Welch v. Hover-Schiffner Co.

Citations

• 75 Wash. 130
• 134 P. 526
• 1913 Wash. LEXIS 2205

Syllabus

<p>Vendor and Purchaser — Contract—Right to Possession. A contract for the sale of land, requiring the purchaser to keep open for public use strips reserved1 for roadway purposes, and to annually pay interest on deferred payments and taxes, impliedly confers upon the purchaser the right of possession.</p> <p>Same — Contracts—Breach-—-Action—Pleading and Issues. In an action for breach of a contract of sale, by the grantor’s entering and retaking possession, an answer admitting that the plaintiff entered into possession under the contract, without denying his right to do so, and alleging that plaintiff negligently permitted the land to grow up into weeds, estops the defendant from raising any issue as to the plaintiff’s right to possession in the first instance under the contract of sale.</p> <p>Same — Contracts — Breach — Unlawful Entry by Grantor. Where a vendee is entitled to possession under- a contract of sale, an entry by the grantor, who began cultivating the land against the vendee’s protest, is a breach of the contract, entitling the vendee to damages.</p> <p>Same — Contracts—Forfeiture—Default in Payment — Taxes. A forfeiture of contract for the sale of land for the default of the vendee is not warranted, where there was nothing due except for taxes, and the vendor at the time owed the vendee more than enough to pay the taxes, to be credited generally on the contract.</p> <p>Same — Breach by Vendor — Damages—-Amount Paid. Upon the breach by the grantor, of a contract to sell land, upon which was credited $325 as the agreed value of a wheat crop thereon, retained by the vendor, and $1,000 as the agreed value of lands traded in, the vendee’s damages are limited to the agreed value of the lands traded in as part of the purchase price, where that is all he had parted with, and it is error to include the agreed value of the wheat crop credited on the initial payment.</p>