Hassett v. Foster

195 Iowa 1173
CourtSupreme Court of Iowa
DecidedMay 15, 1923
StatusPublished

This text of 195 Iowa 1173 (Hassett v. Foster) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Hassett v. Foster, 195 Iowa 1173 (iowa 1923).

Opinion

Arthur, J.

I. On October 22, 1919, plaintiff and defendant entered into a written contract, whereby plaintiff leased to defendant for the term of one year, beginning March 1, 1920, a farm situated in Crawford. County, Iowa, containing approximately 300 acres, for the cash rent of $3,500, evidenced by notes signed by defendant for that amount. Among other things, it was provided in the lease that, in the event that the second party thereto, being the defendant herein, vacated said premises before the expiration of the term of said lease, or failed to keep any of the covenants of said lease, then and in that event, the unpaid rent should become due and collectible at once.

. Plaintiff alleged that defendant entered upon the possession of said premises under said lease, together with his personal property and cattle and horses, preparatory to the performance of the terms of said lease; and that defendant abandoned said premises, and was attempting to remove all his personal property therefrom, and refused to perform the covenants of said lease; and that, by reason thereof, the plaintiff elected to declare the rent of $3,500 due and collectible, and brought this action for the recovery of .same.

Defendant admitted the execution of the lease and notes sued on, and denied all other allegations of the petition. Affirmatively answering, defendant alleged that the sole consideration of the execution of the lease and notes was that plaintiff [1175]*1175was to surrender possession of the leased premises to defendant' for the purpose of his farming the same during the year 1920, but that plaintiff never had possession of said premises, and was unable to give defendant possession of the same, and that, by reason thereof, there was a total failure of consideration for said lease and notes.

In reply, plaintiff, in addition to a general denial, averred, by way of estoppel against the defendant, that from about the 15th day of January, 1920, and continuously thereafter until on or about the time of the' commencement of this suit, on or about the 24th day of March, 1920, under and by virtue of the terms of the lease in question, the defendant kept and maintained on the premises in controversy about 40 head of cattle and about 6 or 8 head of horses and upwards of 1,000 bushels of corn and about 15 tons of hay, and did not attempt to repudiate said lease until long after March 1, 1920, and long after such possession had been taken by him, and that, by reason thereof, the defendant was estopped from denying the title of the plaintiff or repudiating his obligations under said lease.

II. A narrative from the record will be useful: Plaintiff, Hassett, purchased the. land described in the lease from O. M. Foster and W. D. Foster, in May, 1919, by written contract, wherein the Fosters agreed to surrender possession of the premises to the plaintiff on March 1, 1920. In July, 1919, O. M. and "W. D. Foster served notice of rescission of their contract on Hassett, and tendered back to him the $1,000 down payment made by Hassett. In January, 1920, W. D. Foster moved away from the premises. O. M. Foster remained on the premises. In January, 1920, under an execution against O. M. Foster, there were sold, of property on the premises, a field of cornstalks, some corn, and about 15 tons of hay, which defendant, P. B. Foster, bought; and about the 15th day of January, 1920, he brought upon the premises some cattle and horses. On the afternoon of March 1, 1920, O. M. Foster told defendant that he could not bring any more of his property on the premises. After this notice from O. M. Foster, the defendant brought no more of his property upon the premises, but, about a week thereafter, brought some farming implements and left them near the premises with W. W. Johnson, a neighboring farmer. About the 2d [1176]*1176or 3d of March, defendant notified the plaintiff of O. M. Foster’s attitude, and asked for a release from the terms of the lease, which the plaintiff refused to grant. About three weeks thereafter, the defendant leased another farm, and began moving his property from plaintiff’s farm, when, on March 24, 1920, this action was commenced. It was tried about a year later. About the middle of March, 1920, after defendant had notified plaintiff that Foster had forbidden him to enter the premises, plaintiff brought an action against O. M. Foster and ~W. D. Foster, for possession of the premises. The case was not heard until February 2, 1921, during the trial of the instant case, when judgment was entered, finding that Hassett was entitled to possession on March 1, 1920, and a decree awarding Mm possession thereof, and ousting O. M. Foster and W. D. Foster therefrom.

III. At the close of defendant’s evidence (defendant had the burden of proof), plaintiff moved for a directed verdict, and at the close of all the testimony, renewed the motion, which motions were overruled. All ‘of the assignments of error, directly or indirectly, assail the refusal of the court to sustain the motions to direct verdict in favor of the plaintiff, except Assignment No. 6, complaining that the court erred in permitting defendant to testify as to his intention in taking the cattle and horses on the premises in January, 1920, while O. M. Foster was occupying the premises; and Assignment No. 3, relating to the same point, complaining that the court erred in giving to the jury Instruction No. 4, allowing the jury to consider the intention, if any, under which the property of the defendant was placed and kept on the leased premises.

Counsel for plaintiff urge that the motions to direct verdict for plaintiff should have been sustained because the undisputed facts in the case conclusively show that, at the time of the commencement of the term of the lease, March 1, 1920, the premises in controversy were open to occupancy by the defendant, and that he was, in fact, in possession of the premises.

IV. If appellant’s contention that, on March 1, 1920, the farm in controversy was open to occupancy by appellee, and that he was, in fact, in possession of the premises, is borne out by the evidence without dispute, it was error to submit the case to the jury, and the motion to direct a verdict in favor of appel[1177]*1177lant should have been sustained. We cannot agree with appellant that there was no dispute in the evidence on these issues. To determine whether or not it was error to submit the case to the jury necessitates examination of the evidence. O. M. Foster testified that, in May, 1919, he and his brother, W. D. Foster, signed a contract for the sale of the farm in controversy to Has-sett, and in July following, they .had served notice on Hassett to rescind, and tendered back to Hassett a cash payment made; that he expected to hold the land and litigate the question with Hassett, up to a short time before the trial of the instant case. He said:

“P. B. Foster [defendant] came to me on the 1st of March, 1920, and wanted to know if I would give him possession, and I told him I would not give him possession'; that it belonged to me until it was settled for; that I was going to hold possession. He asked me if I wouldn’t let him have possession and I said, ‘Absolutely, I will not.’ I thought he had his neighbors engaged to move him down the next day. I thought, to save him the trouble, that I would go and tell him. 1 told him he couldn’t move on, and that there was no use to come down the next day. I certainly meant it. ’ ’

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195 Iowa 1173, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hassett-v-foster-iowa-1923.