Landsberg v. Tivoli Brewing Co.

94 N.W. 197, 132 Mich. 651, 1903 Mich. LEXIS 890
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedApril 7, 1903
DocketDocket No. 91
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 94 N.W. 197 (Landsberg v. Tivoli Brewing Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Landsberg v. Tivoli Brewing Co., 94 N.W. 197, 132 Mich. 651, 1903 Mich. LEXIS 890 (Mich. 1903).

Opinion

Moore, J.

The following statement of facts is taken, with a few changes, from the brief of counsel for appellant :

“The plaintiff sued the defendant for rent of a store building for the months of July and August, 1901, claiming $45 per month. She recovered judgment for $90 and costs in the justices’ courts for Detroit. 'Defendant appealed the case to the circuit court, where the jury found for the defendant. The plaintiff appeals.
“ Isabella Landsberg and her husband (since deceased ), on October 3, 1899, leased to the defendant a brick store at the corner of Grand River avenue and Buchanan street for a period of 19 months from and after October 2, 1899. The lease was in writing, in the usual form. It expired, by its terms, May 2, 1901. During the last seven months of the lease the rental was $40 per month. The ground floor of the building was occupied by McVittie & Vincent, subtenants of defendant, as a saloon, and the upstairs flat was occupied by John Mulheron, who was a subtenant of McVittie & Vincent, at a monthly rental of $10.
“On April 18, 1901, the plaintiff wrote the defendant, stating that their lease expii’ed on May 2d, and that she would be pleased to renew the lease with them at the rate of $45 per month (an increase of $5 per month), giving them a three-year lease of the same. The reply to this letter was by telephone, and involves the issue of fact which the trial judge submitted to the jury. Plaintiff testified that defendant’s seci’etary, Mr. Schimmel, called her up, and said ‘they could not afford to pay $45 a month rent,’ and that she told them she could not take less, and ‘they said they would have to keep the building, because the man that was in it owed them a great deal of money.’ Mr. Schimmel, on the other hand, testifies that what he said to Mrs. Landsberg was the following: ‘We had lost considerable money in the place, and that we could not afford to keep the place at $45; that we had lost considerable money, and we would have to drop it, and we would take our fixtures out as soon as we could. She said she had another offer at $45. I said we could not afford to pay it; we had lost considerable money in that place. She said it was all right.’
“ About May 9th (seven days after the expiration of the written lease) Mrs. Landsberg telephoned the defendant, asking why she had not received the usual check. The [653]*653defendant answered that they were going to give up the premises and send down the keys. Mrs. Landsberg replied that she would not accept the keys, and that she considered them her tenants. That afternoon the keys were sent to the plaintiff by registered mail. Plaintiff, by her attorneys, at once wrote the defendant, notifying them that, as they had held over possession of the premises, plaintiff considered them her tenants at $45 per month, and would not accept a surrender of the premises, but would undertake to rent for defendant’s benefit. It subsequently developed that, although the defendant sent down the keys on May 9th, and vacated the store about that time, the subtenant, Mr. Mulheron,- remained in possession of the upstairs portion of the building until June 12th. Mr. Mulheron paid his rent for May to McVittie & Vincent, defendant’s sublessees, about May 1st. He paid no rent from June 1st to June 12th. On June 11th defendant’s attention was called to this fact by a letter from plaintiff. The subtenant, Mr. Mulheron, did not move out until about June 12th.
‘ ‘ Defendant refused to pay any rent whatever, and after rent had accrued for May and June plaintiff began suit in justices’ courts for the amount then due. The bill of particulars in that suit calls for two months’ rent at $45 per month, and also for cost of certain repairs, amounting to $27. This suit was discontinued on August 17, 1901, upon defendant paying to plaintiff the sum of $92.75, being $90 for the rent for the months of May and June and $2.75 costs. The receipt given to defendant was a receipt for two months’ rent. The premises remained vacant up to September 1st. There is no claim made that there was any acceptance of defendant’s attempted surrender of the building.
“On August 19, 1901, this suit was commenced in justices’ courts for the rent for the months of July and August, 1901, at $45 per month. At the conclusion of the' evidence plaintiff moved for a direction of a verdict, which was refused, and also presented three requests for a like direction, all of which were refused. The questions involved relate to the charge of the court, and are raised by exceptions to his charge as given and to the refusal of plaintiff’s requests. The trial judge submitted the case to the jury on the basis of the telephone conversation which was had between Mrs; Landsberg and Mr. Schimmel after receipt by him of her letter of April 18, 1901. The jury evi[654]*654dently found the version of Mr. Schimmel to be correct, and found for defendant.”

Plaintiff claimed on the trial and claims here that, notwithstanding Mr. Schimmel’s version of the conversation of April 18th, defendant became her tenant by holding over; that, although Mr. Schimmel testified that she said “All right ” in answer to his statement that the defendant would not renew after May 2d, and would take out their fixtures as soon as they could, the occupation of the upstairs portion of the building by their subtenant, Mr. Mulheron, for six weeks after May 2d, and after receipt by the defendant of the letters of May 9th and June 11th, and their payment of rent for two months, constituted such a holding over as made defendant a tenant for another year. The theory of defendant is that plaintiff consented to the holding over of the defendant for such time as might be necessary for the purpose of removing its fixtures; that this was not accomplished until May 9, 1901; that the estate thus created was an estate at will; that, no yearly tenancy being contemplated, and the rent payable monthly, it was such an estate as could be terminated by either party giving to the other the notice required by the statute.

Plaintiff’s counsel argue for the following propositions:

“1. The plaintiff’s right to recover was not based on the telephone conversation in April. It was based on the fact that defendant held over after May 2d.
“2. The holding over of Mulheron, the subtenant, for six weeks after May 2d, was such as to make the defendant, at plaintiff’s option, her tenant for another year.
“3. Defendant’s holding over for six weeks after receipt of plaintiff’s letter of May 9th made defendant liable at the increased rental of $45, instead of $40.”

The principal case upon which plaintiff relies is Mason v. Wierengo’s Estate, 113 Mich. 151 (71 N. W. 489, 67 Am. St. Rep. 461). As we read that case, instead of sustaining the claim of counsel it is an authority for defendant. Justice Hooker, speaking for the court, said:

“In the absence of qualifying circumstances implying [655]*655consent to a holding under some new arrangement, the holding over is a legal trespass, and does not depend upon, the intention of the tenant. It is a wrongful holding, whatever the cause, though perhaps not culpable in a moral sense, and the rights of the landlord are definitely fixed by the law. This question was reviewed in Campau v. Michell, 103 Mich. 623 (61 N. W.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
94 N.W. 197, 132 Mich. 651, 1903 Mich. LEXIS 890, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/landsberg-v-tivoli-brewing-co-mich-1903.