Jones v. Warmack

Jones (plaintiff) contracted to assign property rights to Warmack (defendant), who was to make three scheduled down payments; the contract also gave Warmack a 10-day option period to terminate or proceed if Jones couldn't resolve certain title defects in time. Warmack made the first two payments and flagged several title defects, some of which Jones acknowledged he couldn't fix within the required timeframe, and the deadline for Warmack's final down payment happened to fall within that same option period. When Warmack missed the final payment, Jones declared him in default and kept the first two payments; Warmack countered that Jones's own admitted inability to cure the title defects was itself an anticipatory breach that had already terminated the contract, and sued to recover his payments. The trial court granted Jones summary judgment, and Warmack appealed.