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Contracts Keyed to Barnett
Lucy v. Zehmer
Citation:
196 Va. 493, 84 S.E.2d 516 (Va. Ct. App. 1954)ProfessorMelissa A. Hale
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Facts
According to Lucy, Lucy and Zehmer were acquaintances for about 20 years. About eight years ago, Lucy offered Zehmer $20,000 for his Ferguson farm, which Zehmer accepted orally but then changed his mind. Lucy visited Zehmer’s restaurant and bet Zehmer that he would not sell the Ferguson farm for $50,000. Zehmer said he would, wrote up an agreement to that effect on the back of a restaurant check, and induced his wife to sign the check. Lucy picked up the check and offered Zehmer a down payment of $5, which Zehmer refused.
Testimony suggests that Zehmer did not believe Lucy could raise $50,000 and that Lucy shared a bottle of whiskey with Zehmer over the 30-40 minutes that they had their conversation about the farm.
The next day, Lucy arranged for his brother to take a half interest in the purchase and pay half of the $50,000. On Monday, Lucy had an attorney examine the title of Ferguson farm. Almost two weeks later, Lucy wrote to Zehmer stating that he was ready to pay the purchase price in cash. Zehmer shortly thereafter responded that he had no intent of selling the farm.
According to Zehmer, he bought the farm for $11,000 more than ten years ago and had rejected more than 25 offers to buy the farm, including a few offers from Lucy. On the night of the alleged sale, Zehmer was allegedly “high as a Georgia pine,” which Lucy would have known by his appearance. Zehmer and Zehmer’s wife testified that Zehmer was skeptical that Lucy could afford $50,000 for the farm and that the whole transaction was merely a joke.
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