Banwart v. Shullenburg

190 Iowa 418
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedDecember 21, 1920
StatusPublished
Cited by22 cases

This text of 190 Iowa 418 (Banwart v. Shullenburg) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Banwart v. Shullenburg, 190 Iowa 418 (iowa 1920).

Opinion

Stevens, J.

— It appears from the pleadings that plaintiff and defendant, on November 10, 1915, entered into a written lease, whereby the defendant leased to plaintiff the northwest quarter of Section 18, Township 94, Range 31, Palo Alto County, Iowa, for the term of one year, commencing March 1, 1916, for the agreed cash rental of $500, to be paid, $250, October 15, 1916, and $250, January 15, 1917; and that another lease, identical in form, was entered into between the parties, also for one year, commencing March 1, 1917, for a cash rental of $600, $300 payable October 15, 1917, and $300 payable January 15, 1918.

Plaintiff’s petition, filed on August 19,1918, is in six counts, and alleges that, as a.part of the terms of the first lease, the plaintiff agreed to haul for the defendant, free of charge, all materials used in improving the place during the life of the lease; that the farm was wet, and required considerable tiling to make it tillable; that there were not sufficient barn buildings for stock or storage room for crops upon said premises; and that the defendant orally agreed to complete an addition to the barn, and erect a hog house, corncrib, and granary, and to have the same completed before plaintiff moved thereon, except that he agreed to have the corncrib and granary complete and ready for use when needed; but that defendant failed and neglected to complete the hog house during the term of the lease; that the corncrib and granary were not completed until after the plaintiff had gathered his corn, in the late autumn of 1916, thereby depriving him of the use thereof; that, because of the failure of the defendant to carry out and perform his two oral agreements, plaintiff suffered loss and damages in the sum of $200.

It is further alleged that the defendant also agreed to complete certain tiling he then had under way on the south 80 acres of the farm, in the fall of 1916, and to complete the tiling thereof early in the spring of 1917, and in time to put the ground in suitable condition for planting corn; but that he wholly failed and neglected to complete the same, and to put in additional tiling, as agreed, so that the ground was wet and unfit for cul[420]*420tivation in the spring of 1917; and that, because thereof, he suffered loss and damage in crops and extra work, to the amount of $800. The allegations of Count 2 relate to improvements during the life of the lease commencing March 1, 1917, and relate to the same, or to matters of a similar nature. In Count 5 of the petition, after making the allegations of Counts 2 and 3 a part thereof, plaintiff alleged that the defendant purposely neglected and delayed the completion of the improvements which he agreed to make, the making of which was an inducement to plaintiff to sign said leases, and upon which he relied, to the defendant’s own gain and advantage; that plaintiff was thereby fraudulently deprived of a large part of the use and benefit of the farm during the years for which he occupied the same, all to his damage in the sum of $1,500. In Count 6, after making the allegation of Counts 1 and 2 a part thereof, the plaintiff further alleged that, in reliance upon the covenants and agreements of the defendant therein alleged, he performed all of the obligations imposed upon him by the written lease, and also a large amount of work in the nature of breaking up prairie, hauling tile, and distributing it along the ditches, filling the trenches, removing rock, and hauling material for new buildings and improvements; and that, by reason thereof, he suffered inconvenience and extra expense of laborers to his damage in the sum of $600. Counts 4 and 5 of the petition were mutually settled and compromised by the parties.

The defendant, for answer, denied the' allegations of plaintiff’s petition, admitted the execution of the written leases, averred that, if plaintiff suffered loss or inconvenience because the improvements referred to were not made or completed, as alleged by him, it was due to his neglect and failure to haul materials and to complete tile ditches, as required by the written lease.

The question presented for decision involves only the so-called “parol evidence rule.” Both leases, as we understand the record, provided that:

“Second party hereby agrees-to haul out, free of charge to first party, all materials used in improving the place during the life of this lease. Second party agrees to haul out, free of charge the tile to bo used on the farm during the life of this [421]*421lease, said tile to be put in after March 1st, 1916. Second party hereby agrees to fill all tile ditches on place from the date of this lease until the termination of same.”

Plaintiff sought, upon the trial, to introduce evidence in support of the terms of the alleged oral agreements; but, upon objection of counsel for defendant that this evidence tended to vary, modify, and contradict the written contracts, the court declined to admit the same. Cases illustrating the application of this rule of evidence are exceedingly numerous, and no doubt are, to some extent, lacking in consistency. Without assuming the unnecessary task of classifying and differentiating the following cases decided by this court, commencing with Lister v. Clark, 48 Iowa 168, in some of which parol evidence was held admissible, and in others, not, they will serve to illustrate the variety of controversies in which the question has been discussed by this court. It was held in all of them, however, that parol evidence, in the absence of allegations of fraud, accident, or mistake, is not admissible to vary, alter, or contradict the terms of a written instrument. Gray & Forsbeck v. Anderson, 99 Iowa 342; Murdy v. Skyles, 101 Iowa 549; Harvey v. Henry, 108 Iowa 168; Mt. Vernon Stone Co. v. Sheely, 114 Iowa 313; Oakland Cemetery Assn. v. Lakins, 126 Iowa 121; Sutton v. Weber, 127 Iowa 361; Willis v. Weeks, 129 Iowa 525; Kelsey v. Continental Cas. Co., 131 Iowa 207; Doolittle v. Murray & Co., 134 Iowa 536; Plover Sav. Bank v. Moodie, 135 Iowa 685; Wells v. Hocking Valley Coal Co., 137 Iowa 526; Anderson v. Thero, 139 Iowa 632; Chamberlain v. Brown, 141 Iowa 540; Bobzin v. Gould Bal. Valve Co., 140 Iowa 744; Canfield Lbr. Co. v. Kint Lbr. Co., 148 Iowa 207; Kurts v. Payne Inv. Co., 156 Iowa 376; Guthrie Ice Co. v. Selby, 166 Iowa 474; Ball v. James, 176 Iowa 647; Armstrong v. Cavanagh, 183 Iowa 140.

The facts in this case seem, however, to bring it within the rule of Miller v. Morine, 167 Iowa 287; Kelly v. Chicago, M. & St. P. R. Co., 93 Iowa 436; Lerch v. Sioux City Times Co., 91 Iowa 750; Slump v. Blain, 177 Iowa 239; Larson v. Smith, 174 Iowa 619; Witthauer v. Wheeler, 172 Iowa 225; Electric S. R. Co. v. Waterloo, C. F. & N. R. Co., 138 Iowa 369; First Nat. Bank v. Snyder Bros., 79 Iowa 191.

The fácts involved in Miller v. Morine, in which our hold[422]*422ing in Kelly v. Railway Company and Lerch v. Times Co., cited above, was sufficiently reviewed, are quite analogous to the facts in the case before us. In that ease, the defendant, against whom the lessor had commenced suit for rent, alleged and sought to show that the plaintiff orally agreed to tile and drain the leased premises, and that he had failed to do so, to his damage. The lease contained no provision with reference to tiling or draining the farm.

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190 Iowa 418, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/banwart-v-shullenburg-iowa-1920.