PONCE DEVELOPMENT COMPANY, APPELLANT,
v.
LUIS A. ESPINO AND JUDITH B. DE ESPINO, APPELLEES

Fla. 3d DCA | 1984-03-27
No. 83-1146
Before BARKDULL, NESBITT and FERGUSON, JJ.
449 So. 2d 317 Florida District Court of Appeal, Third District (1984) Caution
Cited by 14 cases

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Synopsis

Ponce Development Company contracted to build and sell a condominium to the Espinos for $89,800 but the contract lacked mutuality of obligation because Ponce's duty was optional. The court held that although the contract was initially unenforceable due to this defect, Ponce's substantial performance in constructing the unit cured the lack of mutuality, making the contract enforceable against the Espinos who refused to close.


Holding

A construction contract that lacks mutuality of obligation at its inception is unenforceable as long as it remains a bilateral executory agreement. However, when the promisor fully performs according to the contract terms—except for the final transfer of title prevented by the promisee's refusal to close—the defect of lack of mutuality is cured and the contract becomes enforceable.


Headnotes

[1] A contract lacking mutuality of obligation at its inception is cured by the promisor's subsequent performance.

[2] A contract that is unenforceable due to a lack of mutuality at its inception becomes binding upon performance by the promisor.

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Key Quotes

“When the contract became executed by the promisor's full performance according to the terms of the contract — except as to transfer of title at a closing, which final act was impeded by the promisee — the defect of lack of mutuality of obligation was cured and could not be a defense to enforcement of the contract.”

Establishes the core holding that substantial performance by the promisor cures an initial lack of mutuality defect.

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Facts & Procedural History

On September 29, 1980, Ponce Development Company and the Espinos entered a written contract for Ponce to construct and convey a condominium unit for $…

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Opinion of the Court
FERGUSON, Judge.

FERGUSON, Judge.

The dispositive issue is whether a “lack of mutuality” defect, present in the contract at its inception, was cured by the subsequent performance of the promisor. On September 29, 1980, Ponce Development Company (appellant) and the Espinos (appellees) entered into a written contract whereby Ponce was to construct and convey to the Espinos a condominium unit for $89,800. Completion and delivery was required within thirty months. The Espinos agreed to pay a twenty percent deposit, and the balance at closing.

Within the thirty-month period allowed for completion of construction Ponce’s attorney wrote the Espinos’ attorney a letter advising him that Ponce was “ready, willing and able” to close the sale, and scheduling a closing for ten days after counsel’s receipt of the letter. On the same day the Espinos’ attorney wrote Ponce’s attorney demanding the return of the deposit. The Espinos refused to close; Ponce refused to return their deposit.

The Espinos filed a two-count complaint against Ponce seeking a declaration that the contract was unenforceable because it was executed by their son without authority and because it lacked mutuality of obligation, and seeking an award of damages in the amount of the deposit. The issues were joined. Subsequently, the Espinos filed a motion for judgment on the pleadings which alleged that the contract was void as a matter of law because it imposed no enforceable duties on Ponce, the seller. Judge Rhea Grossman heard and denied the motion by written order dated July 15, 1982. Five months later the plaintiffs moved for summary judgment, without affidavits or other proof, on the same legal ground, i.e., a challenge to the validity and enforceability of the agreement. The motion was heard and granted by another judge. This appeal is brought from that summary judgment.1

We agree that the construction contract in this case, as drafted by Ponce, lacked mutuality of obligation at its inception in that the promisor’s (Ponce’s) duty under the agreement was optional. As long as the contract remained a bilateral executory agreement it was unenforceable against the Espinos. See Sanchez v. Crandon Wholesale Drug Co., 173 So. 2d 687 (Fla.1965), adopting Florida-Georgia Chemical Co. v. National Laboratories, Inc., 153 So. 2d 752 (Fla. 1st DCA 1963); Allington Towers North, Inc. v. Rubin, 400 So. 2d 86 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981).

But when the contract became executed by the promisor’s full performance according to the terms of the contract — except as to transfer of title at a clo.sing, which final act was impeded by the promisee — the defect of lack of mutuality of obligation was cured and could not be a defense to enforcement of the contract. In reversing we rely also on Russell v. Martin, 88 So. 2d 315 (Fla.1956); Le Noir v. McDaniel, 80 Fla. 500, 86 So. 435 (Fla.1920) (lack of mutuality is no defense in the case of a contract which, although unenforceable at its inception because of such defect, is executed by performance of the promisor, thus becoming binding on the parties); and Wright & Seaton, Inc. v. Prescott, 420 So. 2d 623 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) (a promise lacking mutuality at its inception becomes binding on the promisor after performance by the promisee; thus, where appellant did not perform for the entire year only because appellee made it impossible for appellant to do so, appellant’s performance of the promise was complete).

See also Fernandez v. Vazquez, 397 So. 2d 1171 (Fla. 3d DCA 1981) (a party’s good faith cooperation is an implied condition precedent to performance of a contract and when that cooperation is withheld the recalcitrant party is estopped from availing himself of his own wrongdoing).

Reversed and remanded.

. One of the points on appeal is that it was error to grant a summary judgment on the same principle of law on which the motion was previously denied absent new proofs, citing Unger v. Bergness, 172 So. 2d 627 (Fla. 3d DCA 1965) and Calder Race Course, Inc. v. Metropolitan Dade County, 42 Fla.Supp. 129 (Fla. 11th Cir.Ct.1975). It is unnecessary to address this point because the "lack of mutuality” issue is dispositive.

Dissent
BARKDULL, Judge, PER CURIAM.

BARKDULL, Judge,

dissenting.

The contract in the instant case provided that the seller had no responsibility to the purchaser, Espino. Prior to any tender of complete performance by the seller, the purchaser elected to rescind. I think the case is controlled by Allington Towers North, Inc., v. Rubin, 400 So. 2d 86 (Fla. 4th DCA 1981) and the trial court should be affirmed.

ON MOTION FOR CLARIFICATION

PER CURIAM.

The discussion in the majority opinion-considers only those facts which favor the nonmoving party, and the conclusion reached does not establish a law of the case. The holding is simply that the mov-ant failed to establish conclusively the nonexistence of genuine issues of fact, therefore, summary judgment was inappropriate. Holl v. Talcott, 191 So. 2d 40 (Fla. 1966).


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Citator

Cited By

  • Young v. Johnston, 475 So. 2d 1309 (Fla. 1st DCA 1985)
    …tling Co. v. Orange-Crush Co., 291 F. 102 (D.Fla.1928), affirmed, 296 F. 693 (5th Cir.1924). Pan-Am Tobacco Corporation, d/b/a Pan-Am Vend-tronics v. Department of Corrections, 471 So. 2d 4 (Fla.1984). See also, Ponce Development Company v. Espino, 449 So. 2d 317 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984). Under the facts here, it is clear that Johnston never committed himself to go forward with the contract, but only to proceed, as he saw fit, to either obtain the financing essential to his performance and instruct 01’ Smokey to p…
  • Flagship Resort Dev. Corp. v. Interval Int'l, Inc., 28 So. 3d 915 (Fla. 3d DCA 2010)
    …e contract, “such defect may be cured by the subsequent conduct of the parties.” Wright & Seaton, Inc. v. Prescott, 420 So. 2d 623, 627 (Fla. 4th DCA 1982) (quoting 17 C.J.S. Contracts § 100(3), at 799-800 (1963)); see also Ponce Dev. Co. v. Espino, 449 So. 2d 317, 319 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984); Clark v. State, 651 So. 2d 1309, 1310 (Fla. 3d DCA 1995). Flagship relies on Espino for the proposition that only full and complete performance will cure a lack of mutuality of obligation. See Espino, 449 So. 2d at 318-19.…
  • Redington Grand, LLP v. Level 10 Props., LLC, 22 So. 3d 604 (Fla. 2d DCA 2009)
    …the units. Performance by the Developer would have been a complete defense to any claim by the Buyers arising from want of mutuality of obligation, rendering summary judgment for the Buyers on that basis inappropriate.4 See Ponce Dev. Co. v. Espino, 449 So. 2d 317, 319 (Fla. 3d DCA 1984) (holding that when a contract for the construction and conveyance of a condominium unit “became executed by the [builder’s] full performance according to the terms of the contract — except as to transfer of title at a closing…

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