By Case Law Lessons | April 24, 2013 at 07:31 PM EDT |
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Welcome to my very first Blog entry. My blogs will briefly discuss legal points of interest from recently published cases from the Missouri Supreme Court or Courts of Appeals.
Last week, the Eastern District published James A. Stemmler, Personal Representative of the Estate of Melvin C. Brewer vs. Fred M. Goffstein, No ED98893.
Believe it or not, the primary issue on appeal centered on in what capacity Mr. Goffstein signed a real estate purchase contract.
It was ambiguous whether he signed on his own behalf, or on behalf of a limited liability company.
Two take-aways here:
First, always be sure to know in what capacity you are signing a contract, and make sure you sign the contract in that capacity. Don't leave any room for misinterpretation or ambiguity.
Second, having to go to the court of appeals is expensive. All the Appeals Court did was send the case back to the trial court, so unless the parties settle, they will have to spend more time and money re-litigating issues that could and should have been avoided by properly identifying the parties to the contract BEFORE signing the contract.
Perhaps, if an attorney had been engaged from the beginning, none of this would have happened.
Thank you,
David
