W. H. Jones v. Raymond Jones

W. H. Jones, hereafter the father, appeals from a decision of the district court awarding to Raymond Jones, hereafter the son, the sum of $4,000.00 paid into court by the United States in a condemnation proceeding for a right of way over 288 acres of Oregon ranch and timber property which the court held was owned by the son, by virtue of an oral promise by the father to give the land to him followed by the son’s possession and his making permanent improvements thereon.

It is agreed that the Oregon law allows enforcement of an oral promise to convey real property under the above circumstances and that the question is whether the evidence in the case warrants the court’s findings supporting the judgment. The first contention is that the finding of the oral promise to convey the land for which the $4,000.00 was paid is not supported by evidence which is plain, clear and convincing, as required by the Oregon decisions. Tiggelbeck v. Russell, 187 Or. 554 , 213 P.2d 156 ; Ward v. Ward, 94 Or. 405 , 185 P. 906 ; Unter-kircher v. Unterkircher, 183 Or. 583 , 195 P.2d 178 .

Apparently the father considers that the evidence is not of such a character if it is conflicting. Here there is…