Ellingson v. Sloan

OPINION

EUBANK, Judge.

This appeal raises the question of whether an oral agreement to develop and sell real property is enforceable as a contract of joint venture or unenforceable as a brokerage contract which violates the Statute of Frauds.

George Ellingson, the appellant, and Lyle Trimble and their wives owned approximately 113 acres of land located on Mill Avenue in Tempe, Arizona. In 1965, this land was subject to a mortgage held by the First National Bank of Arizona. It could not be sold on the open market at that time for more than the amount of the mortgage. The owners, already in…