Alderson v. Republican-Courier Co.

221 P. 544, 69 Mont. 271, 1923 Mont. LEXIS 244
CourtMontana Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 17, 1923
DocketNo. 5,336
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 221 P. 544 (Alderson v. Republican-Courier Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Montana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Alderson v. Republican-Courier Co., 221 P. 544, 69 Mont. 271, 1923 Mont. LEXIS 244 (Mo. 1923).

Opinion

MR. JUSTICE STARK

delivered the opinion of the court.

Plaintiff brought this action against the defendant for the purpose of recovering possession of a city lot and the building thereon alleged to have been unlawfully detained and held over by the defendant after the expiration of the term of a lease under which the defendant had gone into possession.

The' amended complaint alleges the ownership' of the property by the plaintiff and the corporate capacity of the defendant, following which allegations the lease in question is set forth in full and shows that it was executed on May 10, 1912; that it demised and let the premises to the defendant for a term of ten years from its date “in consideration whereof the second party agrees to pay to the first party, as rental for the said premises, the sum of $150' per month for each and every month of said term, payable on the tenth day of each month. It is further agreed that the upstairs portion of the rear part of the building on the premises hereby leased is to be completed by the party of the second part, and that any and all changes or additions to the building on said premises, which may be made during the term aforesaid, shall be made at the expense of the second party without cost and expense to the first party.” Then follow covenants requiring the lessor (plaintiff) to make such other repairs as may be necessary to keep the building tenantable, pay taxes on the premises, etc., and that the lessee (defendant) shall pay for the water, light and heat of the building and comply with the [275]*275city ordinances relating to disposal o£ rubbish, keeping the sidewalks clear of snow and other similar regulations.

The renewal clause contained in the lease reads: “It is further agreed that the party of the second part shall have and it is hereby given the privilege and option of renewing this lease, (subject, nevertheless, to all the terms and conditions herein specified), for a period of ten years from and after the date of the expiration of the term aforesaid; provided, that if the second party shall desire to avail itself of such option, it shall signify in writing to the first party its intention of so doing, not less than ninety days prior to the expiration of the term aforesaid.”

The concluding paragraph of the lease is as follows: “And the said party of the first part does hereby covenant, promise, and agree that the said party of the second part, paying the said rent and performing the covenants aforesaid, shall and may peaceably and quietly have, hold, and enjoy the said premises for the term aforesaid.”

Paragraph 5 of the amended complaint is as follows: “That the plaintiff has fully kept and performed all of the conditions and covenants of said lease on her part, but the defendant has failed, neglected and refused to perform the conditions and covenants of said lease upon its part, in this, to-wit: That at the time of the execution and delivery of said lease, the upstairs portion of the rear part of the building on the premises described in said lease (which upstairs portion consists of a large room, approximately sixty feet in length by twenty-three feet in width), was uncompleted, in that there was no floor therein; it had not been plastered; there were no casings therein; there was no stairway connecting the ground floor of said building with said uncompleted portion thereof; there was no plumbing, toilet, or lavatory, no partitions, and no painting had been done; and it was understood and agreed between the parties that the same should be properly floored, plastered, painted, and the necessary partitions, casings and woodwork put up, the stairway constructed and completely [276]*276finished, and all necessary plumbing for heating, toilet, and lavatory installed and completed, all in the usual workmanlike fashion, all of which the parties had in mind and intended by the clause of the lease providing that the ‘upstairs portion of the rear part of the building on the premises hereby leased is to be completed by the party of the second part.’

“That said covenant for the completion of the said upstairs portion of the rear part of said building was a material covenant of said lease, and the completion of the same by defendant, at its expense, in manner and form as above specified, was deemed and understood by both parties to said lease to be, and it was, an essential part of the consideration for said lease and a moving cause for its execution and delivery by plaintiff, without which plaintiff would not have executed or delivered the same, as defendant then and there knew. But the defendant failed, neglected, and refused to do or perforin any of the things necessary to be done and performed for the completion of said upper portion of said building, except that defendant has put on a small part of the plastering necessary to be put on, and has constructed a rough temporary stairway from the lower part of the said building to the upstairs portion of the rear end thereof, all to the damage of said plaintiff in the sum of $2,000.”

Following this are allegations that defendant, notwithstanding it had not completed said building in accordance with the terms of the lease, did, more than ninety days before the expiration of the term thereof, signify to the plaintiff its desire and intention to avail itself of the option contained therein to renew the same for a period of ten years, and thereupon the plaintiff, by reason of the failure of the defendant to complete the designated portion of the building, declined and refused to renew the same for any period whatever, and likewise demanded of the defendant the possession of the leased premises, and demanded of and requested defendant that it comply with the terms of said lease by completing the rear portion of the upstairs of sai$ building, with all of which [277]*277demands the defendant refused and neglected to comply; that, notwithstanding these things, the defendant continued to hold over the premises after the tenth day of May, 1922, without the consent or permission of the plaintiff, and refused to surrender the same to her as provided in the lease and unlawfully detains the same. The prayer of the complaint is for possession of the premises and for damages.

To this amended complaint the defendant demurred, on the ■grounds (1) that the complaint does not state facts sufficient to constitute a cause of action; (2) that causes of action have been improperly united; and (3) that the complaint is ambiguous, unintelligible and uncertain. After argument, the demurrer was sustained. The plaintiff elected to stand upon her amended complaint, whereupon judgment was rendered for the defendant, from which the plaintiff has appealed. The only question presented on the appeal is whether the court erred in sustaining the demurrer.

1. Plaintiff’s right to recover in this case depends solely upon whether she was justified in refusing to renew the lease on the demand made upon her by the defendant. She based her refusal upon the fact alone that defendant had not complied with the provisions of the lease by which it covenanted to complete the upstairs portion of the rear part of the building. This makes it necessary to determine whether the defendant’s right to demand a renewal of the lease was dependent upon its previous compliance with the covenant to complete — in other words, whether these two covenants are independent or dependent.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
221 P. 544, 69 Mont. 271, 1923 Mont. LEXIS 244, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/alderson-v-republican-courier-co-mont-1923.