Holiday Inns of America, Inc. v. Knight

70 Cal.2d 327, 74 Cal.Rptr. 722, 450 P.2d 42 (1969)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
H
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Holiday Inns of America, Inc. v. Knight

California Supreme Court
70 Cal.2d 327, 74 Cal.Rptr. 722, 450 P.2d 42 (1969)

SR
Play video

Facts

D. Manley Knight (defendant) entered a contract granting an option to the predecessor in interest of Holiday Inns of America, Inc. (Holiday Inns) (plaintiff). The contract was executed on September 30, 1963, granting the optionee a five-year option to purchase real property for $198,633.00. In exchange for the option, the optionee was required to make an initial payment of $10,000.00 followed by four additional installments of $10,000.00 for each year of the five-year option. The payments were to be paid into an escrow account maintained by Security Title Insurance Company (Security Title) beginning July 1, 1964. The contract provided the option would be canceled if the optionee failed to make payment by July 1 of each year. The initial payment and the annual installment payments for 1964 and 1965 were timely made. In 1966, Holiday Inns mailed a check for $10,000.00 to Knight. Knight received the check on July 2, 1966. Knight returned the check to Holiday Inns, informing Holiday Inns the option contract was canceled. On July 8, 1966, Holiday Inns sent another check to Security Title. Knight again refused the payment. Holiday Inns brought suit, seeking a declaration that the contract was still in force. Both parties moved for summary judgment. The trial court granted summary judgment for Knight.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Traynor, C.J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 806,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 806,000 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.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 806,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Contracts

Key Terms