Petterson v. Pattberg

161 N.E. 428 (N.Y. 1928)

 

Appeal from a judgment of the Appellate Division of the Supreme Court in the second judicial department, entered November 18, 1927, affirming a judgment in favor of plaintiff entered upon a verdict directed by the court.

Kellogg, J.

The evidence given upon the trial sanctions the following statement of facts: John Petterson, of whose last will and testament the plaintiff is the executrix, was the owner of a parcel of real estate in Brooklyn, known as 5301 Sixth avenue. The defendant was the owner of a bond executed by Petterson, which was secured by a third mortgage upon the parcel. On April 4th, 1924, there remained unpaid upon the principal the sum of $5,450. This amount was payable in installments of $250 on April 25th, 1924, and upon a like monthly date every three months thereafter. Thus the bond and mortgage had more than five years to run before the entire sum became due. Under date of the 4th of April, 1924, the defendant wrote Petterson as follows: “I hereby agree to accept cash for the mortgage which I hold against premises 5301 6th Ave., Brooklyn, N.Y. It is understood and agreed as a consideration I will allow you $780 providing said mortgage is paid on or before May 31, 1924, and the regular quarterly payment due April 25, 1924, is paid when due.” On April 25, 1924, Petterson paid the defendant the installment of principal due on that date. Subsequently, on a day in the latter part of May, 1924, Petterson presented himself at the defendant’s home, and knocked at the door. The defendant demanded the name of his caller. Petterson replied: “It is Mr. Petterson. I have come to pay off the mortgage.” The defendant answered that he had sold the mortgage. Petterson stated that he would like to talk with the defendant, so the defendant partly opened the door. Thereupon Petterson exhibited the cash and said he was ready to pay off the mortgage according to the agreement. The defendant refused to take the money. Prior to this conversation Petterson had made a contract to sell the land to a third person free and clear of the mortgage to the defendant. Meanwhile, also, the defendant had sold the bond and mortgage to a third party. It, therefore, became necessary for Petterson to pay to such person the full amount of the bond and mortgage. It is claimed that he thereby sustained a loss of $780, the sum which the defendant agreed to allow upon the bond and mortgage if payment in full of principal, less that sum, was made on or before May 31st, 1924. The plaintiff has had a recovery for the sum thus claimed, with interest.

Clearly the defendant’s letter proposed to Petterson the making of a unilateral contract, . . . a promise in exchange for the performance of an act.

. . . .An interesting question arises when, as here, the offeree approaches the offeror with the intention of proffering performance and, before actual tender is made, the offer is withdrawn.

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To tender performance is to offer or attempt to perform.  The court holds (perhaps implausibly) that when Patterson came to Pattberg’s door with the money in hand, he did not tender performance.  On the effect of tender, see Offer and Acceptance Tutorial 5.

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Of such a case Williston says: “The offeror may see the approach of the offeree and know that an acceptance is contemplated. If the offeror can say ‘I revoke’ before the offeree accepts, however brief the interval of time between the two acts, there is no escape from the conclusion that the offer is terminated.” (Williston on Contracts, sec. 60-b.) In this instance Petterson, standing at the door of the defendant’s house, stated to the defendant that he had come to pay off the mortgage. Before a tender of the necessary moneys had been made the defendant informed Petterson that he had sold the mortgage. That was a definite notice to Petterson that the defendant could not perform his offered promise and that a tender to the defendant, who was no longer the creditor, would be ineffective to satisfy the debt. “An offer to sell property may be withdrawn before acceptance without any formal notice to the person to whom the offer is made. It is sufficient if that person has actual knowledge that the person who made the offer has done some act inconsistent with the continuance of the offer, such as selling the property to a third person.” (Dickinson v. Dodds, 2 Ch. Div. 463, headnote.) . . .

The judgment of the Appellate Division and that of the Trial Term should be reversed and the complaint dismissed, with costs in all courts.

Lehman, J. (dissenting).

. . .

The defendant undoubtedly made his offer as an inducement to the plaintiff to “pay” the mortgage before it was due. Therefore, it is said, that “the act requested to be performed was the completed act of payment, a thing incapable of performance unless assented to by the person to be paid.” In unmistakable terms the defendant agreed to accept payment, yet we are told that the defendant intended, and the plaintiff should have understood, that the act requested by the defendant, as consideration for his promise to accept payment, included performance by the defendant himself of the very promise for which the act was to be consideration. The defendant’s promise was to become binding only when fully performed; and part of the consideration to be furnished by the plaintiff for the defendant’s promise was to be the performance of that promise by the defendant. So construed, the defendant’s promise or offer, though intended to induce action by the plaintiff, is but a snare and delusion. The plaintiff could not reasonably suppose that the defendant was asking him to procure the performance by the defendant of the very act which the defendant promised to do, yet we are told that even after the plaintiff had done all else which the defendant requested, the defendant’s promise was still not binding because the defendant chose not to perform.

I cannot believe that a result so extraordinary could have been intended when the defendant wrote the letter. “The thought behind the phrase proclaims itself misread when the outcome of the reading is injustice or absurdity.” (See opinion of CARDOZO, Ch. J., in Surace v. Danna, 248 N.Y. 18.) If the defendant intended to induce payment by the plaintiff and yet reserve the right to refuse payment when offered he should have used a phrase better calculated to express his meaning than the words: “I agree to accept.” A promise to accept payment, by its very terms, must necessarily become binding, if at all, not later than when a present offer to pay is made.

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The judgment should be affirmed.

CARDOZO, Ch. J., POUND, CRANE and O’BRIEN, JJ., concur with KELLOGG, J.; LEHMAN, J., dissents in opinion, in which ANDREWS, J., concurs.

LEHMAN, J. , dissents in opinion in which ANDREWS, J. concurs.

Judgments reversed, etc.