Hazleton v. Le Duc

Citations

• 10 App. D.C. 379
• 1897 U.S. App. LEXIS 3178

Syllabus

<p>3. In an action by the vendor in such a contract of sale against the vendee for breach of the contract, the admission of the contract in evidence before evidence had been admitted to prove the authority of the attorney or the ratification by the plaintiff of his act, is not reversible error. The order of proof is within the discretion of the trial court.</p> <p>5. In such a case, it is competent as affecting the question of the value of the property, to show whether the attorney who had bid the property in for his client, the holder of the second deed of trust notes, at the first deed of trust sale, had bid the sum at which the property was sold because he thought the property worth it, or because representing the second lien, he could bid that sum without rendering his client liable to pay a greater amount of money than if he had bid a smaller sum, and a question to that effect propounded to the attorney is admissible.</p> <p>8. A contract for the purchase of land which recites that the vendor by his attorney has received, “the sum of $200 on account of the purchase money” of the real estate in question “this day sold to him (the vendee) by me,” and which then sets forth the terms of sale, which are “to be complied with in 15 days or deposit will be forfeited,” is one of bargain and sale for the breach of which the vendee is liable in damages, and not merely an option to purchase; distinguishing Jones v. Holladay, 2 App. D. C. 279.</p> <p>10. To entitle the vendor to maintain such a suit it is not necessary that the legal title of the property should be vested in him, if he could have controlled it and had it conveyed to the vendee upon payment of the purchase money.</p> <p>12. The refusal by the vendee in such a case to complete the purchase on grounds afterwards held untenable in law, is a waiver by him of actual tender of a deed by the vendor.</p> <p>13. The measure of damages in such a case is the difference between the price agreed to be paid for the land a