Lawson v. Sprague

Citations

• 51 Wash. 286
• 98 P. 737
• 1908 Wash. LEXIS 1015

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and Purchaser — Assignee of Contract — Default in Payment — Contracts—Ambiguity. Tbe assignee of an option to purchase land is not, by reason of failure in tendering payments, in default to tbe extent of rendering him liable to tbe assignor for tbe price agreed between them, where tbe option contract is ambiguous, stating in one place that $30,000 was tbe full purchase price, and in another requiring payments aggregating $38,000, in tbe absence of an explanation of the ambiguity or price.</p> <p>Principal and Agent — Contracts—Authority of Agent — Pleading. A complaint in an action upon an assignment of a contract to purchase land, alleged and set out as signed by the defendant, by ■“R. G. F. his agent,” is insufficient to state a cause of action for the money agreed to be paid in consideration of the assignment, when there is no allegation that the agent named was defendant’s agent, or that he acted for defendant or had authority or intended to do so.</p> <p>Vendor and Purchaser — Assignee oe Contract — Default in Payment — Defect in Title — Pleading—Legal Conclusions. Where the vendor was not in position to convey property by a “good and sufficient title,” by reason of the fact that part of the land was shore land belonging to the state, an assignee of the contract, under obligation to pay for the assignment upon the consummation of the deal, is not in default by reason of failing to tender the price, since a tender would have been unavailing; and a complaint by the assignor showing the defect in the title is not aided by pleading the contrary legal conclusion that defendant agreed to accept the title as exhibited, the contract set out calling for a good title.</p>