Brooks v. Gaffin

95 S.W. 418, 196 Mo. 351, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 213
CourtSupreme Court of Missouri
DecidedMay 22, 1906
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 95 S.W. 418 (Brooks v. Gaffin) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Missouri primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brooks v. Gaffin, 95 S.W. 418, 196 Mo. 351, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 213 (Mo. 1906).

Opinion

FOX, J.

This is an action of ejectment to recover certain coal lands which had been leased to defendant by Alexander Brooks in his lifetime, and the cause is now here upon appeál from a judgment in the Lafayette Circuit Court. The cause of action is thus stated in the petition of plaintiff filed in the circuit court of Lafayette county:

“Plaintiff avers that the said plaintiffs, Sydney W. Brooks, Olellia John Brooks and Mary E. Brooks, .are infants, being under the age of twenty-one years, and that they sue by their lawfully appointed and duly qualified guardian of their person and curator of their estate, Mary A. Brooks, who is an adult, and also sues in her own right as co-plaintiff.
“Plaintiffs aver that the said Mary A.» Brooks is the widow and the other plaintiffs are the children and only heirs at law of Alexander Brooks, deceased, who departed this life on or about the--day of February, 1901, seized and possessed of the following described premises, situate in the county aforesaid, to-wit:
“The northwest quarter of the northeast quarter of section one, township fifty, range twenty-seven, that part of the west half of the southwest quarter of section thirty-six, township fifty-one, range twenty-seven, that lies south of the right of way of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company, except sixty-six feet off of the west side of the southwest quarter of the southwest [353]*353quarter of said section thirty-six, and ten acres off of the west side of the east half of the southwest quarter of said section thirty-six, and the west side of the northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of said section one, except one-half acre off the south end of said ten-acre tract, said strip being made by a line beginning at a point on the south line of the said railway right of way and running south parallel with the section line to the south line of said northeast quarter of the northwest quarter of said section one.
“Plaintiffs aver that upon the death of said Alexander Brooks the title in fee and right of possession of said property descended to and vested in said plaintiffs.
“Plaintiffs aver that on the 8th day of January, 1903, they were lawfully entitled to the possession of. the premises above described and that being so entitled to the possession of the same the defendant afterward, on the 9th day of January, 1903, entered into such premises and unlawfully withholds from plaintiffs the possession thereof, to their damage in the sum of- one hundred dollars. Plaintiffs further aver that the monthly value of rents and profits of said premises is fifty dollars.
“Plaintiffs further aver that said defendant has committed waste upon said premises on said 9th day of January, 1903, and on- sundry and divers other days by wrongfully and without leave entering on said premises and digging, excavating and carrying away the coal thereunder, to the value of two hundred and fifty dollars, to the damage of plaintiffs in the sum of two hundred and fifty dollars.
“Wherefore, plantiffs demand judgment for the recovery of said premises and one hundred dollars damages for unlawfully withholding same from plaintiffs, and the further sum of two hundred and fifty dollars for the said waste committed as aforesaid, and fifty dollars [354]*354for monthly rents and profits from the rendition of of judgment until the posssession of the premises is delivered to plaintiffs and for all other and further general relief.”

The answer was a general denial. Upon the trial the facts are practically undisputed.

Mary A. Brooks is the widow of Alexander Brooks and her co-plaintiffs are his children and heirs at law. The legal title to the land involved in this controversy was in Alexander Brooks, and upon his death descended to the plaintiffs in this cause. Prior to the death of Alexander Brooks he executed a mining lease to the defendant. This lease was introduced in evidence. It can serve no useful purpose to reproduce such lease in full; but it is sufficient to indicate substantially some of the essential clauses. It contained the following express clause regarding the forfeiture. It provided: “On the non-performance of or non-compliance with any of the terms or conditions of this agreement on the part of the second party [Otho M. Gaffin] this lease shall be forfeited at the option of the party of the first part, who shall be entitled to re-enter and take possession of the premises on ten days written notice to that effect to said second party, his assigns, or legal representatives. The second party [Otho M. Gaffin] for himself, assigns and legal representatives agrees to surrender the peaceful and full possession of the premises on the termination, expiration or forfeiture of this lease, without further notice or demand than expressed in this agreement.”

In substance the following conditions were embraced in said lease:

“First: The condition whereby he agreed in good faith and with all proper expedition to mine and remove the coal from said premises.
“Second: The condition for the first two years of this lease to mine and remove sufficient coal at least to keep the face of mining on the above premises even [355]*355with the face of coal or second party on the adjoining land now being mined by him.
“Third: The condition and that during the remaining years of said lease he will mine and remove at least 16,000 bushels per month from. September 1 of each year to April 1 of the following year, and at least one-fourth that amount during the other months of the year, and in default of mining such quantities, he will pay for at least that number of bushels at each monthly pay day.
“Fourth: The condition to make settlements on the twentieth day .of each month of all coal mined to the first of such month and unpaid for.
‘ ‘ Fifth: The condition to have the survey made of said mines twice each year at his own expense and exhibit such survey to said first party, so as to show how the face of coal is progressing on his land.”

We have carefully analyzed the evidence as disclosed by the record and without undertaking to further detail it, it is sufficient to say that it is not seriously contended that the evidence failed to- establish that some one or more of the conditions embraced in the mining lease hereinbefore pointed out, were broken and not performed in accordance with the terms of said lease. The record discloses ample and sufficient evidence to have fully warranted the court in finding that the conditions of such lease had not been complied with. The notice required under the provisions of the lease, in order to entitle the party of the first part to re-enter and take possession of the leased .premises, was given and served on the defendant December 20, 1902.

At the close of the evidence plaintiffs tendered numerous instructions and requested the court to so declare the law to the court, sitting as a jury. We deem it unnecessary to burden this opinion with a reproduction of the instructions; it is sufficient to say that some of them at least declared the law in such terms as rendered them in harmony with the rules of law announced [356]*356in the case decided by Division No.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
95 S.W. 418, 196 Mo. 351, 1906 Mo. LEXIS 213, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brooks-v-gaffin-mo-1906.