Emery v. Regester

Citations

• 17 Pa. Super. 482
• 1901 Pa. Super. LEXIS 340

Syllabus

<p>Contract — Option to purchase coal land — Abandonment.</p> <p>Where an owner of coal land gives a written option to another to purchase the land, and agrees to furnish a complete abstract of title, and the vendee shortly before the expiration of the time mentioned in the agreement, notifies .the owner of his-intention to take the land and requests an abstract of title, and nothing further is done for two and one half years when a second request for an abstract of title is made, and the same is refused, and thereafter the owner sells the coal to another person, and the evidence tends to show that in doing so he acted in good faith on the assumption that the first purchaser had abandoned his contract, the owner will be liable only for nominal damages in an action against him for breach of contract. In such a case the title of the first vendee was not vested, but was merely inchoate.</p> <p>While abandonment is a matter of intention, the intention to abandon is a fact to be found from all the facts and circumstances of the case.</p>