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337 N.W.2d 799

Zitzow v. Diederich

North Dakota Supreme Court

Decided August 23, 1983

North Dakota Supreme Court · decided 1983-08-23

Good law ✅— No negative treatment on recordhow we know

Decided 1983-08-23

How this case has been cited

Cited by 13 later decisions — most recently October 2020

2 federal appellate · 9 state decisions

10019831990200020102020decided

Later decisions citing this case, by decade. The current decade is in progress, and our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so the latest bars are undercounted — not a real decline.

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PEDERSON, Justice,

¶1dissenting.

¶2The contract between Zitzow and Diede-rich is, to me, obviously ambiguous on its face. The mere labeling of Diederich as “buyer” rather than “optionee” is sufficient to raise doubt, at least as to the intent of the parties to the contract.

¶3In determining the meaning of an ambiguous writing, the court must weigh the intrinsic evidence and make a finding of fact. Rule 52(a), NDRCivP applies. We have the choice of affirming or remanding for the preparation of more artful findings of fact. The majority opinion, by labeling the issue as one of law, evades the real question and permits this appellate court to perform a trial court function.

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