Mohrlang v. Draper
Supreme Court of Nebraska
365 N.W.2d 443 (1985)
John Mohrlang (plaintiff) agreed to buy unimproved land from Larry Draper (defendant), with the contract requiring Draper to obtain release of a right-of-way easement and terminate a buried gas line at his own expense. Draper never researched what those obligations would actually cost before agreeing to the sale, and after the contract was signed he discovered the costs would be far higher than expected; citing that hardship, he refused to deliver the property. Mohrlang sued for specific performance; the trial court denied that remedy but ordered Draper to pay unspecified damages, and both parties appealed their respective losses.
Whether a real estate purchaser is entitled to specific performance when the seller's hardship in delivering the property results from the seller's own neglect in failing to anticipate the costs of obligations he had contractually agreed to bear.