Dreiske v. People's Lumber Co.

107 Ill. App. 285, 1903 Ill. App. LEXIS 437
CourtAppellate Court of Illinois
DecidedMarch 19, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 107 Ill. App. 285 (Dreiske v. People's Lumber Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Appellate Court of Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Dreiske v. People's Lumber Co., 107 Ill. App. 285, 1903 Ill. App. LEXIS 437 (Ill. Ct. App. 1903).

Opinion

Mr. Justice Windes

delivered the opinion of the court.

A preliminary question is suggested by counsel for plaintiffs in error, though it is not argued by counsel for defendant in error, viz., whether error will lie because the bill was not formally dismissed. The only relief asked by the bill was for an injunction, and that being dissolved, was in effect a disposition of the whole case, and equivalent to a dismissal of the bill. Even plaintiffs in error might have had the bill dismissed on their own motion after a dissolution of the injunction. Titus v. Mabee, 25 Ill. 257; Prout v. Lomer, 79 Ill. 331; Williams v. C. E. Co., 188 Ill. 19, and cases cited.

The principal question in controversy arises upon the provision of the lease first above quoted in the statement. We think it plain from this provision that the improvements in question referred to specifically in the statement as between the parties were to be considered as in the nature of personal property during the existence of the lease, and it was evidently inserted for the purpose of removing any question, as between the parties, as to whether any erections which might be made by the lumber company during its lease became a part of the realty or were merely trade fixtures removable at the pleasure of the company during the existence of the lease, subject, however, to certain provisions of the lease with regard to the payment of rent, which are in no way in question. If it is true, as alleged in the sworn bill, that the lumber company remained in possession of the demised premises after the 3¡>th day of April, 1899, against the consent of plaintiffs in error and in direct violation of the provisions of the lease (and for the purposes of this decision that must be taken as true, since there has been no final hearing in the case, the injunction being dissolved on motion of the lumber company), then it follows that the, company was a trespasser, had no right to remove the improvements-in question, and the injunction was improperly dissolved. Donnelly v. Thieben, 9 Ill. App. 498; Mason v. Fenn, 13 Ill. 525; Peck v. Christman, 94 Ill. App. 435; First Nat. Bk. v. Adam, 138 Ill. 483-98; Sanitary Dist. v. Cook, 169 Ill. 184; Thomas v. Crout, 68 Ky. (5 Bush) 37; Watriss v. Nat. Bk., 124 Mass. 571; Talbot v. Cruger, 151 N. Y. 117-20; Overton v. Williston, 31 Pa. St. 155-8; Sullivan v. Carberry, 67 Me. 532; Stokoe v. Upton, 40 Mich. 581-4; Darrah v. Baird, 101 Pa. Sta. 265; Shellar v. Shivers, 171 Pa. Sta. 569.

It should be noted in connection with the matters above stated, that under the first provision of the lease quoted, it was the duty of the lessee, the lumber company, at the termination of the lease to have all said improvements at that time— the termination of the lease—off the demised premises. The language is, “ shall have the right to and shall have removed from said premises, all buildings,” etc. This applies not only to improvements made before the lease, but to all that might thereafter be made; and it should be noted that the part of this provision relied upon by the defendant in error refers to the same improvements, and the greatest effect that can be given to it is, in our opinion, that the improvements, of whatever nature, were to be considered, as between the parties, trade fixtures, and removable as such, and in compliance with the terms of the lease. The provision that the buildings, etc., should not become a part of the realty, can have no greater effect than making them trade fixtures and removable as such, so far as concerns the rights of the parties to this case. Darrah and Shellar cases, supra.

The second provision of the lease quoted in the statement makes it the duty of the lessee to deliver up said premises “ immediately upon the termination of said term,” and if it should remain in possession thereof “ after the termination of this lease ” it should be deemed guilty of a forcible detainer of the premises under the statute, and subject to eviction and removal, forcibly or otherwise; in other words, the company, by remaining beyond the end of the term, became a trespasser and had no right to remove these improvements.

In the case of the Sanitary District, supra, in which the court had under consideration the right of the tenant to remove trade fixtures in the case of a new leasing without reserving the right to remove the fixtures placed on the demised premises under a previous lease, while quoting some language in Mason v. Fenn, supra, which would seem to support defendant in error’s contention, held, citing numerous authorities, that in the case of a new leasing, which failed to recognize the right of the tenant to remove trade fixtures erected thereon under a previous lease, there being no change of possession, such fixtures could not be “ removed by the urn ant during or at the end of the new lease, notwithstanding the actual possession of the premises has been continuous.” This seems decisive of the question in this case.

In the Donnelly case, supra, this court, the opinion being delivered by Mr. Justice Bailey, subsequently of the Supreme Court, speaking on this question, said

“ The tenant’s right to remove is rather considered a privilege allowed to him, than an absolute right to the things themselves. If' he does not exercise the privilege before his interest expires, he can not do it afterward, because the right to possess the land and the fixtures as a part of the realty vests immediately in the landlord; and, although the landlord has no right to complain, if the land be restored to him in the same plight it was before he made the lease, yet, if the land is suffered to return to him with additions and improvements, even by forfeiture or notice to quit, he has a right to consider them as a part of his property.”

In the Mason case, supra, in which the court said that trade fixtures which could be “ detached without material injury to the estate, may be removed1 by him (the tenant) before he quits the possession,” the court further says, after stating that the articles were not removed during the continuance of the lease, that “he (the tenant) remained in possession of the premises after the expiration of the term, and, as we must presume, with the assent of the landlord. His right of removal continued so long as he was rightfully in possession.” The court further on in the opinion states that the tenant was prevented from exercising this right by an injunction sued out by the landlord. The case is far different from the one at bar, in which, according to the hill, which must be taken as true, the lumber company was given at least a month’s notice by complainants that its right of possession "would expire April 30, 1899, and the possession thereafter was against the consent of plaintiffs in error, and in direct violation of the terms of the lease.

In the Peck case, supra, this court held that where a tenant holds over, the landlord has the right to treat him as one wrongfully in possession, or as a tenant holding for a new term. This is sustained by numerous authorities. It follows, therefore, that if the lumber company was not a tenant for a new term, and that is not claimed, but on the contrary it is specifically alleged by the bill that it held against the consent of the complainants, it was therefore a trespasser after April 30, 1899.

In the Watriss case, supra, the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, while Mr. Justice Gray was a member of the court, speaking through Mr. Justice Endicott, and citing numerous cases, say:

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107 Ill. App. 285, 1903 Ill. App. LEXIS 437, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/dreiske-v-peoples-lumber-co-illappct-1903.