Cengage Advantage Books: Law for Business 18th Edition by John Ashcroft ,Janet Ashcroft

Exercise 31

Brothers Edward, Robert, and William Radkiewicz were the beneficiaries of a trust that owned a twenty-seven-acre tract. Edward and Robert contracted with Olympia Investments to convey clear title to the land to Olympia and it put up $55,000 in earnest money. The contract contemplated that the balance of the purchase price and the deed of sale would be exchanges at closing. The closing was to be within fifteen days of March 1. Alleging he needed to approve a sale, William sued his brothers and Olympia. He fited a notice of the suit to secure his claim on the property, called a lis pendens. The brothers and Olympia exchanged many notices regarding the cloud on title to the property the lis pendens created and whether it could be removed. The brothers did not posses all of the required closing documents by March 1, and the lis pendens was not lifted. No date was set for closing, but on March 11 the brothers told Olympia it was in default, and the contract was terminated. When Olympia did not release the earnest money, the brother sued. Olympia alleged that the brothers had never tendered their required performance and thus it did not have to comply with the contract. Had the brothers tendered performance?