Real Property: Breach of Contract-Quiet Title

Defendant appealed the judgment entered for plaintiff in plaintiff’s breach of contract and quiet title action. Plaintiff signed a contract to purchase property from defendant’s predecessor, which required plaintiff to pay off the predecessor’s mortgage before she would receive full interest in the property. Plaintiff’s complaint alleged that she had made the required payments under the contract and requested specific performance. The trial court found that the parties’ amendment to the contract extended the time for plaintiff to satisfy the mortgage. Defendant argued that the trial court misinterpreted the effect of the amendment.

Where the amendment used the disjunctive “or,” the trial court correctly interpreted the amendment as modifying the loan payoff date to either a specific date or when plaintiff paid off the balance of the mortgage and properly found that defendant’s predecessor had breached the contract.

Judgment is affirmed.

Lin v. Clark (MLW No. 79759/Case No. WD85124 – 13 pages) (Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, Pfeiffer, J.) Appealed from circuit court, Jackson County, Harrell, J. (George E. Kapke, Lee’s Summit, for appellant) (J D Haas, Bloomington, MN for respondent)