Cooke v. Goethals

The Cookes (plaintiffs) orally agreed with their longtime friends the Goethalses (defendants) to buy property for $60,000, pending resolution of a lot-line adjustment needed for financing, and made monthly payments toward a 30-year amortization with a five-year balloon while spending $6,000–$7,000 on improvements over nearly seven years; once the Goethalses finally obtained the lot-line adjustment, they refused to sell, and the Cookes sued for breach. The trial court granted the Goethalses summary judgment based on the statute of frauds' writing requirement for real-estate sales.