Hahne v. Burr
South Dakota Supreme Court
705 N.W.2d 867 (2005)
- Written by Rose VanHofwegen, JD
Facts
Bill Hahne (plaintiff) leased land from Clarence Burr (defendant). The two discussed Hahne buying the property after the lease, and Hahne hired an attorney to draft documents who allegedly confirmed the sale terms with Burr, then sent Burr the documents for signature. Hahne paid title fees and allegedly gave Burr $15,000 as part rent and part down payment. But Burr never signed the documents. Instead, Burr’s grandson e-mailed Hahne stating that Burr had decided not to sell. Hahne sued for specific performance, arguing that he had detrimentally relied by not looking for other property. The documents Hahne’s attorney prepared revealed that Hahne was not actually the intended buyer. Instead, the documents named third parties who were supposed to obtain financing to purchase the property, and the title insurer ran the title search in their names. Burr asked the court to sanction Hahne for misrepresenting the real party in interest. The trial court granted summary judgment for Burr under the statute of frauds but declined to sanction Hahne. Both parties appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Zinter, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 815,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.