Benya v. Stevens and Thompson Paper Co.

Defendant appeals, after trial by court, from a judgment for plaintiff on a breach of contract complaint involving the sale of some five thousand acres of timber land located in the towns of Windham, Townshend and Grafton, Vermont. The court awarded plaintiff actual damages of $300,000 and punitive damages of $50,000 plus interest. Defendant alleges several claims of error, but only two are relevant to our disposition of this appeal. Defendant claims (1) that there was no binding purchase and sales agreement between the parties, and (2) that the Statute of Frauds controls. 12 V.S.A. §181(5).

In…