{"id":902045,"date":"2023-12-21T15:12:12","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T22:12:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/?p=902045"},"modified":"2023-12-21T15:12:15","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T22:12:15","slug":"construction-contracts-clear-definite-terms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-contracts-clear-definite-terms\/","title":{"rendered":"Contract Should Have Clear and Definite Terms to Avoid a Patent Ambiguity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>David Adelstein | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.floridaconstructionlegalupdates.com\/contract-should-have-clear-and-definite-terms-to-avoid-a-patent-ambiguity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Florida Construction Legal Updates<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you need more of a reason to have contracts with\u00a0<strong><u>clear and definite terms<\/u><\/strong>, this case is it. This case exemplifies what can happen if the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/ambiguity-kills-in-construction-contracting\/\">contract<\/a>, not only does not have clear and definite terms, but contains a\u00a0<strong>patent ambiguity<\/strong>. \u00a0The contract will be deemed unenforceable which will make one of the contracting parties very unhappy!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In&nbsp;<em>Bowein v. Sherman<\/em>, 48 Fla.L.Weekly D2208a (Fla. 6<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;DCA 2023), the buyer and seller entered into a real estate transaction. The transaction was for $2 Million. The purchase-and-sale agreement included the address and legal description of a parcel to be sold.&nbsp;However, there was a section in the agreement called \u201cOther Terms and Conditions\u201d which identified that the offer was actually for four properties that were being sold by the seller.&nbsp; When it came to closing time, the seller refused to close because the seller disputed that the $2 Million&nbsp;purchase&nbsp;price was for all four of his properties. The buyer sued the seller for&nbsp;<strong>specific performance<\/strong>&nbsp;to force the sale which the trial court agreed in favor of the buyer. However, the appellate court did not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, the appellate court held that \u201c<strong>[t]he equitable remedy of specific performance may be granted only where the parties have actually entered into a<\/strong>&nbsp;definite and certain agreement.\u201d&nbsp;<em>Bowein, supra<\/em>&nbsp;(quotation and citation omitted).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Next, the appellate court found there was NOT a definite and certain agreement because the contract contained a&nbsp;patent ambiguity. \u201c<strong>[A] patent ambiguity is that which appears on the face of the instrument and arises from the use of defective, obscure, or insensible language.<\/strong>\u201d&nbsp;<em>Bowein, supra<\/em>&nbsp;(quotation and citation omitted). &nbsp;Here, the appellate court found that \u201c<strong>[t]he different legal descriptions and addresses in different parts of the sales contract on its face lead us to conclude a patent ambiguity exists.<\/strong>\u201d&nbsp;<em>Id<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lastly, the appellate court held&nbsp;<strong>a patent ambiguity cannot be used through parol evidence<\/strong>. The contract is basically dead,&nbsp;<em>i.e<\/em>.,&nbsp;<strong>unenforceable<\/strong>, because \u201c<strong>a trial court cannot choose one contradictory provision of a contract over another without impermissibly rewriting the contract<\/strong>.\u201d&nbsp;&nbsp;<em>Bowein, supra<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here the patent ambiguity was that the \u201cOther Terms and Conditions\u201d included three additional properties that were not identified on the first page of the contract as to the property to be sold. Had the parties, on the first page, identified \u201csee Other Terms and Conditions\u201d or clarified that the property to be sold was subject to the \u201cOther Terms and Conditions,\u201d there is no patent ambiguity. It was just a matter of CLEARLY identifying that the $2 Million sale price was not just for the property identified, but for the property identified plus the properties subject to the \u201cOther Terms and Conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It seems that the seller had seller\u2019s remorse. Because the real estate contract was likely done electronically and filled out electronically, the first page only had space for one parcel.\u00a0 The buyer figured he could identify the other parcels in the \u201cOther Terms and Conditions\u201d and perhaps could have made this clearer. \u00a0Because there could have been better clarity as to what the $2 Million was for, the appellate court just found there to be a patent ambiguity based on the conflict between the first page of the contract with the \u201cOther Terms and Conditions.\u201d Was there really a patent ambiguity? Yeah, I do not know here because when the \u201cOther Terms and Conditions\u201d state that the offer was for the four properties, it seems clear the buyer was making the $2 Million offer for the four properties\u2026but it could have been clearer which was the seller\u2019s get out jail card on the transaction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>When one of your cases is in need of a construction expert, estimates, insurance appraisal or umpire services in defect or insurance disputes &#8211; please call Advise &amp; Consult, Inc. at 888.684.8305, or email <a href=\"mailto:experts@adviseandconsult.net\">experts@adviseandconsult.net<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>David Adelstein | Florida Construction Legal Updates If you need more of a reason to have contracts with\u00a0clear and definite terms, this case is it. This case exemplifies what can happen if the contract, not only does not have clear and definite terms, but contains a\u00a0patent ambiguity. \u00a0The contract will be deemed unenforceable which will&hellip; <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.myconstructionexpert.com\/blog\/construction-contracts-clear-definite-terms\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Contract Should Have Clear and Definite Terms to Avoid a Patent Ambiguity<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[9],"tags":[9895,224],"class_list":["post-902045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-contracts","tag-advise-consult","tag-construction-contract","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Contract Should Have Clear and Definite Terms to Avoid a Patent Ambiguity - Advise &amp; 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