Hammond Savings & Trust Co. v. Boney

107 N.E. 480, 61 Ind. App. 295, 1915 Ind. App. LEXIS 78
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedJanuary 8, 1915
DocketNo. 8,384
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 107 N.E. 480 (Hammond Savings & Trust Co. v. Boney) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hammond Savings & Trust Co. v. Boney, 107 N.E. 480, 61 Ind. App. 295, 1915 Ind. App. LEXIS 78 (Ind. Ct. App. 1915).

Opinion

Caldwell, P. J.

It is conceded by appellant that the only questions presented on this appeal are that the decision and finding of the court are not sustained by sufficient evidence, and are contrary to law. There is no great conflict in the evidence. The radical difference between the parties is respecting its legal effect. The facts are substantially as follows: On January 1, 1907, and at all other times mentioned in the record, Anton H. Tapper was the owner of a certain business block in the city of Hammond, consisting of three stories and a basement; on said day, Tapper, by an instrument in writing, leased the ground floor of. said block to [297]*297The MeAvoy Brewing Company of Chicago for a term of three years, ending January 1, 1910. In February, 1907, the brewing company, by parol, and with the consent of Tapper, sublet the room to appellee, who thereupon entered into possession, and used it in the business of operating a saloon for the retail of intoxicating liquors. The fixtures and furnishings were owned by the brewing company. The lease so executed to the brewing company contained the following provisions:

“At the expiration of this lease, or on failure to pay rent when same is due, or on failure to comply with any of the conditions of this lease, the same shall terminate at once, without notice, and the said Anton H. Tapper, his representatives and. assigns may enter' on and take possession of said premises, and expel the occupant thereof, without in any wise being a trespasser, and a failure of said Anton H. Tapper to take possession of said premises at the time aforesaid, shall not estop him from afterwards asserting said rights, and the occupation of said premises by the said tenant after the expiration of said lease, or the forfeiture thereof, shall give him no rights as tenant, but he may be expelled at any time without notice.”

At the time of the execution of the lease, Tapper endorsed on the back of it his signed consent that the room might be sublet at any time within the granted term. On July 8, 1909, Tapper executed to appellant an instrument in writing, by which he leased the room to appellant for a term of ten years, commencing January 1, 1910, to be used in conducting a banking and trust company business'. This lease was properly executed and acknowledged before a notary public, and was duly recorded in the recorder’s office of Lake County, on July 27, 1909. Prior to January 1, 1910, Tapper notified the brew[298]*298ing company by letter that he 'expected the room to be surrendered at the expiration of the company’s lease on January 1, 1910. Appellee apparently had knowledge that such notice had been given, and prior to said date negotiated with Tapper and the company with a view to leasing another room owned by the former, and on which the latter apparently had some claim. The question of the procuring of such other room by appellee remained in doubt for sometime, and resulted finally in its being leased to another party. Appellee insisted that he had made some sort of an arrangement by which he was to occupy the room in question after January 1, 1910. He claimed that when the brewing company sublet the room to him,, its agent stated that he might occupy it indefinitely if the rent was paid. He had actual as well as constructive knowledge of the execution of the ten-year lease to appellant, but did not claim that any arrangement was made with appellant for the occupancy of the room by him after January 1. At the trial, appellee testified that Tapper in January, 1910, gave him permission to occupy the room after the first of that month. The brewing company refused to accept the installment of rent for January, and thereupon on two occasions, appellee tendered such installment to Tapper, who refused it. There was evidence that in January, Tapper, on several occasions, demanded that appellee vacate the room. Appellee’s somewhat cloudy claim to the right to occupy the room is made rather more definite by an affidavit filed by him in this proceeding, in support of his motion to dissolve a temporary restraining order, hereinafter mentioned, wherein he stated in substance that after January 1, 1910, he was in possession of the room pursuant to an oral agreement made with the brewing company and a subsequent oral agreement [299]*299made with. Tapper; that by the former he leased the room from the brewing company for three years, with the privilege of five “according to the terms of the lease made by and between the said Anton H. Tapper, the owner thereof, and the said McAvoy Brewing Company”; that having later ascertained that the lease to the brewing company was only for the term of three years, and consequently that the company did not have the power to sublet the room for a longer term, there was an agreement made between him and Tapper, by which they would arrange “as between themselves for the rent of the premises until the first day of February, 1910”, being the time of the expiration of his county license to retail intoxicating liquor.

1. 2. Before proceeding further with the statement of facts, it will be well to determine appellee’s position relative to the room, and his right in the premises after January 1, 1910. The lease to the brewing • company was for the definite term of three years, terminating January 1, 1910, at which time it expired without notice. §8059 Burns 1914, §5213 R. S. 1881. The brewing company could not transfer to appellee any greater interest in the room than it held of Tapper, and hence appellee’s term held of the company could not extend beyond January 1, 1910. In that month, when appellee apparently claims that he procured some new right in the premises by virtue of an oral understanding with Tapper, he had both actual and constructive knowledge of the lease executed by Tapper to appellant, and hence any such new right was subject to the lease last named, and could not be successfully maintained as against appellant. Moreover, by the affidavit filed in aid of the motion to dissolve the restraining order, appellee asserted under oath that such new right, if any, extended only to February 1, [300]*3001910. Such assertion is binding on appellee as an admission in this proceeding. Templer v. Lee (1914), 55 Ind. App. 433, 103 N. E. 1090. It follows that at least after February 1, 1910, appellee’s right to hold the room had terminated, and that at such time, if not before, a proper proceeding to oust him could have been successfully maintained. The evidence is not strong enough, however, to warrant us in holding that appellee was actuated by bad faith in endeavoring to hold possession of said room. No such proceeding was brought. On the contrary, continuing our statement of facts, on or about February 1, said brewing company removed the fixtures from said room, under a writ of replevin, leaving certain personal property belonging to appellee, consisting of barrels and kegs containing liquor, an assortment of bottles, chairs, linoleum, cigars, etc. In the early part of February, appellee was not regularly at his place of business. He was there a portion of each day, and always in the evening. There is some confusion in the record as to when his license expired. He states in the affidavit that it did not expire until February 1. At that time he had pending an application for a license to'retail liquors, describing the room as the location. He had in the room, cigars, tobaccos, etc., for sale. He and his clerk each carried a key to the room. Tapper at all times retained possession of the basement under the room.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
107 N.E. 480, 61 Ind. App. 295, 1915 Ind. App. LEXIS 78, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hammond-savings-trust-co-v-boney-indctapp-1915.