McBroom v. Cheboygan Brewing & Malting Co.

127 N.W. 361, 162 Mich. 323, 1910 Mich. LEXIS 1042
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJuly 14, 1910
DocketDocket No. 108
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 127 N.W. 361 (McBroom v. Cheboygan Brewing & Malting 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
McBroom v. Cheboygan Brewing & Malting Co., 127 N.W. 361, 162 Mich. 323, 1910 Mich. LEXIS 1042 (Mich. 1910).

Opinion

Stone, J.

This is an action of assumpsit brought upon a guaranty of lease bearing date March 30, 1905. At that [324]*324date the plaintiff was the owner of a business building on Main street, in Cheboygan, and a dwelling house immediately back of the same, fronting on Water street. Max Schoenith was a saloon keeper, who, prior to March 30, 1905, had occupied the business building for a saloon and the house back of it for a residence. On that day he and the plaintiff executed a lease from her to him of the premises in question for five years from the date, under which the rent reserved for both properties was $44 per month. One of the conditions of the’execution of the lease was that the rent should be guaranteed. Schoenith at the time he executed the lease was a customer of defendant, buying his beer from it. The defendant is a Michigan corporation, organized for the purpose of manufacturing and selling lager beer and malt. On the same day and soon after the execution of the lease, the plaintiff’s agent took the lease, with the contract guaranteeing the payment of the rent printed thereon, to the office of the defendant, and the guaranty was.signed “Cheboygan Brg. & Malting Co., per S. Wilhartz, Mgr.” It was later signed by William H. Craig as a co-surety, but he was not served with process. The contract of guaranty reads as follows:

“In consideration of the letting of the premises in the foregoing instrument described, and for the sum of one dollar, to them paid, they do hereby become surety for the punctual payment of the rent and performance of the covenants in said instrument mentioned, to be paid and performed by the second party therein named; that if any default shall at any time be made therein, they do hereby promise and agree to pay unto the said party of the first part named in said instrument, the said rents and arrears thereof that may be due, and fully satisfy the conditions of said instrument, all damages that may occur by reason of the nonfulfillment thereof, without requiring notice or proof of the demand being made.
“ Witness their hands and seals this 30th day of March, 1905.
“ Cheboygan Brg. & Malting Co.,
“ Per S. Wilhartz, Mgr. [L. S.]
“William H. Craig. ”

[325]*325The case was heard before the court without a jury, and the following findings of facts and of law were filed, before judgment:

“ Finding of Facts.
“ (1) The plaintiff in this case sues upon the obligation covered by the lease and the guaranty set out in the declaration as Exhibit A.
“ (2) Prior to the time of making Exhibit A, Mr. Max Schoenith, the lessee, in Exhibit A, had been renting the saloon building from the plaintiff, paying, therefor $30 a month. At the time of making this lease, Exhibit A, he rented the saloon building, which had been previously occupied by him as a saloon, and was thereafter similarly occupied by him, and also the house on Water street immediately adjoining the same piece of property. The saloon is on lot 17, the first described property in said lease, the house is on lot 18, the second described piece of real estate. The agreed price at that time was $9 for the house and $35 for the saloon building. The amounts were not separately stated in the written contract but each of the lots is described, and it appears from the face of the lease that the property was to be occupied ‘ for a retail liquor business and residence of his family.’
“(2^) The defendant, Cheboygan Brewing & Malting Company, is a Michigan corporation, organized, as stated in its articles of association, for the purpose of the manufacture and sale of lager beer and malt.
“ (3) The defendant company changed its list of stockholders completely on February 1, 1905. On that day Mr. Moloney and the old stockholders held their last meeting and adjourned to Minneapolis, and on the same day transferred their stock to new purchasers who held a meeting in Minneapolis on February 7, 1905, and elected their board of directors, who in turn, on the same day, elected Mr. Barnum as president, Mr. Rutherford as treasurer and assistant secretary, and Mr. Wilhartz as secretary. Special authority was given to Mr. Rutherford to collect all moneys and deposit them in the bank and to check against same, evidently in the name of the company, and a resolution was passed authorizing Mr. Rutherford to create a special fund of $1,000 against which Mr. Wilhartz could check. Mr. Wilhartz was not elected general manager and was not expressly given any such powers; on the contrary his specified powers were limited even as secretary.
[326]*326“ (4) The testimony shows that Mr. Barnum, the president, spent much of the first year in Cheboygan. He had the power to, and did, draw checks, as did also Mr. Rutherford.
t£ (5) Mr. Wilhartz was never authorized by the defendant company to make the contract sued on in this case, or any one similar to it. The making of this contract was never known to any of the officers, directors, or stockholders of said company, neither were any of the alleged conversations or acts, if any, of Mr. Wilhartz which were subsequently done through Mr. Harpster, or Mr. Schoenith, or Mr. Moloney, known to any of the stockholders, officers, or directors.
_ “ (6) Mr. Schoenith bought beer of the company previous to the making of this contract and subsequent thereto. There is no testimony of any kind of any agreement between Mr. Schoenith and the company or Mr. Wilhartz that if the company or Mr. Wilhartz would sign the guaranty lease Mr. Schoenith would buy of them his beer, and there is no testimony of any benefit contemplated or received by the company by virtue of the undertaking sued on.
££(7) It appears that at the time of the making of the lease one Alexander Grieve was acting as the agent of the plaintiff in renting the property. After Mr. Wilhartz signed the guaranty Mr. Grieve took Exhibit A to Mr. Craig who signed. There is no evidence of any notification by Mrs. McBroom or any one for or in her behalf given to the defendant company of her acceptance of the arrangement created by the signing of the instrument by the defendant company, except the evidence of Mr. Grieve as to his agency, and that he took the paper to Mr. Wilhartz who signed, and thereafter he, Grieve, took the same away for Mr. Craig’s signature.
^ “(8) The testimony shows that Mr. Wilhartz never signed, either before or afterwards, the company’s name to any similar guaranty to that shown by Exhibit A. The testimony also shows that previous to the making of this lease he never indorsed any of the company notes, though at a later date his authority was increased to include the indorsement of company notes of purchase. Mr. Wilhartz drew checks previous to the making of Exhibit A as well as afterwards. He was the officer of the company coming most in contact with the public and most active in making sales.
[327]*327“ (9) Mr. Sehoenith was not joined as a defendant.
“ (10) The lease in question, the guaranty of which was sued upon, covered rent for the term of five years from and after the 1st day of May, 1905, for the premises to he occupied by Mr.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

In Re Union City Milk Co.
46 N.W.2d 361 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1951)
Eckhout v. Guardian National Bank of Commerce
6 F. Supp. 376 (E.D. Michigan, 1934)
In Re Battani
6 F. Supp. 376 (E.D. Michigan, 1934)
Smith v. Michigan Realty & Construction Co.
141 N.W. 635 (Michigan Supreme Court, 1913)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
127 N.W. 361, 162 Mich. 323, 1910 Mich. LEXIS 1042, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/mcbroom-v-cheboygan-brewing-malting-co-mich-1910.