LaMore Restaurant Group, LLC v. Akers

Summary

The Supreme Court of South Dakota held that a lease addendum creating an appraisal-based method for determining the purchase price of commercial properties was an enforceable contract, despite not specifying a valuation date. The court further held that the trial court properly considered appraisal customs and usage and required the first and third appraisers to use the same valuation date as the initial appraisal.

Holdings

1. The First Addendum was a valid and enforceable contract because its appraisal procedure supplied a practicable and reasonably certain method for determining the purchase price, even though it did not specify the valuation date to be used by the third appraiser.
2. The circuit court had authority to interpret the ambiguous appraisal provision and determine that the first and third appraisers should use April 27, 2005, the date used by the first appraiser, as the valuation date.

Questions Presented

1. Whether the First Addendum constituted a valid and enforceable contract despite not specifying the date on which the third appraiser would value the property.
2. Whether the circuit court had authority to determine the valuation date for the first and third appraisers when the First Addendum did not expressly supply one.

Disposition

affirmed