angeles County on December 18, 1924, and that the complaint in action 3531 was filed on January 9, 1925.

But one question presented by each of the appeals is material for determination and that is what is the effect of the judgments made by the superior court of Los Angeles County in the actions to quiet title concerning these lots and the contracts involved, and which judgments are pleaded in the two complaints.

Section 738 of the Code of Civil Procedure provides that an action may be brought by any person against another who claims an estate or interest in real or personal property

“Such an action is brought as authorized by the statute, ‘for the purpose of determining’ any adverse claim that may be asserted therein by a defendant to the land in controversy, and this does not mean that the court is simply to ascertain, as against a plaintiff shown to have a legal interest, whether or not such defendant has some interest, but also that the court shall declare and define the interest held by the defendant, if any, so that the plaintiff may have a decree finally adjudicating the extent of his own interest in the property in controversy. The object of the action is to finally settle and determine, as between the parties, all conflicting claims to the. property in controversy, and to decree to each such interest or estate therein as he may be entitled to.”

That such is the purpose and object of this species of action is also set forth in Yuba Investment Co. v. Yuba Con. Gold Fields, 199 Cal. 203 [ 248 Pac. 672 ]; Miller v. Oliver, 54 Cal. App. 505 [ 202 Pac. 172 ]; Howard v. Howard, 67 Cal. App. 56 [ 226 Pac. 984 ]; Akley v. Bassett, 68 Cal. App. 270 [ 228 Pac. 1057 ],

Defendant Sophia L. Blewett was plaintiff in both of the suits to quiet title, the judgments in which are pleaded in these actions, and it was on her initiative that the plaintiff in action 3530 and the predecessor in interest of plaintiffs in action 3531 came into court, and set forth their claim to purchase the southerly 20 feet of lots 6 and 12 in the George A. Blewett Home Tract whenever Forty-first Drive in the city of Los Angeles shall have been opened to a width of 60 feet from Vermont Avenue to Hoover Street opposite lots 6, 12, and 18 of the tract. These asserted claims the trial court determined to be good and valid, it being decreed in the action that the answering defendants had a right to purchase the southerly 20 feet of lot 6 and the southerly 20 feet of lot 12 at a fixed and determined' price per front foot whenever Forty-first Drive in the city of Los Angeles shall have been opened to a width of 60 feet from Vermont

The claim of defendant that plaintiffs are barred from the relief sought by reason of equitable laches because payment was not tendered and deeds demanded immediately after the entry of the judgments in the suits to quiet title is without merit upon the facts set forth in the record. In both contracts and judgments the time when the right to a conveyance to the owners of lots 5 and 11 was to arise was when a street 60 feet wide was extended through lots 6, 12, and 18. There is no question.about what amount of money was to be paid to entitle plaintiffs to a conveyance. The decree determines that to be a certain rate per front foot for the southerly twenty feet of each lot and interest thereon at seven per cent per annum from the date of the contracts regarding lots 5 and 11.

The facts in the cases at bar are entirely different from those in Kleinclaus v. Dutard, 147 Cal. 245 [ 81 Pac. 516 ]; and Marsh v. Lott, 156 Cal. 643 [ 105 Pac. 968 ], relied upon to support the claim of equitable laches. In the first of these eases plaintiff permitted twenty-five years to pass

The defendant argues that plaintiffs in action 3531 cannot enforce the option given Mary Altman, as successor in interest of said Mary Altman. This contention is based upon a claim that the covenant in defendants’ agreement with Mary Altman was a personal one not running with the land. The contract entered into was to convey lot 11 and part of lot 12 upon the happening of certain events. It was an agreement to convey Mary Altman an interest in lot 12, and it cannot be questioned that Mary Altman had a right to convey this interest. There are no words of limitation in the option to purchase forbidding its assignment, or that it was given because of a peculiar trust or confidence reposed in the optionee. (25 Cal. Jur., p. 509, sec. 37; Simmons v. Zimmerman, 144 Cal. 256 [1 Ann. Cas. 850, 79 Pac. 451 ]; Blakeman v. Miller, 136 Cal. 138 [ 89 Am. St. Rep. 120 , 68 Pac. 587 ].) Defendant urges that the contracts sued upon are not fair and reasonable as to defendant and because of this that they cannot be specifically enforced. In this regard the question of fairness and reasonableness must be determined from the conditions existing at the time the contracts were made. The fact that the property has increased in value since the contracts were made has no bearing upon the question as to whether or not the contracts should be specifically enforced. The price the owner was to be paid was the fair market value of the property when the contracts were made. The possibility of an increase in value was an element to be taken into consideration when the contracts were entered into. It cannot be said that the contracts here involved were unfair, unequal or inequitable at the time of their inception. No wrongful or inequitable act on the part of plaintiffs concerning these contracts or arising therefrom appears from the facts alleged in the pleadings that would preclude the relief they are asking. They are seeking an interest in

Plummer, J., and Finch, P. J., concurred.