Green v. Scott

1933 OK 636, 28 P.2d 577, 167 Okla. 54, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 24
Supreme Court of Oklahoma·Decided November 28, 1933·No. 22548·Published·Cited by 1 cases

Opinion

WELCH, J.

This was an action by the plaintiff, O. F. Scott, to recover rent on a certain brick building for ten months in 1930, January to October, both inclusive, at $100 per month pursuant to five-year lease contract executed between the plaintiff, O. F. Scott, and defendant A. T. Nutt in July, 1927, for the term of five years from August 1, 1927, to August 1, 1932.

In the trial court the plaintiff also had judgment against the defendants A. T. Nutt, B. D. Jordan, and Horace White, but those three defendants do not appeal.

*55 The defendants Green & Giles, a part- ^ nership, and W. A. Green, personally, were not parties to the lease contract between the plaintiff, O. E. Scott, and the defendant A. T. Nutt in July, 1927, but in February, 1928, by written agreement shown of record, these defendants became assignees of the lease of A. T. Nutt, and went into and upon the premises as such assignees under their agreement to assume and pay the contracted rent. The trial court found that these defendants were therefore liable. This finding and conclusion on the part of the trial court is amply supported by the evidence, and no error of law is shown of record, in his brief this defendant, W. A. Green, for himself and for Green & Giles, a partnership, does not seriously question the correctness of this judgment against, him and his partnership, but complaint is made of the sustaining of the demurrers of the two defendant corporations to the plaintiff’s evidence. However, since the defendant's Green & Giles, a partnership, and W. A. Green, personally, were liable for this rent, the judgment was correctly rendered against them therefor, and that judgment against them could not be made to be erroneous because the trial court did not also give the plaintiff, Scott, a judgment against the two corporation defendants.

The trial court sustained demurrers to the plaintiff’s evidence on the part of the two defendant corporations, Oklahoma Transportation Company and Dixie Motor Coach Corporation. The trial court held that plaintiff’s evidence did not establish the liability of these two corporation defendants to pay this rent. The plaintiff, Scott, in his petition against all of the defendants had alleged, in substance, that Green & Giles, a partnership composed of W. A. Green and L. C. Giles, was an assignee of the A. T. Nutt lease, and that as such assignee they used the premises in connection with their operation of bus lines into and out of Ardmore. And that when thereafter the said W. A. Green and L. C. Giles sold all of their bus line properties and rights and privileges to the Oklahoma Transportation Company, the Oklahoma Transportation Company “assumed all of the obligations and liabilities of the said Green and Giles, including the obligation to pay rent to this plaintiff. That this plaintiff does not know whether said agreement was oral or in writing, but that said information is in the exclusive knowledge of the said defendant Oklahoma Transportation Company, a corporation, and therefore this plaintiff is unable to plead the exact provisions of said contract, or if the same be in writing, to attach a copy thereof. That by the terms of said contract, the said Oklahoma Transportation Company, a corporation, became liable to this plaintiff to perform the convenants and conditions of said lease contract, including the payment of rent.” The contract by which Green & Giles conveyed their properties and interests to the Oklahoma Transportation Company is in the record. It does not contain any such assumption on the part of the Oklahoma Transportation Company, but, on the contrary, specifically provides that there is no such assumption of any such obligation. The original lessee, A. T. Nutt, was also engaged in the bus transportation business and used the premises in Ardmore in his bus line .business. In fact, from the time he leased the premises, he operated therein and thereon a bus terminal. He also sold and conveyed part of his business and interests to the Oklahoma Transportation Company. That written conveyance is in the record and likewise contains no assumption of any obligation to pay the rent provided for in (he lease contract sued upon in this action, nor is there proof in the record of any oral assumption by this corporation defendant. The trial court properly held A. T. Nutt, the original lessee, and Green & Giles, a partnership, and W. A. Green, personally, assignees of the lease, to be liable to the plaintiff, and properly held that the Oklahoma Transportation Company was not an assignee of the lease, either from the lessee, A. T. Nutt, or from the assignee, Green & Giles. The evidence and proof introduced on the part of the plaintiff did not establish the allegations of -the plaintiff's petition as to any assumption on the part of the Oklahoma Transportation. Company.

The plaintiff in his petition had also alleged that Freeman & Freeman, a partnership, was an assignee of the lease contract by assignment from A. T. Nutt, the lessee, to Freeman & Freeman, and the plaintiff alleged further:

“That subsequent to the said 23rd day of February, 1928, and at an exact time not known to this plaintiff, the said Freeman & Freeman, a copartnership, sold all of their assets, including their interest in said lease contract aforesaid, to the Dixie Motor Coach Corporation, and this plaintiff is informed and believes, and therefore alleges and states, that the said Dixie Motor Coach Corporation assumed all of the obligations and liabilities of the said Freeman & Freeman, including the obligation to pay rent to this plaintiff. That this plaintiff does *56 not know whether said agreement was oral or iu writing, but that said information is in tlie exclusive knowledge of the said defendant Dixie Motor Coach Corporation, and therefore this plaintiff is unable to plead the exact provisions of said contract, or if the same be in writing, to attach a copy thereof. That by the terms of said contract, the said Dixie Motor Coach Corporation became liable to this plaintiff to perform the covenants and conditions of said lease contract, including the payment of rent.”

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Green v. Scott, 1933 OK 636, 28 P.2d 577, 167 Okla. 54, 1933 Okla. LEXIS 24 (Okla. 1933).

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