Property – Real Estate Contracts

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WI Court of Appeals – District I

Case Name: NDC, LLC v. Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Case No.: 2015AP377

Officials: Lundsten, Higginbotham and Blanchard, JJ.

Practice Areas: Property – Real Estate Contracts

NDC appeals the circuit court’s order denying NDC’s claim alleging that there was a binding real estate purchase contract between NDC and the Wisconsin Department of Transportation and seeking specific performance on that contract. As we understand the situation, NDC seeks to hold DOT to what all now agree was DOT’s unreasonably low initial $90,500 offering price, so that NDC is in a better position to challenge that amount and receive a higher amount for the property and attorney’s fees relating to that effort. After holding a bench trial, the circuit court rejected NDC’s request for specific performance on several alternative grounds. We focus on two. First, the court made a factual finding that NDC rejected DOT’s $90,500 offer to contract. Second, the court concluded that, even assuming NDC accepted DOT’s $90,500 offer, that acceptance was conditioned on a further acceptance by DOT, which did not happen. NDC fails to persuade us that the circuit court erred in either respect. Accordingly, we affirm based on each of these alternative grounds.

Affirmed

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Attorney Derek A. Hawkins is the managing partner at Hawkins Law Offices LLC, where he heads up the firm’s startup law practice. He specializes in business formation, corporate governance, intellectual property protection, private equity and venture capital funding and mergers & acquisitions. Check out the website at www.hawkins-lawoffices.com or contact them at 262-737-8825.