Monroe Street Properties, Inc. v. Carpenter
United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
407 F.2d 379 (1969)
Facts
Monroe Street Properties, Inc. (Monroe) (plaintiff) entered into a contract with Western Equities, Inc. (Western), represented here by its trustee, Orville Carpenter (defendant), for Monroe to sell 10 valid first mortgages to Western in exchange for Western common stock. The agreement further provided that Monroe was to obtain title insurance for the mortgages and that Western was to list its stock on the American Stock Exchange. The parties’ escrow agreement stated that compliance with the purchase and sale was to occur on or before Western listed and delivered its stock to Monroe. Western listed its stock as required but did not deposit any stock into escrow or otherwise deliver it to Monroe. Monroe deposited mortgages into escrow but they were subject to burdensome encumbrances. Monroe was financially incapable of removing such encumbrances so as to deliver clear title, or of obtaining title insurance, without first receiving and then pledging Western’s stock. After depositing the encumbered mortgages into escrow, Monroe demanded that Western deliver its stock. When Western refused, Monroe sued for breach. Carpenter moved for summary judgment, which the district court granted. Monroe appealed.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (Hufstedler, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 710,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 44,600 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.
