Bell v. Town of Grafton

This controversy is concerned with a claim for specific performance of an alleged agreement for the sale of certain premises by the defendant town to the plaintiff. The lower court refused specific performance, grounding its decisions on both the Statute of Limitations (12 V.S.A. § 511) and the Statute of Frauds (12 V.S.A. § 181). We affirm.

In 1964, at a time when the selectmen had general authorization to sell town land, the selectmen orally agreed to sell, and the plaintiff to buy, a lot known as the Stebbins lot, part of which was being used by the town as a dump. The plaintiff gave the…