Brown v. Reno Electric Light & Power Co.

55 F. 229, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2548
CourtU.S. Circuit Court for the District of Nevada
DecidedMarch 6, 1893
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 55 F. 229 (Brown v. Reno Electric Light & Power Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering U.S. Circuit Court for the District of Nevada primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Brown v. Reno Electric Light & Power Co., 55 F. 229, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2548 (circtdnv 1893).

Opinion

HAWLEY, District Judge.

This action was brought to recover |5,000 damages, alleged to have been sustained by plaintiff by the breach of certain covenants in a lease. On May i, 1887, the plain[230]*230tiff, being tbe owner of certain land bordering on tbe Truckee river, in Washoe county, contracted with one J. L. Stevenson to put a dam in the river, to construct a flume, ditch, and tail race, and to dig and construct at the end of said ditch a “penstock of the dimensions required for a 48-inch Leffel wheel,” and to “put in place in full working order in said described penstock one Leffel water wheel, 48 inches in size, and sufficient to develop not less than 60 horse power.” This work was, in due time, completed by Stevenson, and paid for by plaintiff. On May 2, 1887, plaintiff gave a lease to Stevenson of said land, including “the appurtenances which comprise the water power, ditch, flumes, dams, Leffel turbine wheel of 48 inches diameter, and tail-race ditch now about to be made and erected” by said Stevenson, for the term of five years, at a fixed monthly rental. It was, among other things, covenanted in said lease that if Stevenson at any time during the first three years of the lease should desire to purchase the leased premises for $13,000, the plaintiff would convey the same to him, “together with all the appurtenances, inclusive of water-power ditch, flumes, dams, wheel, tail-race ditch, and all buildings and erections of what kind or nature soever in and upon the said demised premises, excepting such buildings as may be erected by tenants of the lessee during the currency of this lease." It was further covenanted that said Stevenson would “keep all buildings, erections, water wheels, flumes, dams, ditches, tab-race ditches, etc., upon the demised premises in good substantial repair during the whole term of this lease, and that at the expiration of said term * * * will quit and surrender the said premises and all appurtenances [repeating here the words in italics above quoted] in as goood state and condition as reasonable use and wear thereof will permit.” When the lease was executed it was understood by the parties thereto that the leased premises were to be used in the nighttime for the purpose of producing or creating water power to be used in running and operating an electric light plant for the purpose of lighting lamps in the town of Reno. The clause in italics was not in the original draft of the lease, but was inserted at the request of Stevenson, so as to enable him to sublet the premises in the daytime for other purposes, and to enable such tenants to remove such buildings and erections as they might construct or put upon said premises for their own uses. The lease was assigned to defendant on the 20th day of October, 1888, and the leased premises were never used for any other purpose than that of operating an electric light plant. The defendant is entitled to the same rights and privbeges, and is subject to the same conditions and liabilities, as the original lessee.

Prior to the assignment of the lease Stevenson erected upon the premises a substantial dynamo house, boarded up at the ends, and cebed on the inside with dressed cebing lumber. This building stood upon a solid stone wab foundation laid with mortar, and within tiie building were placed two dynamos. A bober house was constructed of rough lumber, the sills being laid on stone and blocks, and an engine and bober were placed therein. A shaft [231]*231house or shed was built mostly of old lumber taken from old buildings that were on the leased premises. Connecting the dynamos with the Leffiel wheel was a line shaft 29 feet long and 4f inches in diameter, upon which wheels, pulleys, belts, etc., were placed so as to transmit the water power for the purpose of. running the machinery and generating the electric light. This shaft rested upon, flue trestles, the bottom timbers of which were solidly imbedded in the earth about two feet deep. All of these buildings, with the machinery therein, were removed by the defendant. The work of tearing down the buildings and displacing the machinery commenced about the 25th of April, J892, and continued daily until all the buildings were torn down and the machinery removed from, its connections. The lease expired May 1st. There Is considerable conflict in the evidence as to when the work of tearing down the buildings ivas completed. I think the evidence shows that the buildings were torn down, and the machinery loosened from its connections, and portions thereof removed from the premises, prior to the expiration, of the lease. The main shaft and one of the driving wheels attached- to it was not taken out until May 2d or 3d, and portions of the materials, lumber, etc., from the build-lags, and portions of the machinery that had been taken out the buildings, were not removed from the premises until the 4th or 5th of May.

The first, and most important, question is whetlxer'the defendant had the right to remove the buildings and machinery erected, constructed, and placed upon the leased premises by the lessee, as trade fixtures. There is more or less diversity of opinion in the various courts of the United States as to the rule which should be adopted in determining the question; as, for instance, whether the fixtures placed, upon, the promises by the tenant are so annexed to the soil as to become a part of the freehold, or whether the intention of the parties or the character of the fixtures should control independent of, or in connection with, the question of annexation to the soil. It is safe to say that no definite rule can be gleaned from the decisions of the supreme court of Uevada upon this subject. The cases, however, will here be noticed. In Prescott v. Wells, Fargo & Co., 3 Nev. 82, it is stated that the term “fixtures” is used in a variety of senses, and might mean “something- substantially affixed to the land, but which may afterwards be lawfully removed therefrom by the party affixing it, -:v ° ° without, the consent of the owner of the freehold.” In Brown v, Lillie, 6 Nev. 244, the court declined to determine what might be considered trade, ornamental, or removable fixtures, but based Its decision upon the ground that nothing could become a fixture In any sense of the word which was neither attached to the realty nor placed upon the land with a view to making it permanent, nor essential to the full and complete enjoyment of the land, and that actual annexation to the soil is an essential requisite to constitute a fixture belonging to the realty. In applying these principles it was held that a sawmill built upon timbers lying upon the surface of the ground, and constructed with the object and purpose, after sawing [232]*232the timber within a convenient distance, to be removed to another locality, is a mere personal chattel, and will not pass by a conveyance or patent of the land. In Treadway v. Sharon, 7 Nev.

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

Related

Gaither v. Byers
221 F. Supp. 996 (E.D. Oklahoma, 1963)
In re Montello Brick Works
163 F. 624 (E.D. Pennsylvania, 1908)
Fenimore v. White
111 N.W. 204 (Nebraska Supreme Court, 1907)
Bush v. Havird
86 P. 529 (Idaho Supreme Court, 1906)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
55 F. 229, 1893 U.S. App. LEXIS 2548, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/brown-v-reno-electric-light-power-co-circtdnv-1893.