Oglebay v. Kansas City Board of Trade

78 S.W. 843, 99 Mo. App. 433, 1903 Mo. App. LEXIS 207
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 6, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 78 S.W. 843 (Oglebay v. Kansas City Board of Trade) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Missouri Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Oglebay v. Kansas City Board of Trade, 78 S.W. 843, 99 Mo. App. 433, 1903 Mo. App. LEXIS 207 (Mo. Ct. App. 1903).

Opinion

BROADDUS, J.

This suit was instituted on the '28th of June, 3898, against P. T. Hamm and others, [436]*436officers of the Kansas City Board of Trade, at which time a temporary restraining order was made. On the 30th day of July of said year there was issued what was called a temporary injunction, which was modified on the 6th day of August, following. The defendant trust company petitioned to be made a party to the proceedings and filed its answer. On the 29th day of November a final decree was entered in the case making the temporary injunction in part perpetual, from which all parties appealed.

As all the pertinent facts were before the Supreme Court, in the case (173 Mo. 218) wherein John W. Moore et al. were plaintiffs and the Guardian Trust Company (formerly Missouri, Kansas & Texas Trust Company) and George W. Jones and James H. Oglebay were interpleaders, as a matter of convenience we have adopted the statement to be found in said opinion, as follows:

The controversy is this: Prior to May 31, 1898, the Board of Trade occupied a part of the Exchange Building, on Eighth and Wyandotte streets, of which Richard Gentry was the owner. Their relations became unpleasant, and the Board of Trade, and its members, as individuals, who had offices in the building determined to move. The plaintiffs Jones & Oglebay owned a building on Missouri avenue and Walnut street, called Temple Block, and the Board of Trade, on May 31, 1898, leased the building from Jones & Oglebay for one year, from July 1, 1898, for a rental of sixteen thousand dollars, with a privilege of renewal for five years. The lessors were to furnish free, heat, water, light, and elevator and janitor service, and to retain the offices then occupied by them. The lessors were to' change “the four storerooms-on the first floor into one room in complete order for a trading room for the Board of Trade, to the satisfaction o.f the building committee of the second party, the portion of the ceiling over the trading hall corresponding with the open space [437]*437above, the main entrance from the hall to the trading room to be between the two elevators.” It was further stipulated: “The second parties-shall have the privilege of underletting any portion of said premises during said term, and at its own expense, causing such changes, by way of partition, or otherwise, as it may deem proper, under the supervision of one of the first parties.” The lease expressed to be “upon condition, however, that no personal liability of any kind is assumed or created upon the part of any officer, director or individual member of the said Board of Trade.”

Pursuant to the lease the lessors notified all the tenants then in Temple Block to vacate on July 1, 1898, and made the changes on the first floor above provided for. The Board of Trade appointed a committee to fix the rental of the rooms in the building (Temple Block) other than those intended to be used by it, and they were all assigned, by lot, to the members.

The trust company in June, 1898, acquired title to the Exchange Building from its former' owner, Glen-try, and at once set about the prevention of the Board of Trade and its members from leaving the Exchange Building, and accordingly on June 22, 1898, the trust company made a written proposition to the Board of Trade that if it would remain in the Exchange Building for a term of five years, the trust company would assume the Jones & Oglebay lease, and in addition would not only charge no rent for the use of the trading hall or for the rooms used by the secretary of the Board of Trade, but would pay the Board of Trade a bonus of five hundred dollars a month. Later on the same day the trust company further, in order to make sure that the trust company would meet the assumption of the $16,000 rental of the Temple Block, proposed to allow the Board of Trade to collect the monthly rentals from the tenants in the Temple Block and keep them until the end of the month and if the trust company did not pay the rent on the Temple Block within twenty-[438]*438four hours after it was due, to allow the Board of Trade to apply the rents so collected to the payment of the rent due for said Temple Block.

Afterwards on June 23, 1898, the trust company further wrote to the Board of Trade saying the proposition did not contemplate that all the members then occupying rooms in the Exchange Building should sign leases for five years, and further saying that the lease contemplated was to be without personal liability of the officers or members of the Board of Trade and agreeing to rely upon the honor' of the Board of Trade to keep its promises “as Messrs. Jones & Oglebay relied, upon to get their $16,000 for a year, which will most certainly be paid by us and thus relieve the Board of' Trade and all its members from any obligation of honor or otherwise to the owners of the Temple Block. ’ ’

This proposition was submitted to the members of the Board of Trade on June 23, 1898, and was accepted by a maj ority vote of the members. Thereupon, on June 24, 1898, the trust company wrote Jones & Oglebay as follows:

“Gentlemen. The undersigned having purchased the Exchange Building recently made a proposition to the Board of Trade for rental of portions of said build.ing, and in said proposition agreed to assume the lease which you had made to the Board of Trade for the-Temple Block for one year from July 1, 1898. We would like to meet you with a view of ascertaining for what sum we can secure a cancellation of this lease, releasing the lessees from any liability to pay rent thereon. Or in the event that you would not care to negotiate or consider such á proposition, we will, of course, under our promise to the Board of Trade, be obliged to pay the rent and sublet the Temple Block and get whatever we can out of it. If you will kindly indicate a place and time where and when we can meet you and talk over this matter, we would very much like to have you do so.
[439]*439“Missouri, Kansas & Texas Trust Company,
“By A. E. Stillwell, President.”

To this letter Jones & Oglebay never made any reply. The attorney of the Board of Trade then prepared a lease from the Trust Company to the Board of Trade, which was executed by the trust company but while said attorney was reading’ it to the officers of the board of trade, and before it was executed by them, Jones & Oglebay, on June 28, 1898, got out an injunction against the Board of Trade restraining it from assigning or transferring or subletting Temple Block or any portion thereof, except the basement, to the trust company or to any person other than a member of the Board of Trade or to one engaged in the grain or like business, and also restraining the board from “making any order, passing any resolution, or making any contract which would prevent or tend to prevent the said association (or members thereof) from locating its trading hall and officers in and otherwise using and occupying plaintiff’s said building (Temple Block).” The lease which said Board of Trade was restrained from executing contained the provisions covered by the propositions of the trust company — those that related to and bound the trust company to assume the lease of Temple Block, and which gave the trust company any rights under that lease, were as follows:

“4. First party assumes the contract made by the second party on the 31st day of May, 1898, with George W. Jones and James H. Oglebay for lease of Temple Block,

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Bluebook (online)
78 S.W. 843, 99 Mo. App. 433, 1903 Mo. App. LEXIS 207, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/oglebay-v-kansas-city-board-of-trade-moctapp-1903.