Kalmanovitz v. Rempp

244 P.2d 457, 111 Cal. App. 2d 242, 1952 Cal. App. LEXIS 1641
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedMay 22, 1952
DocketCiv. No. 18618
StatusPublished

This text of 244 P.2d 457 (Kalmanovitz v. Rempp) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kalmanovitz v. Rempp, 244 P.2d 457, 111 Cal. App. 2d 242, 1952 Cal. App. LEXIS 1641 (Cal. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinion

DRAPEAU, J.

By this action in unlawful detainer, plaintiff sought to recover possession of certain real property leased to defendants for a café and cocktail lounge, and rentals therefor alleged to be due and unpaid.

Plaintiff and defendant Rempp executed the lease of the premises on December 19,1949, for a term beginning December 20, 1949, and ending March 30, 1956. The rent was $750 per month, in advance, and a sum equal to 6 per cent of [244]*244the gross receipts from the business. Defendant Rempp, as lessee under the written lease, took possession of the premises. Later he disappeared and left the premises abandoned.

Thereafter, on January 31, 1950, upon the written representation of defendant Lamoreaux that Rempp had leased the premises on behalf of a copartnership consisting of Rempp, Vincent and Lamoreaux, the lease was amended by a writing signed by plaintiff and Lamoreaux which substituted the co-partnership members as lessees in place of Rempp. Subsequently Lamoreaux took possession of the premises and paid the monthly minimum rental of $750 until August 19, 1950.

A three-day notice to pay rent or quit the premises dated September 12, 1950, it was stipulated, was received by defendant Lamoreaux. Complaint was filed September 26, 1950. It alleged that monthly rental, as well as percentages of $987.12, was due.

Defendant Rempp’s answer alleged that the rental agreed upon was $750 per month, or 6 per cent of the gross receipts, “whichever was the greater.”

Defendant Lamoreaux answered averring that the percentage provision in the lease was to apply only in the event that the monthly sales exceeded $12,500. Also, that he and plaintiff agreed that the minimum rental of $750 per month was a payment against the percentage of 6 per cent of gross sales. In addition he averred the deposit in court of $1,500 for rental from August 19 to October 19, 1950. This defendant also set up four affirmative defenses, to wit: (1) custom and practice in the restaurant business; (2) establishment of an account stated; (3) estoppel of plaintiff to deny the construction placed on the lease by defendant; (4) reliance by defendant upon fraudulent representations of plaintiff.

There was evidence that no rent in excess of $750 per month was ever paid, and that this rental was paid up to August 19, 1950, in accordance with statements rendered to defendant by plaintiff’s office. Also, that in May, June and July of 1950, plaintiff asked defendant’s business manager to give him a statement of the gross receipts, but such statement was never made until September 15, 1950, in response to plaintiff’s notice to perform covenants under the lease.

Accompanying that statement was a cheek dated September 14, 1950, in which the figures thereon called for payment of “$775” and the writing was for “Seven and 75/100 Dollars.” This check was returned to defendant by plaintiff’s [245]*245attorney on September 22d. On September 25th, defendant’s business manager sent a new check for $775. This latter check was returned to defendant Lamoreaux on the ground that the amount thereof was not in accord with the amount of unpaid rental called for in the three-day notice to pay or quit. In the meantime, the instant complaint in unlawful detainer was filed.

The trial court found that plaintiff was entitled to $2,700, the unpaid rental at $750 per month from August 19 to December 8, 1950 (the date of the judgment), together with $987.12, the unpaid 6 per cent of gross receipts for the months of March to July, 1950, inclusive, or a total of $3,687.12, and $500 attorney’s fees.

Prom the judgment which followed, defendant Lamoreaux appeals.

Appellant asserts that the trial court erred in several particulars, to wit;

1. In excluding all evidence except that of payment as computed on the face of the lease;
2. In sustaining respondent’s objections to the introduction of certain evidence and to offers of proof made by appellant;
3. In denying permission to appellant to file an amended answer;
4. In finding that the allegations of appellant’s affirmative defenses and the amendment to his answer were immaterial;
5. In failing to find on appellant’s fourth affirmative defense.

It is also contended that the evidence does not sustain the findings and that the judgment is against law.

The lease provided for rental at “a minimum sum of $750.00 per month payable in advance on the first day of each and every month during the term of this lease. That the Lessee further agrees to pay to Lessor as additional rental on the 10th day of each calendar month for the calendar month immediately preceding, a sum equal to six (6%) per cent of the gross receipts of the Lessee arising from or in any manner connected with any business performed or transacted on any and all of said demised premises.”

In an effort to prove that the minimum rental applied against the percentage rental, appellant sought to introduce in evidence an escrow agreement for transfer of the liquor license dated November 30, 1949. This document recites that rental is “payable $750 per month against a.6% of the gross [246]*246receipts.” The trial court sustained respondent’s objection to the admission of this document, whereupon appellant offered to prove that it was the basis of his understanding of the terms of the lease.

Appellant here asserts as error the trial court’s ruling that negotiations prior to the execution of the lease were incompetent to prove the terms of the lease which were “clear, concise and unambiguous. There is only one question and that is performance. . . . payment under the terms of the lease.”

In this connection it is argued that the allegations of the fourth affirmative defense entitled appellant to show that he took possession of the premises under mistake of fact owing to fraudulent representations of respondent, and therefore the court improperly restricted the issues to the question of performance under the terms of the lease.

Those allegations are to the effect that in December, 1949, respondent represented to appellant that the lease provided for a minimum rental of $750 per month to be applied against the percentage rental; that he relied upon and believed such representations, which were fraudulently made for the purpose of inducing him to assume possession of the premises.

The complaint alleged and the court found that by virtue of the written agreement of lease, the defendants Rempp, Lamoreaux and Vincent went into possession and occupation of the premises and “ever since have, has and still continue to hold possession of said premises as tenants of the plaintiff.”

We believe the holding in D’Amico v. Riedel, 95 Cal.App.2d 6, 8 [212 P.2d 52], is applicable here. In that case it was contended that fraud could be shown as a defense in an unlawful detainer action, and that the lease having been procured by fraud, the terms thereof were unenforceable. The court cited Smith v. Whyers, 64 Cal.App. 193, 194 [221 P.

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Related

D'Amico v. Riedel
212 P.2d 52 (California Court of Appeal, 1949)
McClure v. Cerati
194 P.2d 46 (California Court of Appeal, 1948)
Dobbins v. Horsfall
136 P.2d 35 (California Court of Appeal, 1943)
Smith v. Whyers
221 P. 387 (California Court of Appeal, 1923)
Harris v. Bissell
202 P. 453 (California Court of Appeal, 1921)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
244 P.2d 457, 111 Cal. App. 2d 242, 1952 Cal. App. LEXIS 1641, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kalmanovitz-v-rempp-calctapp-1952.