Jack v. Sinsheimer

58 P. 130, 125 Cal. 563, 1899 Cal. LEXIS 902
CourtCalifornia Supreme Court
DecidedAugust 10, 1899
DocketL. A. No. 467
StatusPublished
Cited by18 cases

This text of 58 P. 130 (Jack v. Sinsheimer) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jack v. Sinsheimer, 58 P. 130, 125 Cal. 563, 1899 Cal. LEXIS 902 (Cal. 1899).

Opinion

COOPER, C.

This is an action brought by plaintiff to quiet his title to a certain tract of land described in the complaint. The defendant answered, and in his answer set forth a certain mortgage made by one Cheda, which mortgage was claimed to be a valid lien upon the premises in favor of defendant. The plaintiff demurred to the answer upon the ground that the facts therein stated did not constitute any defense to the action; the demurrer was sustained, and, defendant declining to amend, judgment was rendered against him. This appeal is by defendant from the judgment and for the purpose of reviewing the order sustaining the demurrer. It appears from the answer that on June 19, 1891, one Andrews, as lessor, leased to one Cheda, as lessee, certain premises in San Luis Obispo county for the period of five years from and after October 1, 1891, at an annual rental of two thousand dollars, one-third of the annual rent payable every four months in advance. This lease contained the following covenant:

“And the said party of the second part (Cheda) does hereby covenant, promise, and agree to pay to said party of the first part (Andrews) the said rent, in the manner hereinbefore specified, .... and, upon his failure to pay said rent, he shall vacate said premises upon receiving thirty days’ notice from the party of the first part, and shall pay to him the sum of one thousand dollars, as settled and liquidated damages.”

At the time of making the said lease the defendant signed an indorsement thereon in the following language:

“In consideration of the making of the foregoing lease or agreement, and for the purpose of securing the penalty of one thousand dollars therein provided for, I hereby guarantee the payment of one thousand dollars unto said Truman Andrews, whenever, at any time during the term therein limited and provided for, the said J. A. Cheda shall be legally evicted from said premises for nonpayment of rent therein provided for, or whenever he voluntarily vacates the same, upon ten days’ notice.
“Dated June 19, 1891.
“B. SINSHEIMEB.”

On January 25, 1894, the said Cheda was the owner in fee of the property described in the complaint in this action, and [565]*565while such owner, on said last-named day, he made to the defendant a mortgage thereon, which mortgage was duly acknowledged and recorded, and which was given for the purpose of securing defendant “against all cost, damages, and expenses incurred, suffered, or accruing to said mortgagee By reason of a certain written guaranty made By him upon the part of and for said J. A. Cheda, upon and about a certain lease this day executed between Truman Andrews and J. A. Cheda, to which lease reference is hereby made.” On September 1, 1896, the said Cheda was in default for rent under the terms of said lease, and thereupon proceedings were commenced to evict and eject him from the leased promises. Afterward, judgment was duly given and made against said Cheda and he was legally evicted from the said premises, and he has never paid the rent so due or the said one thousand dollars. Notice of the nonpayment of rent and of the default of Cheda was given to defendant and demand made upon him for the payment thereof. Defendant has not paid the same, hut claims that he has a right to the security given by the mortgage until he is fully released from said guaranty. The principal question in this case is as to whether or not the clause in the lease fixing the sum of one thousand dollars as liquidated damages in case of the premises being vacated by the lessee is void. The rule that a guarantor is never implicated beyond the strict terms of his contract must be applied to defendant in this case. His guaranty was “for the purpose of securing the penalty of one thousand dollars .... whenever at any time during the term therein limited and provided for the said J. A. Cheda shall be legally evicted from said premises for nonpayment of rent, or whenever he voluntarily vacates the same.” The guaranty was therefore by its terms to secure a penalty of one thousand dollars which by the lease was fixed as liquidated damages in case the lessee should he evicted from the said premises or voluntarily vacate the same. The provisions of our code are as follows: “Every contract by which the amount of damage to be paid, or other compensation to he made, for a breach of an obligation, is determined in anticipation thereof, is to that extent void, except as expressly provided in the next section.” (Civ. Code, sec. 1670.) “The parties to a contract may agree [566]*566therein upon an amount which shall be presumed to be the amount of damage sustained by a breach thereof, when, from the nature of the case, it would be impracticable or extremely difficult to fix the actual damage.” (Civ. Code, sec. 1671.)

We think, under the provisions of the code quoted, that clause of the lease as to the penalty of one thousand dollars is void. It does not occur to us that upon the failure of a tenant to pay rent, and upon his eviction after notice and demand, the actual damage would be extremely difficult to fix or impracticable of estimation. It is provided in our code (Code Civ. Proc., sec. 1174) that in summary proceedings for obtaining possession of real property after default of the tenant in the payment of rent, the judgment or verdict shall find the amount of damages occasioned to the plaintiff and for the amount of rent due, and shall be rendered against the defendant for three times the amount so found. If the lessor had brought an action against the lessee under the above section and preceding sections of the Code of Civil Procedure, the rule laid down in section 1174 would be applicable. We not only have a rule laid down in the Code of Civil Procedure, section 1174, for the wrongful holding over of a tenant after failure to pay rent, but we have rules laid down in Civil Code, sections 3335, 3344, and 3345, and finally we have the rule laid down in the Civil Code, section 3334, that, with the exceptions of the rules stated in the Code of Civil Procedure, section 1173, and the Civil Code, sections 3335, 3344, and 3.345, the detriment caused by the wrongful occupation of real property is deemed to be the value of the use of the property for the time of such occupation and the costs, if any, of recovering the possession. The above sections seem to provide rules for ascertaining the damages in all kinds of actions for the recovery of real estate. When a tenant fails to pay rent as provided in the lease, the amount of damage is not extremely difficult to fix, and it certainly is not impracticable to fix the amount of such damage. In Patent Brick Co. v. Moore, 75 Cal. 205, it was held that a stipulation by the contractor in a building contract to pay the owner a specified amount as liquidated damages for each day’s delay in completing the building is not sufficient evidence of itself to entitle the owner to recover the amount stipulated for as liquidated damages.

[567]*567In Drew v. Pedlar, 87 Cal. 443, 22 Am. St. Rep. 257, it was held that where a written agreement was made between a vendor and purchaser for the sale of certain real estate and one thousand dollars was paid down by the purchaser, and the contract contained a provision that in case of a breach thereof by the purchaser the thousand dollars should be taken by the vendee as liquidated damages, that the provision was void.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
58 P. 130, 125 Cal. 563, 1899 Cal. LEXIS 902, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jack-v-sinsheimer-cal-1899.