Jones v. Lee
New Mexico Court of Appeals
971 P.2d 858 (1998)
- Written by Dennis Chong, JD
Facts
The Lees (defendants) contracted to buy a piece of property from the Joneses (plaintiffs) for $610,000, and paid a $6,000 deposit on the sale as earnest money. A few weeks later, the Lees informed the Joneses that they were unable to complete the deal for financial reasons. The Lees drafted a proposed termination agreement under which the sale would be cancelled in exchange for their forfeiting the earnest money to the Joneses. The Joneses rejected the termination agreement, but when it became clear that the Lees would not go through with the agreement, they relisted the property and eventually sold it for $540,000. The Joneses then sued the Lees for breaching the contract. The trial court found in favor of the Joneses, and awarded them $70,000 in damages, the amount by which the house eventually undersold. The trial court also awarded the Joneses special and punitive damages. The Lees appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Donnelly, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 811,000 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.
