Frandora Realty, Inc. v. Grinnell Bros.

166 N.W.2d 511, 15 Mich. App. 217, 1968 Mich. App. LEXIS 810
CourtMichigan Court of Appeals
DecidedDecember 23, 1968
DocketDocket No. 3,861
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 166 N.W.2d 511 (Frandora Realty, Inc. v. Grinnell Bros.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Frandora Realty, Inc. v. Grinnell Bros., 166 N.W.2d 511, 15 Mich. App. 217, 1968 Mich. App. LEXIS 810 (Mich. Ct. App. 1968).

Opinion

QuiLn, ' J.

Plaintiff-landlord filed this action (against' defendant-ténant to recover rent allegedly ,'due under the percentage of gross sales provision of a written lease executed by the parties May 9, 1955. ■The trial court found there was an accord and satisfaction, plaintiff had waived its right to collect the 'tents claimed, and plaintiff was estopped from collecting such rents. Plaintiff appeals from a judgment of no cause, for action.

The lease is a printed form with blank spaces to he filled in according to the agreement of the .par[219]*219ties, but in this instance, the printed provisions with respect to term and rental were not used. Instead, just above the first line of paragraph 2 dealing with term and above the first line of paragraph 3 dealing with rental, the words “see rider” were typed, and none of the blank spaces of paragraphs 2 and 3 were filled in. A typewritten rider was attached to the lease covering the agreement as to term of 15 years with renewal option and minimum monthly rental plus the percentage of gross sales provision.

Paragraph 4 of the lease defines gross sales as,

“ ‘Gross sales’ is hereby defined to mean and include the entire amount of all sales of every kind and character, and all revenues from all departments and services made in, upon and from the herein demised premises by Tenant or any other person or persons, both for cash and on credit, regardless of collections in case of the latter, including all orders taken and merchandise sold from the herein demised premises and filled or delivered from any other store or place, including mail and telephone orders received or filled from the demised premises and all deposits not refunded to purchasers. Gross sales shall not include and there shall be excluded therefrom: (a) returns and refunds to customers; (b) the amount of any ‘sales tax’ so-called collected by Tenant or any other tax which Tenant may now or hereafter be required to pay or collect by any federal, state, municipal or local authority as a sales tax; and (c) interstore transfers of merchandise at Tenant’s cost to other stores owned by or affiliated with Tenant.”

Paragraph 5 of the lease specifies the records to be kept by the tenant as,

“Tenant agrees to keep full and accurate books of all sales and business transacted in accordance [220]*220with good accounting- practice. Landlord shall have the right at all reasonable times to examine such books and records of Tenant relating to sales and business transacted upon the leased premises in order to determine the correct amount or amounts due Landlord. Tenant shall furnish to Landlord a true and accurate statement on or before the twentieth of each month of the gross sales transacted by Tenant and any sub-lessees during the preceding month and shall, on or before February 1st, furnish a true and accurate statement, verified by independent accountants of good standing of such gross sales during the preceding calendar year. Tenant further agrees to furnish to Landlord each month a copy of its Michigan Sales Tax Return and Tenant hereby waives the confidential information covered in Section 20 of the Sales Tax Act, 167 P.A. 1933, as amended, and grants to Landlord permission to examine the sales tax records on file in the office of the Department of Revenue for the State of Michigan, or at such other place where such records may'be on file, as they pertain'to the within demised premises, for the sole purpose of verifying the correctness of the report of gross sales submitted.”

Paragraph 6 of the lease provides for the landlord’s right to audit as follows:

“In the event Landlord is not satisfied with any monthly or annual or other statement submitted to it by Tenant, Landlord shall have the privilege of having an audit made of the books and records pertaining to the business of Tenant in the demised premises. Such audit shall be made by a certified public accountant selected by Landlord and in the event said audit shall show that Tenant has reported and paid the full amount required as ‘minimum rental’ and ‘percentage rental’, then the expense of such audit shall be borne by Landlord, but in the event that said audit shall show that Tenant failed to report the correct amount of gross sales and a [221]*221shortage in excess of one per cent (1%) in gross sales for any annual period, then the expense of said audit shall he paid by Tenant hereunder as additional rent payable upon the next rental payment date. In the event that such audit discloses a deficiency in the amount of rent payable hereunder by Tenant, the amount of such deficiency shall be promptly paid together with interest therein at the rate of six per cent (6%) per annum from the date when said rental was payable until the date of actual payment.”

Defendant took possession December 1, 1955 and regmlarly filed the required monthly and annual reports together with letters of transmittal and paid the additional rental established by such reports. The form of the monthly reports was,

“Gross sales ............................ xxxx Less: trade ins, returns and allowances . . xxx Net sales............................... xxxx”

Percentage rental was computed on net sales. The annual reports were recapitulations of the monthly reports. This procedure still prevails.

About June 7, 1962, plaintiff requested and obtained an audit of defendant’s books and records, and the audit was completed about June 25, 1962. The audit disclosed that defendant had not included in gross sales trade-ins, repossessions, outside service sales, merchandise sold at special discount and bad debt charge-offs. In response to plaintiff’s request that these items be included in gross sales, defendant denied liability thereon except bad debt charge-offs. Defendant admitted the latter should have been included in gross sales and corrected its percentage rental payments accordingly. About February 4,19637 plaintiff filed this action,

[222]*222It is apparent that this dispute arose because the parties to the lease placed different interpretations on the definition of gross sales. Unfortunately, the trial court did not reach the question of what is and what is not included in gross sales, so the question is not before this Court. The questions to be resolved here are: Was there an accord and satisfaction? Has plaintiff waived its right to collect the rent claimed? Is plaintiff estopped from collecting the additional rent claimed ?

In Shaw v. United Motors Products Co. (1927), 239 Mich 194, 196, the Supreme Court stated:

“If the tender is in full satisfaction of an unliquidated claim, the amount of which is in good faith disputed by the debtor, and the creditor is fully informed of the condition accompanying acceptance, an accord and satisfaction is accomplished if the money so tendered is retained.”

In the case at bar, there was no dispute as to the amount due from defendant to plaintiff until the audit, nor does the record indicate any reason why plaintiff should have disputed the amount due prior to audit. There was no accord and satisfaction with respect to the amount due prior to audit. '

The reporting and payment procedure followed by defendant after audit remained the same. There never was a clear, full and explicit statement by defendant that it tendered these percentage rental payments in full satisfaction of all rent due. Durkin v.

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Bluebook (online)
166 N.W.2d 511, 15 Mich. App. 217, 1968 Mich. App. LEXIS 810, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/frandora-realty-inc-v-grinnell-bros-michctapp-1968.