Hilton v. Nelsen
Supreme Court of Minnesota
283 N.W.2d 877 (1979)
Facts
Nelsen negotiated a contract of sale with Hilton for his 720-acre farm. The contract called for a purchase price of $180,000, which would not be repaid for the first five years of a ten-year mortgage. Instead Nelsen would receive 7 percent interest annually during that time. Hilton would pay only $2,000 a year in principal for years six through nine; $119,800 was due at maturity. Hilton’s performance was conditioned on obtaining title insurance with no policy exceptions. However, the property was subject to easements for roads, telephone cables, and the state’s mineral rights. Hilton refused to close without a $16,000 reduction in the purchase price. Hilton later agreed to close anyway but Nelsen decided not to sell. Hilton then sued for specific performance. The trial court held Nelsen in breach on the contract and ordered specific performance and damages for the fair rental value of the property for the time that Nelsen stayed on the premises after the contract closing date. Nelsen appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Stone, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 708,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,500 briefs, keyed to 983 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.
