Erickson v. Cook

Citations

• 67 Wash. 251
• 121 P. 825
• 1912 Wash. LEXIS 1158

Syllabus

<p>Specific Performance — Oral Contract — Payment and Possession —Evidence — Sufficiency — Delay — Estoppel. While an executed oral contract for the sale of land must be proved by clear, cogent and convincing evidence, it need not be by direct testimony, especially when supplemented by the acts of the parties; and the evidence is sufficient to warrant specific performance, where it appears that, in 1902, plaintiff having orally purchased 1% acres of wild land for $30, taken possession, and fully paid for the same, the defendant in 1903 orally agreed to sell an adjoining 2y2 acres at the same price, which is the tract in dispute, permitted the plaintiff to fully pay for the same in services, and tendered no deed of the first tract when paid for, nor any pay for services received, allowing plaintiff to expect one deed for the whole tract when fully paid up, that in 1905 the defendant reserved from another sale the 2y2 acres, stating to the purchaser thereof that he had sold it to the plaintiff, that in 1910, the plaintiff took possession and started to clear the last tract, which adjoined and was in a sense part and parcel of the other, the land being wild and reducible to cultivation only by great effort; the defendant in such case being estopped to set up plaintiff’s delay in demanding a deed or taking possession of the last tract.</p>