SPOTTIE v. BAIUL-FARINA

Citations

• 2024 ND 88

Syllabus

Wholesale adoption of proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law is disapproved. District courts retain authority to revisit interlocutory orders until entry of final judgment. Under the doctrine of merger, the provisions of an executory contract merge into an instrument conveying real property. Absent fraud or mistake, the conveying instrument alone governs determination of the rights of the parties to the transaction. Recordation of a granting instrument is not necessary to effect a conveyance. Nor is it necessary for a plaintiff to present the original conveying instrument to prevail in quiet title action. In a quiet title action ownership may be established through evidence that a conveying instrument was delivered but subsequently lost. The equitable defense of laches may be available when a party delays enforcing his rights and a change in conditions during the delay results in prejudice to an adverse party. To have standing to litigate an issue a party must have suffered some injury from the putatively illegal action and the party must assert his own legal rights and interests and cannot rest his claim on the legal rights and interests of third parties. Parties may contract to a fee recovery standard that is either looser or stricter than statutory standards.