Azevedo v. Minister case brief

Azevedo v. Minister case brief summary

471 P.2d 661 (1970)

CASE SYNOPSIS

Appellants challenged a judgment of First Judicial District Court, Carson City (Nevada) which determined that appellant rancher and respondent had an enforceable oral contract for the purchase and sale of hay, sufficiently memorialized by confirming memoranda under the provisions of Nev. Rev. Stat. § 104.2201(2).

CASE FACTS
Appellant rancher and respondent entered into an oral agreement for the purchase and sale of hay. Appellant rancher deposited funds into an escrow account. The parties began to perform the contract and over the succeeding few months, respondent wrote various accounting memoranda to appellant rancher, setting forth the remaining terms of the contract. Respondent refused to provide hay on one occasion because the escrow funds had not been replenished. Appellant stopped buying hay and respondent sued on the balance of the contract. The lower court held that under the Uniform Commercial Code as adopted by Nevada, the memoranda constituted sufficient writing to establish the contract taking the matter out of the statute of frauds and ruled for respondent.

DISCUSSION

• On appeal, the court affirmed the trial court's judgment finding that respondent's memoranda were sufficient to establish a writing to memorialize the parties intent to contract and that they were sent within a reasonable time under the circumstances and were unchallenged by appellant rancher. 
• Accordingly, the contract was upheld.

CONCLUSION
The court affirmed the lower court's judgment for respondent and held that the parties had a contract. The court found that the parties commenced performance of their oral agreement almost immediately after it was made; within a reasonable time, respondent sent accountings, which constituted confirming memoranda; and, appellant rancher did not object to the memoranda. Accordingly, the statute of frauds was not a defense to the contract.

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