Loose-Wiles Biscuit Co. v. Deering Village Corp.

48 A.2d 715, 142 Me. 121, 1946 Me. LEXIS 22
Supreme Judicial Court of Maine·Decided July 22, 1946·Published·Cited by 10 cases

Opinion

Murchie, J.

This case is brought forward on appeal by the defendant from the decree of a single justice sitting in equity. In the process the plaintiff, as lessee of defendant’s immediate predecessors in title to a parcel of land and the buildings thereon, seeks to enjoin the defendant from removing a spur track or siding which serves said parcel, and is the subject matter of an express provision in plaintiff’s lease, although it is located on an adjoining lot, never owned by the lessors, which the defendant acquired after securing the title to the reversion in the leased property by a deed conveying that title subject to the lease. The issues raised can be brought into focus most effectively by a chronological recital of the pertinent title history of the separate lots.

On and prior to April 15, 1943, when the lease was executed, the leased parcel was owned by five individuals. It had been serviced since January 1, 1926, by the spur track aforesaid. The preferential use of that spur track was assured to the plaintiff under two agreements between the lessors and Portland Terminal Company, the owner of the parcel on which it was located and the operator of the railroad rendering service over it. These were a Sidetrack Maintenance and Operation Agreement dated January 1, 1942, setting forth the terms and conditions regulating the maintenance and use of the track, and a Consent Agreement dated June 5, 1942, making it available to the tenants of the lessors. The defendant took title to the demised premises, and other property, under a deed dated November 18, 1943, which carries recital at the close of the premises, or descriptive part, and immediately preceding the habendum, that:

“Said premises are subject to two leases, one to the Loose-Wiles Biscuit Company . . . .”

Appropriate language in the convenants excepts the leases from [124] the operation of full covenants of warranty. There can be no doubt that the title of the defendant to the leased property is held subject to the plaintiff’s right to occupy the premises until April 30,1948, and thereafter until April 30,1953, upon exercise of an option of renewal.

The parcel on which the spur track is located is referred to in the lease as “immediately adjacent” to the premises therein demised. It was owned by Portland Terminal Company prior to April 15, 1943, on that date, and thereafter until it was purchased by the defendant. Title to it, as part of a larger lot, passed in a deed runnning to the defendant which bears date of May 23, 1944, but was not recorded until November 2, 1944. In the interval prior to May 23, 1944, the defendant had acquired title to the demised premises and executed agreements with Portland Terminal Company similar to the Sidetrack Maintenance and Operation Agreement of January 1,1942, and the Consent Agreement of June 5,1942. On the day of the execution of these agreements the defendant was the owner of the leased property, subject to the lease, but had no manner of interest in or connection with the title to the spur track parcel.

Plaintiff asserts its claim on the basis of three paragraphs in the lease which set forth respectively a covenant of quiet enjoyment, an undertaking by the lessors in connection with the maintenance of the spur track which contains a condition giving the lessee the right of termination on the happening of a named event, and a recital that the provisions of the lease should bind, and inure to, the assigns of the parties. In their pertinent parts, these read:

“The Lessors covenant and agree that the Lessee ... shall and may peaceably and quietly ... enjoy the demised premises ____”
“It is agreed and shall be made a condition of this lease that a spur switch track . . . shall be maintained by the Lessors for the use of the Lessee, and should said . . . spur [125] be removed, or the use thereof interfered with . . . the said Lessee shall have the right and privilege of terminating this lease.”
“It is covenanted and agreed . . . that the covenants . . . shall be binding upon and apply and inure to the ... assigns of the respective parties.”

A memorandum, filed prior to the entry of the decree, recites findings that:

“. . . it was the intention . . . that the lessors should be obligated to furnish . . . the spur track so far as it was and should be under their control.”
“It was not in accordance with the intention . . . that the lessors ... should be relieved of the obligation by acquiring the interest of the Portland Terminal Company.”
“the use of the spur track was an essential requirement to the plaintiff as lessee”

and

“if denied such use the lessee would be without adequate remedy by action at law.”

If these recitals constituted factual findings they would be entitled to the benefit of the principle declared in Young v. Witham, 75 Me., 536, ever since maintained, that they should not be disturbed on appeal unless clearly erroneous. Actually they are findings, or rulings, of law, as the language used discloses. The first two find intention and while the law is clear that contracts should be construed in a manner which will effectuate the intention of the parties, Erskine v. Moulton, 66 Me., 276; Ames v. Hilton, 70 Me., 36; Bell v. Jordan et al., 102 Me., 67, 65 A., 759, it is recognized that the interpretation of written contracts is a question of law. Guptil v. Damon, 42 Me., 271; Hoyt v. Tapley, 121 Me., 239, 116 A., 559. The essentiality of the spur track [126] lias no bearing on the case unless the lessors contracted to furnish it as part of the leased property. Whether a litigant seeking equitable relief has an .adequate remedy at law is a question of law.

The decree sustains the plaintiff’s bill and permanently enjoins the defendant, its agents and servants (in accordance with the prayer of the process), from removing the spur track or interfering with the plaintiff’s use of it during the term of the lease, or renewal. The injunction is potentially effective through April 30,1953. It prohibits the defendant from utilizing its title on the basis of a negative intention, and from conveying that free title which it acquired from its predecessor in title. Counsel for the plaintiff conceded at oral argument that the owner of the property when the lease was executed, or any grantee other than the defendant (or one holding title to the leased premises), would have the right to remove the spur track. The effect of the injunction therefore is to hold that the merging of title to the lot on which the spur track is located and the leased property in a single owner subjected the former to a servitude in favor of the latter.

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Loose-Wiles Biscuit Co. v. Deering Village Corp., 48 A.2d 715, 142 Me. 121, 1946 Me. LEXIS 22 (Me. 1946).

48 A.2d 715 (Loose-Wiles Biscuit Co. v. Deering Village Corp.) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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