Veigh Cummings v. Larry R. Bullock

This is an action for specific performance of a contract to sell land. Jurisdiction rests on diversity of citizenship. The court found against the plaintiff and he appeals. We affirm. The sole question presented is whether the court erred in holding that plaintiff had failed to exercise an option to purchase contained in a lease of land located in Wyoming. A brief statement of the law may make its application to the facts more readily apparent.

1. The action was filed in the Northern District of California. The trial court was therefore required to look to the substantive law of California, including its choice of law rules. Under that law, questions affecting the title to real property are determined by the law of the jurisdiction where the property is located, here Wyoming. If the law of Wyoming is not shown to differ from that of California, then the court will look to California law for guiding principles of decision. Here the plaintiff argued below that “the law of Wyoming and California is the same with respect to the interpretation of the Contract and its performance,” and we do not understand him to take a different position on appeal.

2. Under the law of Wyoming, “the…