Green v. Higgins

The Higginses (defendants) postdated a land-sale contract with the Greens (plaintiffs) to avoid paying a commission to real estate agent Lienna McCulley, and both parties then created a fake, inflated sale contract to trick Brown and Gilman, who held a right of first refusal on the land, into declining to exercise that right; after the Higginses later refused to complete the sale, the Greens sued for specific performance and the Higginses counterclaimed for damages and to quiet title. The district court found both parties had unclean hands and dismissed both the Greens' claim and the Higginses' counterclaim, and the Greens appealed.