Grove v. Youell

33 L.R.A. 297, 68 N.W. 132, 110 Mich. 285, 1896 Mich. LEXIS 701
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 21, 1896
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 33 L.R.A. 297 (Grove v. Youell) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Grove v. Youell, 33 L.R.A. 297, 68 N.W. 132, 110 Mich. 285, 1896 Mich. LEXIS 701 (Mich. 1896).

Opinion

Long, C. J.

This action is upon a bond given by the defendant to the plaintiff. The bond recites that the defendánt, being in debt to the plaintiff, for the purchase price of certain lots in the city of Grand Rapids, in the sum of $4,000, agrees to pay that sum, with interest at the rate of 7 per cent., payable semi-annually, within five years from the date of the bond. The-bond further cites:

[286]*286“ It is further agreed that the said Grove may occupy any room in the house that is on said lots, or any room in ■any house that may be built on said lots to take the place ■of the one that is now on them, that she may select, during the remainder of her natural life. It is further agreed that the said Youell shall pay the said Grove the further ■sum of $50 every six months during the remainder of her natural life. Then this obligation shall be void; otherwise to remain in full force and effect.”

The breach of the conditions of the bond assigned is that the two half-yearly payments that fell due June 11 and December 11, 1894, were unpaid, together with the interest thereon. The further breach assigned is that, in pursuance of said agreement, the plaintiff selected a room in said house, of which the defendant had notice,—

“ And the said plaintiff entered into and took possession of said room, and occupied the same until on, to wit, the 1st day of October, 1893, at which time the said defendant evicted her therefrom; and afterwards, to wit, in the month of October, 1893, the said defendant rented the house that was on said lots to Hiram R. Ellis, who, with his family, entered into and took possession of said house, and still occupies the same; and the said defendant and her tenant aforesaid entered the room so selected as aforesaid by the said plaintiff, and evicted the said plaintiff, and deprived her of the use and benefit thereof, and compelled the said plaintiff to abandon the same.”

Upon the trial the plaintiff introduced testimony tending to support the allegations of her declaration. There was no denial on the part of the defendant of the amount due upon the agreement, and the court so directed the jury. The controversy was over the question whether the plaintiff had been evicted by the defendant, or with her knowledge. That fact was asserted by the plaintiff and denied by the defendant.

The court charged the jury upon this question, and upon the question of damages, as follows:

“To constitute an eviction of plaintiff from the room by defendant, an actual, physical expulsion was not nec-essary. Any act or acts of the defendant which deprived [287]*287the plaintiff of the beneficial enjoyment of the room, to which she was entitled under the bond, would amount, in law, to an eviction. If, by the procurement of the defendant, the plaintiff was excluded from access to such room, with the intention and effect of depriving the plaintiff of enjoyment thereof, and the plaintiff yielded to such exclusion, and abandoned the occupation of such room, such exclusion, in law, would amount to an eviction. It is not necessary that you should be confined to any one of the several alleged acts testified to on the part of the plaintiff, from which to find whether or not an eviction has been established by the evidence. You have a right to take into consideration all.the facts and circumstances proved in the case, relating to the alleged breach, prior to the commencement of this action. It is for you to determine the credibility of the witnesses sworn in the case, and to give to the testimony of each such weight as you think it is entitled to. It was the duty of the defendant to provide the plaintiff with the facilities of ingress and egress, to the room in.question. If, as it is claimed by the plaintiff, the tenant of the defendant refused the plaintiff ingress to the room, which fact was communicated to the defendant, and she thereafter refused or neglected to provide plaintiff with facilities for ingress and egress to the room, with intent thereby to deprive plaintiff of th,e free use of said room, then such alleged facts, if you find them to be true, constituted an eviction by the defendant of the plaintiff from the room in question. It is for you to say whether it is true, or not, from the evidence in the case. Of course, if you find it was not true, it would not constitute an eviction, because there would be nothing to base it on, so far as that alleged fact is concerned.
“If you find that the assignment of the breach of the bond by the defendant, in evicting the plaintiff, is true, and that the plaintiff should recover damages therefor, then the plaintiff was not bound to renew the contract broken by the defendant, either by making any subsequent demand for the possession of the room, or by accepting possession of the room of the defendant after-wards, and you will assess the plaintiff’s damages for this breach. The damages sustained by the plaintiff under the breach of the bond assigning an eviction, if any, include damages for two different periods: First, damages from the date of the eviction to the commencement [288]*288of this suit; and, second, damages from the date of the commencement of this suit to the time you determine that the plaintiff will probably live. Under these instructions it will be necessary for you to determine when the eviction occurred. The date of the commencement of this action is shown by the files in the case to have been the 19th day of March, 1895. The measure of damages from the date of eviction to the commencement of this suit will be the rental value of the room during that time, — the fair rental value of it; what it was actually worth. To determine the plaintiff’s damages, if any, subsequent to the commencement of this suit, you will find from all the evidence in this case, considering the plaintiff’s age, her health, her condition in life, her expectation of life, as shown by the table of mortality based on American experience, and the circumstances under which she is placed, how long she will probably live, and the annual rental value of the room during that time, and then determine the present worth of that rental value for one year, for two years, and so on, up to and including the expectation of life which you find, and add these sums together. The present worth of the annual rental value of the room may be obtained by dividing the annual rental value by one dollar plus the interest on one dollar at the rate of 6 per cent, per annum for one year, and for two years, and so on, ,up to and including the expectation of life which you find from all the evidence in the case. The present worth of the annual rental value of the room subsequent to the commencement of this suit, added to the damages found before the commencement of this suit, will be the amount of damages you should assess for the breach of the bond averring the eviction. If you do not find for the plaintiff on the breach assigning an eviction, then you will find in your verdict that the breach so assigned is not true, and that the plaintiff should not recover damages therefor.”

The court also instructed the jury as to what the form of the verdict might be upon either branch of the case. The jury found there was due upon the money part of the bond the sum of $107.50, and, as damages for the eviction of the plaintiff from her room in the house, the sum of $500.

The first assignment of error relates to the charge of [289]

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
33 L.R.A. 297, 68 N.W. 132, 110 Mich. 285, 1896 Mich. LEXIS 701, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/grove-v-youell-mich-1896.