Kerton v. Lutheran Church Extension Fund

Before closing on the purchase of a vacant parcel of property, plaintiffs, Michael Kerton and Peter DeVore, notified defendant of their objection to a right-of-way for natural gas pipeline and brought an action requesting the return of their earnest money. Defendant denied the existence of any defect in title and counterclaimed that plaintiffs’ objection was untimely. The trial court ruled that plaintiffs’ objection was timely, but that the right-of-way for pipeline was a permissible exception and condition of title and not subject to objection by plaintiffs.

On appeal, plaintiffs maintain…