Laird

This is an action to enforce specific performance of an agreement alleged to have been entered into between plaintiff and defendant, whereby defendant agreed to execute, and plaintiff agreed to accept an oil lease from defendant of certain designated lands owned by defendant.

The trial court made a finding to the effect that defendant never did execute any agreement with plaintiff whereby defendant agreed to lease to plaintiff the designated premises upon the terms and conditions specified in the complaint. Judgment was given for defendant and plaintiff appealed.

The sole question arising on this appeal is whether the evidence is sufficient to sustain the above finding of the trial court.

Plaintiff was a resident of McKittrick, near Bakersfield, in the county of Kern, and was engaged in the business of buying, selling, leasing, and operating oil lands. Defendant, a married woman, was a resident of the state of Washington and the owner of a 560-acre tract of prospective oil lands in Kern County. To assist her locally in carrying on negotiations with plaintiff for the leasing of a portion of said lands with an option to purchase, she employed Mr. William Beaizley, an attorney at…