## Facts

- After Carthur L.M. Drake died, his estranged wife, Sherry (Sherry Miles) St. Claire Drake, renounced the will and litigated in probate court.
- In 1998, the parties entered a settlement agreement resolving the probate dispute.
- The settlement addressed a parcel of real property owned 99% by the trust and encumbered by federal tax (IRS) liens.
- The agreement required the estate/trustees to deliver a quitclaim deed conveying the property to St. Claire Drake within 20 days after the IRS liens were released, making lien release a condition precedent to conveyance.
- In 2005, St. Claire Drake filed a separate action to set aside the settlement; the court dismissed it, and the dismissal was affirmed on appeal.
- In 2008, St. Claire Drake moved for immediate possession/enforcement, asserting the trustees had not made meaningful efforts to resolve the IRS liens.
- Evidence showed no progress on lien resolution, no attempts to resolve the liens for at least four years, and no communication with St. Claire Drake about the liens or property.
- The trial court found the estate’s inaction prevented the condition precedent from occurring and ordered the estate to execute a quitclaim deed despite the liens remaining.

## Issues

1. Whether the court could compel conveyance under a settlement agreement when the express condition precedent (release of IRS liens) had not occurred.
2. Whether prolonged inaction and lack of good-faith efforts by the estate/trustees constituted “prevention” that excused nonoccurrence of the condition precedent.
3. Whether ordering conveyance improperly modified the settlement agreement and whether the burden was properly placed on the estate to show it did not prevent satisfaction of the condition.

## Decision

- The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed the order compelling the estate/trustees to execute a quitclaim deed to St. Claire Drake.
- The court held that the release-of-liens condition precedent was excused because the estate/trustees’ lack of good-faith, diligent efforts prevented the condition from occurring.
- The court held the trial court enforced, rather than rewrote, the settlement agreement by applying the prevention doctrine to the trustees’ breach.
- The court approved allocating to the estate the burden to show it did not prevent fulfillment of the condition, given its control over lien-resolution efforts and access to the relevant information.

## Legal Principles

- When a party’s contractual obligation is subject to a condition precedent, that party may not benefit from its own conduct that prevents or hinders the condition’s occurrence.
- A party subject to a condition precedent has an implied obligation to act diligently and in good faith to bring about the condition when performance depends on efforts within that party’s control.
- If a party’s prevention causes the nonoccurrence of a condition precedent, the condition may be excused and the underlying contractual obligation may be specifically enforced as though the condition had occurred.
- In applying prevention, courts may require the party controlling satisfaction of the condition to demonstrate it took reasonable, good-faith steps and did not obstruct performance.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed specific enforcement of a settlement’s conveyance term by excusing an IRS-lien release condition that the estate/trustees failed to pursue in good faith, preventing the condition’s occurrence and making immediate conveyance by quitclaim deed proper.


In re Estate of Drake, 4 A.3d 450 (D.C. 2010)