Moreno v. Smith
Annotate this CaseIn 2004, Dolores Moreno acquired residential property in Gwinnett County. Three years later, she gave a one-half interest in the property to her daughter Gina Moreno as a gift. Around the same time, Dolores and Gina signed a document that purported to be a contract whereby Dolores agreed to sell her remaining one-half interest in the property to Gina, and Gina agreed to pay $75,000 to Dolores in monthly installments. After six more years passed, Gina had made no payments to Dolores, and Dolores filed a lawsuit against Gina for breach of contract and for an equitable accounting as between tenants in common. The trial court granted partial summary judgment to Dolores, concluding that the evidence showed that Dolores and Gina entered into a binding and enforceable contract. The court awarded Dolores damages and fair market rent for her one-half interest as an equitable adjustment of the accounts of the tenants in common. Gina appealed. After review, the Supreme Court found that there was a genuine issue of disputed fact with respect to whether the contract was binding and enforceable, and that the trial court erred by granting partial summary judgment to Dolores on her claim for breach of contract. With the contract still at issue, the award of damages and relief on the equitable accounting claim was reversed, and the case remanded for further proceedings.
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