Blackburn v. Manning

307 S.W.2d 347, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 2176
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedNovember 4, 1957
Docket6707
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 307 S.W.2d 347 (Blackburn v. Manning) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Blackburn v. Manning, 307 S.W.2d 347, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 2176 (Tex. Ct. App. 1957).

Opinion

PITTS, Chief Justice.

This is a suit for breach of a rental contract involving the use of certain town lots, filed by appellant, Stanley Blackburn, against appellee, W. H. Manning, and five named alleged tenants of appellee Manning, but all of the relief sought was against ap-pellee Manning, leaving the other named defendants as being no more than nominal parties, if even that. The case was tried to the court without a jury, as a result of which appellant was denied any recovery as against any of the defendants by judgment duly entered, from which judgment appellant perfected his appeal and here seeks recovery against appellee Manning only.

The suit was brought seeking a forfeiture of a written lease contract executed by the parties authorizing appellee Manning, for a valuable consideration, to occupy and use 10 described adjacent unimproved town lots located in Amarillo-, Texas, and owned by appellant, for a period of nine years, beginning January 15, 1955 and expiring January 15, 1964. The terms of the lease authorized the occupancy and use of the said lots for “moving equipment storage, office, workshop and sleeping quarters, and not otherwise”, and it further provided by its terms that “all property placed upon the premises, whether affixed to the soil or not,, shall retain the character of personal property and belong to lessee, and shall be removed by lessee within a reasonable time after the termination hereof.” The terms-of the lease further provided that “This lease is a new lease, and is executed in place and stead of a previous lease covering the same premises demised herein, executed by Stanley Blackburn, Lessor, and W. H. Manning, Lessee, on the 15th day of January,. 1954.” The record reveals that the latter-lease mentioned was previously executed by the said parties to this suit for a term of five years, beginning January 15, 1954 and expiring January 15, 1959, and that the terms contained the exact language previously. herein quoted from the lease contract sued on here concerning the purpose for which the premises may be used and the personal character of improvements placed thereon.

The record reveals that appellant’s father, as the predecessor in title to the town lots, had, by a 10-year contract beginning January 1, 1949, previously leased the same said town lots, except for five such lots not included in the subsequent leases, to appellee under the same material terms and provisions as those previously herein quoted and recited in the last two subsequent leases executed by the parties to this suit and that appellee had accordingly occupied *349 the premises continuously under the terms of the three mentioned leases since January 15, 1949. Both parties to this suit testified that the lease here sued on was executed by them in lieu of a former lease contract in settlement of a controversy existing between them caused by appellee using five adjacent town lots to the ones here involved, which lots were also owned by appellant. The record reveals that the said five lots had been previously included in the original lease contract executed by appellant’s father in favor of appellee and appellee had been using them previously. But they had been excluded in the lease contract here involved. The material terms of the last lease contract, the same being the one here involved, are the same as the previous one executed between the parties to this suit except that it had extended the primary term for five years or to January 15, 1964.

Based upon such existing conditions appellant pleaded a mis-use of the last lease contract by appellee in that he had moved buildings upon the premises and was using such for a garage, filling station and an apartment house, each open for public use and to serve the public and that advertising signs had been placed on the premises and a part of such premises had been sub-leased, all allegedly having been done contrary to the provisions of the lease contract and in breach of its terms. Appellee pleaded a general denial; that the lease contract here involved was an extension of the former lease; that the same was executed as a compromise settlement of a previous controversy between the parties; that the usage then being made of the town lots was to continue; that the language used in the lease contract was ambiguous, and he likewise pleaded mutual mistake, waiver, ratification by appellant and estoppel as a bar to appellant’s recovery, in any event.

There is competent evidence of probative force to the effect that whatever use ap-pellee was making of the premises began during the lifetime of appellant’s father, who, as the owner then of the premises and as lessor, assisted appellee as lessee in borrowing the money to place the improvements in question upon the very same town lots, that such was known to appellant and that the premises in question had since been openly and continuously used by appellee in the same manner as they were being used when appellant herein became owner of the lots by conveyance of his father and executed both leases previously mentioned; that appellant had been on the said premises at least on several occasions while such were being so used openly and consequently knew of such usage. Appellant testified in effect that he had been on the said premises and had seen the buildings thereon being used but he did not know they were being used openly for the service of the public. He further testified that he saw the advertising signs on the premises and had never complained about their usage and was not then complaining particularly about use of said signs. Pictures of the signs on the fronts of the buildings on the premises are in evidence introduced by appellant and we believe they show public use of the premises. One sign says in big letters on the front of a building: “Robert’s Auto Repairs, Truck and Car, Brake Service, Engines Repaired,” and another signs says “Flats Fixed.” Appellant introduced other pictures of signs of like import. Appellee testified he had not at any time assigned or sub-leased any part of the premises in question to anyone else and that appellant nor anyone else had ever complained about the usage he was making of the premises.

The lease contract sued on here was executed by the parties on February 10, 1955 to begin January 15, 1955, thus beginning retroactively at a time when the foregoing described usage of the premises had long previously begun and the same continuously thereafter used. The lease contract was prepared on a printed form designed and adapted apparently for use in leasing improved city property and not for the leasing of unimproved city lots such as were here leased. The terms of *350 the printed form required appellee as lessee to care for the fixtures and keep the premises, including the plumbing and plate glass, in good repair and other sur-plusages that could not apply to leasehold responsibilities of unimproved lots such as were here leased. There were blanks left in the form for the use of inserting •other terms if desired and all of the previous terms herein quoted were written into the blank spaces in the lease contract.

Appellant has challenged the trial court’s judgment without seeking any findings of fact or conclusions of law from the trial court and no such were filed. But we must assume that the trial court’s findings were all in support of its judgment and that it did not consider any improper evidence heard, if any such was introduced.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

S & L RESTAURANT CORP. v. Leal
883 S.W.2d 221 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1994)
Smith v. Valdez
764 S.W.2d 26 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1989)
Inpetco, Inc. v. Texas American Bank/Houston N.A.
722 S.W.2d 721 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1987)
Seiffert v. Bowden
556 S.W.2d 406 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1977)
GC Murphy Company v. Lack
404 S.W.2d 853 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1966)
Cotten v. Republic National Bank of Dallas
395 S.W.2d 930 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1965)
Greenfeld v. San Jacinto Insurance Company
319 S.W.2d 134 (Court of Appeals of Texas, 1958)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
307 S.W.2d 347, 1957 Tex. App. LEXIS 2176, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/blackburn-v-manning-texapp-1957.