Woodriff v. Ashcraft

Plaintiffs commenced this suit seeking reformation of a land sale contract to correct a scrivener’s error. Defendants, purchasers under the contract, interposed affirmative defenses of laches and fraud. The trial court gave judgment to defendants, finding that plaintiffs had failed to demonstrate a mutual mistake in the price and that plaintiffs’ claim was barred by laches and unclean hands. Plaintiffs appeal.

Plaintiffs owned a 15-acre parcel of land fronting on the Pacific Ocean in Curry County, Oregon. In July, 1965, plaintiffs engaged Mr. Charles H. Grayshel, a real estate agent, to sell…