Marcy v. City of Syracuse

199 A.D. 246, 192 N.Y.S. 674, 1921 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6648
Appellate Division of the Supreme Court of the State of New York·Decided December 20, 1921·Published·Cited by 16 cases

Opinion

Judgment affirmed, with costs, upon the opinion of Hon. Albert Haight, referee.

All concur.

The following is the opinion of the referee:

Haight, Referee:

The complaint in this action alleges three causes of action against defendant. The first cause is based upon a lease to the defendant by the plaintiff of a garbage reduction plant, pursuant to an order of the United States District Court of the Northern District of New York, containing covenants which it is alleged the defendant has failed to perform, and that the plaintiff has suffered damages in consequence of such failure. The covenant in the lease which it is alleged the defendant has broken provides as follows:

The party of the first part does hereby let and the party of the second part does hereby take all the real property, buildings, plant, machinery, horses, wagons, tools and equipment belonging to said alleged bankrupt and situate in the City of Syracuse, New York, at a monthly rental of $225.00, payable monthly for a term commencing November 12, 1917, [249] and ending on June 30, 1918, upon the following terms and conditions, to wit:

“ The party of the second part, in addition to the aforesaid rental, agrees to operate the plant of the party of the first part and to pay all operating expenses, all necessary repairs and replacements and all insurance premiums for fire insurance on said plant and buildings upon a pro rata monthly basis on a total insurance not to exceed $70,000. The party of the second part further agrees to keep the plant of the party of the first part in as good condition as at present.”

The claim of the plaintiff is that the aforementioned covenants were not kept by the defendant, but that on the expiration of the terms of the lease the buildings, equipment and • machinery had been practically destroyed and were a heap of ruins. The cause of action, therefore, was based upon a breach of a contract and was to recover the damages which the plaintiff had sustained in consequence thereof.

The second cause of action was for the balance of rent due; the third for the balance of insurance premiums which the plaintiff had been compelled to pay.

The answer interposed by the defendant, as amended, is to the effect that on or about the 20th day of March, 1918, the leasehold premises mentioned and described in the complaint were destroyed or so injured by the elements, or other cause, viz., by a sudden explosion of one of the digesters upon said premises, as to be untenantable and unfit for occupancy and for the use for which said premises were leased, and that such explosion and destruction or injury resulting therefrom occurred without any fault or neglect upon the part of the defendant, its agents or officers.

Upon the trial it appeared that the plant was out of repair and that a considerable expenditure would be necessary in order to make necessary repairs for its operation, and that the defendant was so advised before executing the lease. It further appeared that after the defendant entered into possession of the leasehold premises it made repairs, the cost of which amounted to $5,693.34, but that it did not inspect or repair digester No. 3, which in the following March exploded, wrecking the building, appliances and machinery. It also appeared that the digester No. 3, which was formerly con[250] structed of one-half-inch boiler plate, at points near the surface of the cooking garbage became worn, eaten by acids and materially reduced in thickness; that certain portions of the wall of said digester No. 3 were at the time of said explosion reduced to a thickness of between sixty-three one-thousandths of an inch to ninety one-thousandths of an inch; that at least one of the rivets in said digester was worn, eaten with acid and loose, and that said digester was not in a proper and safe condition for use as such under the pressure of steam 'ordinarily used therein.

" It also appeared from the testimony that such condition ‘could have been ascertained by inspection of the inside of the digester with the use of a hammer. It further appeared from ’the testimony that during the process of cooking the garbage it was the practice to open the valve at the top of the digester periodically to reheve it from the pressure of steam inside, and that it did not appear that on the day of the explosion such opening had been made, or that it had even cracked by a slight opening which was permitted to remain during the process of cooking.

I, therefore, believe myself bound by the evidence to find as a fact that the defendant has failed to show that the explosion occurred without fault or negligence on its part, and to find that the explosion in and damages to said plant and premises heretofore referred to were occasioned by the neglect of the defendant to properly inspect and repair digester No. 3 and to operate the said plant in a proper and careful manner.

If I am correct in making the above-mentioned findings, it disposes of the defendant’s defense interposed under the Real Property Law, section 227 (Laws of 1909, chap. 52), which provides that “ Where any building, which is leased or occupied, is destroyed or so injured by the elements, or any other cause as to be untenantable, and unfit for occupancy, and no express agreement to the contrary has been made in writing, the lessee or occupant may, if the destruction or injury occurred without his fault or neglect, quit and surrender possession of the leasehold premises, and of the land so leased or occupied; and he is not liable to pay to the lessor or owner,, rent for the time subsequent to the surrender.”

[251] This statute, which was copied from the Laws of 1860, chapter 345, was designed to afford relief to tenants in buildings upon leasehold estates which had been destroyed by the elements or otherwise without fault or negligence on the part of the tenant, thus relieving the tenant from the rigors of the common law, but it only applied to cases where the destruction or injury occured without fault or negligence on the part of the tenant. (Butler v. Kidder, 87 N. Y. 98.)

It thus becomes unnecessary to consider the question as to whether the defendant surrendered up possession of the premises and buildings within a reasonable time after they had been destroyed.

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Marcy v. City of Syracuse, 199 A.D. 246, 192 N.Y.S. 674, 1921 N.Y. App. Div. LEXIS 6648 (N.Y. Ct. App. 1921).

199 A.D. 246 (Marcy v. City of Syracuse) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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