On May 10, 2000, appellant-defendant-seller Hazel Lancaster Mills entered into a purchase and sale real estate contract the “Agreement” obligating her to sell her home, real property and improvements known as 2300 Columbia Drive, Decatur, Georgia the “Property”, to appellant-plaintiff-buyer Reginald Parker. The Agreement established $125,500 as the sale price, required Mrs. Mills to convey good and marketable title to the Property by general warranty deed at closing set for July 17, 2000, and made the sale contingent upon Mr. Parker’s ability to qualify for a loan. Thereafter, Mrs. Mills changed her mind, twice notifying Mr. Parker by letter that she no longer wished to sell, and offering by her second letter to “work with Mr. Parker” as to his out-of-pocket expenses.1 Mr. Parker declined to release Mrs. Mills from closing on the Property as scheduled.
On July 13, 2000, the closing attorney received a letter by facsimile from an attorney purporting to represent Mrs. Mills’ husband, appellee-defendant Urban Jules Mills, giving notice that Mr. Mills held an interest in the Property pursuant to quitclaim deed which Mrs. Mills earlier executed in his favor and that the quitclaim deed would be recorded “in the immediate future.” A quitclaim deed,2 dated March 20, 2000, was filed and recorded in the Superior Court of DeKalb County on July 14, 2000, the Friday before the July 17 closing. When Mrs. Mills failed to appear at the closing, Mr. Parker brought suit against the Mills jointly,3 in five counts seeking specific performance of the Agreement or, in the alternative, damages for breach of contract; damages for fraudulent misrepresentation of marketable title, attorney fees, and punitive damages for intentional misconduct causing harm. Mr. Parker sued Mr. Mills individually in a sixth count for tortious interference with contractual relations.
