From Casetext: Smarter Legal Research

Dangler v. Rutland

Supreme Court of Georgia
Sep 8, 1972
192 S.E.2d 156 (Ga. 1972)

Opinion

27298.

SUBMITTED JULY 10, 1972.

DECIDED SEPTEMBER 8, 1972. REHEARING DENIED SEPTEMBER 25, 1972.

Specific performance. Bartow Superior Court. Before Judge Emeritus Boykin.

Al D. Tull, for appellant.

Hugh B. Pettit, Jr., James E. Greene, for appellees.


The appellant filed an action seeking specific performance of an option contract to lease certain land or damages in lieu thereof. The trial court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim. He appeals. Held:

1. Specific performance of an option contract for the lease of land will not be decreed unless the land which is the subject matter of the alleged contract is clearly identified therein. Higginbotham v. Cooper, 116 Ga. 741 ( 42 SE 1000; Tippins v. Phillips, 123 Ga. 415 ( 51 S.E. 410); Estes v. Winn, 136 Ga. 344 ( 71 S.E. 470); Brown v. Mitchell, 225 Ga. 115 ( 166 S.E.2d 571).

2. The option to lease describes the property as follows: "Lessor is the owner of 17 acres of land, more or less located in Land Lot No. 191 of the 5th District of the 3rd Section of Bartow County, Georgia east of the Interstate Highway Number 75 right of way." This is the only description of the land in the instrument.

This description is too vague and indefinite to locate the land and it does not furnish a key by which the land may be identified. "A deed which fails to describe any particular land or to furnish any key to the confines of the land purporting to be conveyed is void." Luttrell v. Whitehead, 121 Ga. 699, 700 ( 49 S.E. 691); Allen v. Smith, 169 Ga. 395 (1) ( 150 S.E. 584); Farrar Lumber Co. v. Brindle, 170 Ga. 37 (5) ( 151 S.E. 923); Whitfield v. Maddox, 189 Ga. 870 (4) ( 8 S.E.2d 57).

3. Since the description of the land involved in the contract is too vague and indefinite to locate the land and does not furnish a key by which the land may be identified, the complainant cannot recover damages for a breach of the contract. Crawford v. Williford, 145 Ga. 550 ( 89 S.E. 488); Hamilton v. Daniel, 213 Ga. 650 ( 100 S.E.2d 730); Waters v. Waters, 217 Ga. 557 ( 123 S.E.2d 765); Austin v. Willis, 229 Ga. 193 (2) ( 190 S.E.2d 532).

4. The trial court properly dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim.

Judgment affirmed. All the Justices concur.


SUBMITTED JULY 10, 1972 — DECIDED SEPTEMBER 8, 1972 — REHEARING DENIED SEPTEMBER 25, 1972.


Summaries of

Dangler v. Rutland

Supreme Court of Georgia
Sep 8, 1972
192 S.E.2d 156 (Ga. 1972)
Case details for

Dangler v. Rutland

Case Details

Full title:DANGLER v. RUTLAND et al

Court:Supreme Court of Georgia

Date published: Sep 8, 1972

Citations

192 S.E.2d 156 (Ga. 1972)
192 S.E.2d 156

Citing Cases

Matter of James G. Hunt Trucking Co., Inc.

Butner v. United States, 440 U.S. 48, 55, 99 S.Ct. 914, 918, 59 L.Ed.2d 136 (1979) (property interests are…

Homart Development Co. v. Sigman

In Count II of its complaint, Homart alleged that it would suffer actual and consequential damages if…