Manley v. Underwood

110 S.E. 49, 27 Ga. App. 822, 1921 Ga. App. LEXIS 454
CourtCourt of Appeals of Georgia
DecidedDecember 14, 1921
Docket12675, 12676; 12677, 12678; 12679
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 110 S.E. 49 (Manley v. Underwood) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Georgia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Manley v. Underwood, 110 S.E. 49, 27 Ga. App. 822, 1921 Ga. App. LEXIS 454 (Ga. Ct. App. 1921).

Opinion

Hill, J.

(After stating the foregoing facts.) The controlling question of law, under the facts of this case, is, what was the relationship between Underwood, the plaintiff, and Manley, the defendant? Was that relationship one of landlord and tenant, or of vendor and vendee ? If the evidence shows that at the time the fertilizers were furnished by Underwood to Manley, Underwood occupied the relationship of landlord to Manley, it follows, as a matter of statutory law, that Underwood had a landlord’s lien for rent and a lien for the supplies furnished to make the crop for the year when his distress warrant for the rent was issued and his lien for supplies was foreclosed, and that a verdict in his favor resulted. If at that time Underwood occupied the relationship of a vendor and the defendant of vendee, the ver[827]*827diet in this case is contrary to law and should be set aside. Incidental to the question as to the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant another question arises, to wit: Were the supplies furnished by the plaintiff to the defendant while the plaintiff occupied the relationship of landlord .to Manley, or while they occupied the relationship of vendor and vendee? The learned trial judge submitted these two questions to the jury, presenting, in his instructions to the jury as to these two questions, a most illuminating statement of the law applicable to the evidence as the jury might find the facts to be. The jury found, in answer to the first question, that the bond for title held by J. M. Manley from F. ly.- Underwood was cancelled in March, 1920, by both parties. The evidence as to this fact was in direct conflict. The plaintiff swore positively that the bond for title was cancelled in -writing by the consent of Manley, the defendant, in March, 1920. The defendant, on the contrary, swore positively that the bond for title had never been cancelled and that the ex-ecutory contract of sale was still in force. The jury had the right to accejit the testimony of the plaintiff on this point.

The evidence shows that after this cancellation was made, as claimed by Underwood, Manley remained in possession of the property as Underwood’s tenant, and that while this relationship existed Underwood furnished to Manley, as tenant, fertilizers to make a crop for .that year on the land which he had previously agreed to sell but which was then occupied by Manley as a tenant. And the jury, in answer to the question submitted by the court, “ Did Underwood furnish fertilizers to Manley as landlord ? ” answered in the affirmative. The jury, therefore, having passed upon both these questions in favor of the contention of the plaintiff that he was a landlord when the supplies were furnished and the distress warrant for rent issued, and these answers being supported by evidence, it follows that the verdict in favor of Underwood, giving him priority in the distribution of the funds arising from the sale of the crops made on the land in question was right in. law and should be allowed to stand, unless there appears to have been some prejudicial error committed by the judge in the trial of the case, either in his rulings on testimony, or in his charge to the jury, or his refusal to charge.

Subsequently to the cancellation of the bond for title the re[828]*828lationship between Underwood and Manley of landlord and tenant continued until May 20, 1920, when, according to the testimony of Underwood, at the urgent request of Manley, he. gave Manley another chance to pay for the land, and a new contract was entered into between the two, which, in effect, extended the time of payment and provided that if the payment was not made in accordance with the agreement, the relationship of landlord and tenant should continue to exist. This contract was construed by the trial judge as continuing the relationship of landlord and tenant, with the right in the tenant, Manley, to purchase the land in question by paying the purchase-money notes as they became due; and, under this construction, as the undisputed evidence showed that Manley had failed to pay the first of these notes when it became due, the relationship of landlord and tenant continued. To this situation the judge, in his charge, applied the principle of law as announced in the case of Hodnett v. Mann, 10 Ga. App. 666 (73 S. E. 1082), as follows: “Where an owner of land contracts with another to sell it at a stipulated price, to be divided into installments becoming due at specified times, and further stipulates that in the event the installments are not paid when they mature, the owner shall be paid a specified sum as rental for the land, the legal effect of the contract is to create the relation of landlord and tenant between the parties, with an option to the tenant to purchase the land upon the terms and conditions set forth in the contract.” And “where, after the execution of such a contract, and before the first installment of the purchase-price becomes due, the parties mutually agree upon a rescission of so much of the contract as relates to a purchase of the land, the owner has a lien upon the crops grown upon the premises described in the contract, both for rent and for supplies furnished by him which were necessary to make the crop.” Under this decision, as applied to the facts of this case, the verdict in favor of Underwood, giving him a priority on the funds in the hands of the sheriff, realized from the sale of the crops made on the land in question, which Manley held as tenant under his agreement with Underwood, was a proper verdict.

What we have said thus far applies to the relative rights of Underwood and Manley, and is especially applicable to the general grounds of the motion for a new trial filed by Manley. In [829]*829his amendment to the motion for a new trial Manley assigns error on certain special grounds which will be considered seriatim.

First. Error is assigned as to the ruling of the court m admitting in evidence the testimony of Underwood as follows: " I furnished J. M. Manley guano in 1920, the guano he used on the F. K. Underwood lands and on the Mrs. Underwood and Strozier lands. This guano was furnished through the Zebulon Gin & Fertilizer Company of Zebulon, Ga., and amounted to the sum of $3,019.45, to be used, and was used, under crops growing on these lands.” It was objected that this evidence was inadmissible and immaterial and should not have been admitted; that Manley was, under the evidence, in possession of the land at the time the guano was furnished, as a purchaser holding bond fox title from Underwood, and Underwood was not landlord, and, not being landlord, could not furnish the same as landlord; and on the further ground that his evidence as to furnishing the same in such capacity was a conclusion of the witness. This evidence was admissible. It bears directly upon the question which is the fundamental question in the case, as to what was the relation between Underwood and Manley when the guano was furnished in 1920. It was claimed by Underwood that the executory contract of sale made with Manley had been cancelled by mutual consent between him and Manley, and it illustrated the question submitted by the court to the jury, as to what was that relationship between Underwood and Manley after the cancellation of the bond for title; which question was answered by the verdict finding that the relationship was one of landlord and tenant. The testimony was material to this issue, was not a conclusion of the witness, and enabled the jury to determine the very question involved, to wit, the relationship which existed between Underwood and Manley after the cancellation of the bond for title.

Second.

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Bluebook (online)
110 S.E. 49, 27 Ga. App. 822, 1921 Ga. App. LEXIS 454, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/manley-v-underwood-gactapp-1921.