Kinnear v. Scenic Railways Co.

72 A. 808, 223 Pa. 390, 1909 Pa. LEXIS 547
CourtSupreme Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedJanuary 4, 1909
DocketAppeal, No. 4
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 72 A. 808 (Kinnear v. Scenic Railways Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Kinnear v. Scenic Railways Co., 72 A. 808, 223 Pa. 390, 1909 Pa. LEXIS 547 (Pa. 1909).

Opinion

Opinion by

Mr. Justice Mesteezat,

A corporation, whose name was subsequently changed to Luna Park Company, was incorporated February 1, 1905, “ for the purpose of maintaining and operating a park for the amusement, entertainment and recreation of the public.” By deed dated January 18, 1905, the company purchased a tract of land in the thirteenth ward of the city of Pittsburg, containing between sixteen and seventeen acres, on which it erected a number of buildings, improvements and devices, which were used for amusement purposes during the summers of the years 1906, 1907 and 1908. To secure the payment of $75,000, the balance of the unpaid purchase money, the company gave a mortgage on the premises of even date with the deed.

The park company by an agreement dated January 31,1906, leased to J. A. Miller, acting as agent for the appellant company, for the term of seven years, a small portion of the ground purchased by it as stated above, “including the Japanese theater building now located in said park,” for the purpose of constructing thereon and operating a scenic railway, an amusement device generally known as “Leap the Dips.” The consideration was twenty-seven and one-half per cent of the gross receipts derived from the operation of the railway, settlements to be made daily. The agreement provided, inter alia, that the park company at its option might appoint a cashier to receive all moneys from sale of tickets; that the plant should at all times be subject to the inspection and approval of the park company; that the buildings and appliances were to revert to the park company upon the termination of the lease; also that the park company should have the right to buy the leasehold, with all the buildings and appliances erected and contained thereon, at the end of any park season during the term of the lease, provided the purchase was made within sixty days from closing date of any park season, with a reduction of ten per cent of the original cost for each season during which the railroad was operated. The railway was duly constructed by Miller and until the season of 1908 [395]*395was operated by him and the appellant company, to whom the lease was assigned by Miller.

The park company borrowed 170,000 of the Keystone National Bank and secured the payment of it by a second mortgage upon the park property, dated September 5, 1906, and duly recorded. The cashier of the bank knew of the lease to Miller at the time the mortgage was taken, but did not know that it had been assigned to the appellant company.

As found by the trial judge, “Luna Park is an assemblage of amusement places and devices open to the public, which are changed from time to time to meet the desires of the patrons of the park, an admission fee being charged to the park as well as to the different amusements contained within the park.”

In a proceeding on the mortgage held by the Keystone National Bank against the park company, the property was sold and purchased by plaintiff, the appellee, and conveyed to him by the sheriff by deed dated March 2, 1908. In a similar proceeding on the purchase money mortgage, the property was also sold and purchased by the appellee, and the sheriff conveyed it to him by deed dated May 4,1908. The appellee holds the property as agent and trustee for the Keystone National Bank, whose employees and servants have been in possession of the park and all the property since it became the purchaser under the first sale by the sheriff.

The appellant company claiming the right to remove the scenic railway which it erected on the leased premises, the appellee filed this bill to restrain the appellant from interfering with or attempting to remove the buildings and improvements located on the premises, and erected or constructed by the appellant company. The appellee claims that he is the owner of the property by virtue of his purchase in the proceedings on the mortgages, and the appellant company contends that the lease was ended by the foreclosure of the first mortgage and that therefore it has the right to remove the property in dispute as trade fixtures of a tenant.

The court below found all the material facts, and, inter alia, the following: “The Scenic Railway is one of the best patronized and most profitable amusement features of the park. It [396]*396is substantially built, with superstructure consisting of uprights and supports imbedded in the earth to a distance below the frost line, and with the platforms attached to the pavilion, or Japanese Theater building, which is used as a ticket office and station for entrance to and exit from the cars. . . . The construction of a scenic railway is such that its superstructure can, without serious injury to the materials used, be taken down and reconstructed in another location. The removal and re-ereetion of such structures is, however, of infrequent occurrence.”

The learned judge held that if the lease had simply given Miller the right to enter upon and erect the scenic railway without any other provisions affecting the question, that the property in dispute might be considered a trade fixture and held to be subject to the law governing such property; but he was of the opinion that the lease determined the rights of the parties and that it “ clearly indicates an intention that the railway and its appliances should be permanent fixtures, and remain in the park until the termination of the lease, when they should become the absolute property of the Park Company.” He, therefore, held that the title to the property passed to the appellee as purchaser of the land under the mortgages. The injunction was granted as prayed for in the bill, and the defendant has taken this appeal.

We think the learned trial judge was correct in holding that the property in dispute was a part of the realty and passed to the purchaser at the sale made under the proceedings on the mortgage. The character of the property, whether personal or a part of the real estate, must be determined by the covenants contained in the agreement of January 31, 1906. That agreement, read in the light of all the circumstances, leaves no doubt of the intention of the parties as to the character of the property. As observed above, the Luna Park Company was incorporated for the purpose of operating an amusement park. The sixteen acres of land owned, by the corporation were purchased to carry out the purpose of the corporation. The object the company had in obtaining title to the land in Pittsburg was to make it a place “for the amusement, entertainment and recreation of the public.” The company erected various devices [397]*397on the premises for the amusement of the public and has continuously operated the property as a place of amusement since the erection and construction of the buildings.

In view of the purpose for which the charter was obtained by the Luna Park Company and of the fact that the land was purchased by .the company to carry out the purpose, there can be no difficulty in determining that under the terms of the-lease it was the intention of the lessor and lessee that the scenic railway should be annexed to the real estate and become a permanent improvement in the park. The intention which controls and determines whether or not a chattel is annexed and becomes a part of the realty is the intention the parties had at the time it was placed upon the property: Vail v. Weaver, 132 Pa. 363; Carver v. Gough, 153 Pa. 225.

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Bluebook (online)
72 A. 808, 223 Pa. 390, 1909 Pa. LEXIS 547, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/kinnear-v-scenic-railways-co-pa-1909.