Wong v Stoler, 237 Cal.App.4th 1375
The trial courts if find rescission for nondisclosure by a seller must unwind the transaction even if difficult and complex. E.g, Judges cannot be lazy!
Buyer of a home sued seller for not disclosing the fact that their sewer system was not hooked up to the city’s public system. The trial court found there had been misstatements by the vendors but refused to effectuate rescission of the contract because of the difficulty in unwinding a transaction that had closed many years ago. The court of appeal reversed.
Civil Code§ 1688 et seq. requires a court to grant complete relief to a rescinding plaintiff, returning him to his same economic position as before the contract was made. Since the purchasers had made out a case under those statutes, the trial court was obligated to grant them appropriate relief. It erred in refusing to do so based upon the seven years that had passed, the fact that both parties had since done major remodeling.