Huebner-Toledo Breweries Co. v. Singlar

18 Ohio C.C. Dec. 329, 8 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 49, 1906 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 167
CourtLucas Circuit Court
DecidedMarch 17, 1906
StatusPublished

This text of 18 Ohio C.C. Dec. 329 (Huebner-Toledo Breweries Co. v. Singlar) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Lucas Circuit Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Huebner-Toledo Breweries Co. v. Singlar, 18 Ohio C.C. Dec. 329, 8 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 49, 1906 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 167 (Ohio Super. Ct. 1906).

Opinion

WILDMAN, J.

This case bas been submitted to the court upon a motion to dissolve a temporary injunction heretofore granted. The grounds of the motion are: (1) That the petition filed herein does not state facts sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to the equitable interference of this court by injunction; (2) That the plaintiff has an adequate remedy at law, and the injury complained of, if any should be sustained, is measurable and not irremediable in character.

This second alleged ground, is manifestly involved in the first, because if the claim so stated is correct, it in itself would make the petition ‘ [330]*330defective, so far as the jurisdiction of this court is concerned, as not -stating facts, sufficient to entitle the plaintiff to equitable relief.

No other grounds are stated in the motion, and the question so presented requires an examination of the petition to determine its sufficiency or insufficiency. It is substantially as follows: The brewing company named sues Joseph Singlar and Annie Singlar, alleging that the plaintiff is a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue of the laws of Ohio, engaged in the business of manufacturing and selling beer and having its principal place of business in the city of Toledo, Lucas county, Ohio. It alleges that at the date named Joseph Singlar was a tenant of another party of premises situated in said city, and was engaged at that time in operating a-saloon thereon. That on said day the defendant, Joseph Singlar, informed the plaintiff that he had received' notice to vacate said premises, and that, for the purpose of retaining possession of the same, an arrangement and agreement in writing were entered into between the plaintiff and the defendant, Joseph Singlar, as follows:

“September 9, 19G5.
“This agreement made this September 9, 1905, between Joseph Singlar and the Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company, witnesseth:
“That the said Joseph Singlar immediately upon the purchase by the said The Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company of the premises owned by Michael Szopko and now occupied by the said Joseph Singlar as a saloon, said property being located on Genesee street, between Ann street and Whittemore street, in the city of Toledo, Lucas county, Ohio, and known as No. 624 Genesee street, the said Joseph Singlar will lease said premises for the period of five (5) years at the rate of ten dollars per month and that during the said period of five years said premises will be used for the sale of no other beer, including bottled beer, than of the manufacture of said The Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company, its successors and assigns, and that he will not, during said period of five years, engage in the sale of any beer, including bottled beer, except of the manufacture of said The Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company, its successors and assigns, within one-half mile of said premises, and that he will not assign said lease or sublet said premises, and the said The Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company agrees to 'purchase' said premises if the same can be secured for not more than"$2,500, and that the title to said premises is clear and that there are no'restrictions upon the use of said premises, and will make said lease to said Joseph Singlar immediately upon purchase of said premises.”

The petition alleges' substantially that upon the execution of this [331]*331written agreement the plaintiff purchased .the property mentioned for the sum of $2,700, and immediately thereafter offered to execute to Joseph Singlar a lease of the same for the period of five years at $10.00 per month, but the defendant refused to execute or accept the lease unless his wife, the other defendant named in the petition, Annie Singlar, would be made a party to the same, and thereupon and in consideration of the plaintiff agreeing to execute said lease to both said defendants the following- covenant and agreement was inserted in the said lease and agreed and consented to by both of the said.defendants, to wit:

“And the said parties of the second part (Joseph Singlar and Annie Singlar) in consideration thereof, do hereby covenant and agree to pay the said party of the first part (The Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company), its successors or assigns, as rent for said premises the sum ■of ten dollars per month payable on the first day of each and every month, and hereby covenant that during said period of five years they will not engage in the sale on said premises or within one mile thereof •of any beer, including bottled beer, except of the manufacture of said The Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company, its successors and assigns.”

The petition alleges that the said defendants, Joseph Singlar and Annie Singlar, are owners of the premises known as lot No. 70 in Robison’s Riverside Addition to Toledo, and that said latter named premises are situated within one hundred feet of those described in the lease, and that the defendants, contrary to the covenant, or perhaps both covenants, mentioned, are now engaged in selling on said lot No. 70, beer other than that manufactured by the said plaintiff, to the irreparable damage of the plaintiff. The petition says that neither of the said defendants is the owner of any property not -exempt from execution, and that the plaintiff has no adequate remedy at law to protect its rights.

The prayer of the petition is for an injunction to restrain the defendants from engaging in the sale, for five years from September 9, 1905, on said lot No. 70 in Bobison’s Biverside Addition to the city of Toledo, Lucas county, Ohio, as principal, agent or employe, of any beer except- that manufactured by the Huebner-Toledo Breweries Company, its .successors and assigns, and for such further relief as may be equitable. • -

It may be premised in the consideration of the issue presented that "the covenant in the lease which was finally - executed by all parties to this ease supplanted the covenant incorporated in the original contract between the plaintiff and Joseph Singlar. ' His wife was brought into the second arrangement, and- the territory over which the restrictivo [332]*332clause was intended to operate was enlarged; instead of being confined to á space of one-balf mile from the leased premises it was extended to a space included in a circumference of one mile therefrom.

The substantial question, and almost the only question involved, is as to whether such a covenant as we have before us is valid and enforceable in equity, or whether it is contrary to public policy and void. In the able arguments made orally and upon brief to this court many adjudications have been cited bearing more or less closely upon the question stated. It is unnecessary and would not be profitable to recapitulate or review all of these decisions, or indeed, very many of them. It has seemed to myself that some confusion has arisen, not only in the argument, but in the language of some of the judges rendering the decisions to which we are cited, growing out of the fact that no close distinction is taken between a reservation of the use of property leased or conveyed and a restriction upon some action of the vendor which is intended to protect the vendee in the possession of property and any good will which may attach to it.

In the one class of cases, we have such clauses as that found in the case of Stines v. Dorman, 25 Ohio St. 580.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
18 Ohio C.C. Dec. 329, 8 Ohio C.C. (n.s.) 49, 1906 Ohio Misc. LEXIS 167, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/huebner-toledo-breweries-co-v-singlar-ohcirctlucas-1906.