Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Corp. v. Haymakers Warehousing Corp.

264 S.W. 326, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 631
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedMay 16, 1924
DocketNo. 8515. [fn*]
StatusPublished
Cited by8 cases

This text of 264 S.W. 326 (Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Corp. v. Haymakers Warehousing Corp.) 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
Curtiss Aeroplane & Motor Corp. v. Haymakers Warehousing Corp., 264 S.W. 326, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 631 (Tex. Ct. App. 1924).

Opinion

PLEASANTS, C. J.

As finally developed by the amended pleadings upon which the case was tried in the court below this is a suit by the appellee above named, which will hereinafter be designated Warehousing Corporation, against appellant to recover possession of premises owned by it and theretofore leased to appellant, and also damages for the wrongful “holding over” by appellant after the expiration of the terms of the lease.

The amended petition, after setting up plaintiff’s cause of action as owner of the premises for the wrongful holding over by the defendant, and its claim for the rental value of the premises for the time possession thereof had been withheld from it by defendant, further alleged in substance that it had contracted with the Texas Hay Association, hereinafter designated as Hay Association to furnish warehouse facilities for storing hay for the association after the expiration of the lease under which the defendant had entered upon the premises, and that by its wrongful holding over defendant had caused plaintiff to-breach its contract with'the Hay Association and to 'become liable to it for the damages thereby sustained.

Plaintiff prayed that the Hay Association be made a party and required to establish in this suit the damages claimed by it, and that,'in addition to the rental value of the premises, plaintiff have judgment against the. defendant for whatever amount might be recovered against plaintiff by the Hay Association.

The Hay Association by its answer adopted the allegations of plaintiff’s petition and alleged that it—

“had been damaged by reason of the facts set out in plaintiff’s first amended original petition in the sum of seven thousand five hundred ($7,-500) dollars, and the Texas Hay Association is entitled to recover of the plaintiff and the defendant under and by virtue of contract with the Haymakers Warehousing Corporation of date the 13th day of August, A. D. 1921, entitling the Texas Hay Association to the possession, use, and storage facilities afforded by said "warehouses and premises at a cost to the Texas Hay Association of the actual cost of such services, all as more particularly shown by said contract of August 13, 1921, reference to which is here made for all purposes, and that the Texas Hay Association relied upon its agreement with the Haymakers Warehousing Corporation relative to the storing of the hay of the Texas Hay Association in the bams and on the premises involved in this suit, and was entitled to the use of said barns and premises under its said contract with the Haymakers Warehousing Corporation for the purpose of storing its hay therein, all as was well known to the defendants, and that the damages which have resulted to the Texas Hay Association by- reason of the failure of the defendants to vacate said premises were made known to the defendants by the Texas Hay Association, notwithstanding which fact the defendants failed and refused to vacate said premises and to deliver the possession thereof to the plaintiff, Haymakers Corporation, or to the Texas Hay Association, and have refused to permit the Texas Hay Association to store its hay in said warehouses, and have prevented the plaintiff, Haymakers Warehousing Corporation, to fulfill its contract with the Texas Hay Association, all as alleged in the first amended original petition of the Haymakers Warehousing Corporation, to the damage of the plaintiff as therein specified in the sum of seven thousand five hundred ($7,500) dollars, for which sum the Texas Hay Association sues both the plaintiff, Haymakers Warehousing Corporation, and each of the defendants, and prays judgment of the court for all such damages as it has sustained, and for such other and further relief, general and special, to which it may be entitled.”

*328 The defendant answered plaintiff’s petition by general demurrer and numerous special exceptions, and by general denial and special plea setting up facts showing that the condition of the building on the rented premises was such that their rental value was much less than claimed by plaintiff; “and in no event would exceed $506 per year.”

In answer to the Hay Association’s claim for damages, defendant demurred generally, and specially excepted as follows:

“This defendant further says that the -said Texas Hay Association is not a proper party to this cause, in that it has no interest in the cause of action asserted in plaintiff’s petition, and is only brought into this cause for the convenience of the plaintiff, who, instead of seeking relief against said intervener, is seeking to be sued by it, which is highly improper.
“Defendant further excepts to said intervention, in that it is not made to appear therein that the said intervener is a landlord of this defendant, or that there is any privity of contract between said intervener and this defendant, and that this defendant has in any way trespassed upon the premises belonging to the intervener, or in any way violated any legal duty owing to plaintiff. *
“By way of answer to said intervention, if need be, the defendant denies all and singular the allegations in said intervention contained, and demands strict proof-thereof, and puts itself upon the country.
“Premises considered, defendant prays that said intervener take nothing against it by reason of said intervention, and that it go hence without day and recover its cost.”

The trial in the court below without a jury resulted in a judgment in favor of the Warehousing Corporation against the defendant for the title and possession of the premises, and for $3,000 rental value of the premises from the date of the expiration of the lease to the date of the judgment, and judgment in favor of the Hay Association against the defendant for $5,000, the damages sustained by it in loss of profits' on hay which it was prevented from storing in the warehouse on the'premises by reason of the wrongful withholding of the possession thereof by defendant.

The record discloses the following facts:

The Haymakers Warehousing Corporation is a subsidiary of the Texas Hay Association, organized for the purpose of storing and warehousing the hay owned by the Texas Hay Association, and in order that it might issue its warehouse receipts to the Texas Hay Association for the purpose of enabling the Texas Hay Association to borrow money on said warehouse receipts. All stockholders of the Texas Hay Association were likewise stockholders of the Haymakers Warehousing Corporation. The Texas Hay Association and the Haymakers Warehousing Corporation had the same general manager in charge and occupied a common office with the same employees in charge of the affairs of each of said corporations. The Haymak-ers Warehousing Corporation was engaged exclusively in acting as warehouseman for the Texas Hay Association.

The undisputed evidence shows that appellant wrongfully withheld possession of the premises after the termination of its lease, and that it had notice before the expiration of the lease that the Warehousing Corporation, the legal owner of the premises, had contracted with the Hay Association to store the hay of the association in the warehouses on the premises after the expiration of appellant’s lease.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
264 S.W. 326, 1924 Tex. App. LEXIS 631, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/curtiss-aeroplane-motor-corp-v-haymakers-warehousing-corp-texapp-1924.