Radke v. Brenon – Case Brief
Radke v. Brenon, 271 Minn. 35, 134 N.W.2d 887 (1965).
Facts: Brenon (D) gave his neighbor Radke (P) a written offer to sell a piece of real property. Radke accepted the terms of the letter orally. P did not object when Brenon later increased the sales price by $50. When P gave D a check for $262 D revoked the offer to sell. P filed a claim against D for breach of contract and D appealed the court’s judgment in P’s favor.
Issue: What must a writing for the sale of land contain?
Holding and Rule: A writing for the sale of land must contain at least an express statement of consideration, a description of the land, signed by the party to be bound, and the parties to the contract. The court held that all of these elements were clearly present in the letter written by D. The fact that different prices were agreed upon was not an issue because the letter contained the mechanism for computing the price by simple division. The signature part of the statute was satisfied by the type written name. The court stated that this interpretation of the facts was more persuasive because of the admission by D at trial that a contract was in fact made between P and D. An admission that a contract was made cannot be ignored when all other evidence submitted supports the same conclusion.
The admission is given weight and becomes relevant only when sufficient evidence to satisfy the requirements of the Statute of Frauds has been presented into evidence. This part of the opinion is dicta however because the court could have reached the same conclusion without the admission.
Disposition: Affirmed.