People's Bank v. Bennett

139 S.W. 219, 159 Mo. App. 1, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 516
CourtMissouri Court of Appeals
DecidedJuly 15, 1911
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 139 S.W. 219 (People's Bank v. Bennett) 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
People's Bank v. Bennett, 139 S.W. 219, 159 Mo. App. 1, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 516 (Mo. Ct. App. 1911).

Opinion

NORTONI, J.

This is a suit in unlawful detainer. At the conclusion of all the evidence, the court peremptorily instructed that plaintiff could not recover and from this judgment the appeal is prosecuted.

It appears that the property involved is owned by one Dr. A. Lane, and that he is president of plaintiff bank. Dr. Lane leased the entire property, consisting of a hotel building, and banking room therein, to plaintiff -bank, and the bank re-let the hotel building to defendant, but, afterward defendant negotiated a lease for the hotel building directly with Dr. Lane and now claims the right of possession under this subsequent lease. It appears that on February 10, 1904, Dr. A. Lane, owner of the premises, let the entire property, consisting of the hotel building, and banking room therein, to plaintiff bank fór a period of five years, until February 10, 1909. The rent agreed upon [5]*5was twenty-five dollars per month, for the entire property. It was stipulated in this lease that the bank might continue to hold the premises for another like term of five years at the same rental and under the same terms and conditions as set forth in the original lease, if it elected to do so. Plaintiff bank occupied one room of the building as its banking house, and more than two years thereafter, on April 25, 1906, let all the remainder of the premises to defendant for a hotel. Though this lease to defendant was executed April 25, 1906, it created a term of three years, from February 10th of that year, terminating on February 10, 1909, for which defendant agreed to pay plaintiff bank a monthly rental of twenty-five dollars per month in advance. This lease stipulated, too, that defendant might continue it under the same terms and conditions and at the same rental for the same term, if he chose to do so at its expiration.

From what has been said, it appears that the lease of plaintiff bank from Dr. Lane expired February 10, 1909, with the privilege of renewal, and the lease of defendant from plaintiff bank expired on the same day, with a like privilege. Two days before the bank’s lease with Dr. Lane expired, that is on February 8, 1909, it renewed the same for. a new period of five years, commencing on February 10, 1909, and ending February 10, 1914. Though defendant’s lease with the bank of that portion of the building which he occupied as a hotel expired on the same day, he negotiated no new contract of lease thereof but continued in possession of the premises, as before, under his lease which stipulated that he might do so, if he chose, on like terms as those contained in. the original lease. Defendant paid plaintiff bank the rent falling due on the first day of the months of March, April, May and June after the lease expired, but defaulted or refused to pay rent to the bank July 1st. Defendant refused to pay further rent to [6]*6the bank, because, as he says, he had rented the premises from Dr. Lane, the owner, for a period of ten years, from July 1, 1909, to June 30, 1919, at forty dollars per month for the term of ten years. The facts touching this matter are about as follows: Defendant and Dr. Lane negotiated for several weeks about the lease of the premises and it appears several of the directors of the plaintiff bank knew that such negotiations were pending but did not consent thereto. Finally, on June 23d, Dr. Lane and defendant entered into a written lease, whereby Dr. Lane, as owner of the premises and not as president of plaintiff bank, let to defendant the entire property, including the banking house quarters, for the term of ten years, as above suggested, at a stipulated rental of forty dollars per month. As a part of this arrangement, defendant executed and delivered to Dr. Lane a writing which recites that, in consideration of one dollar to him paid, he let to plaintiff bank, free of further rent or charges therefor, the room occupied by it, for a period ending on the 10th day of February, 1914— that is, the same date on which the bank’s new lease with Dr. Lane terminated. This memorandum also provided that at the expiration of that period (February 10, 1914), defendant would rent to plaintiff bank the same room for the remainder of this term— that is, until July 1, 1919, at such rental as the parties should agree upon, and, if no agreement could be made between them, such as might be agreed upon by a board of arbitrators selected for the purpose. The lease so made from Dr. Lane, the owner, to defendant, of date June 23, 1909, was acknowledged before Mr. Glassey, the cashier of plaintiff bank, who was likewise a notary public, and it appears that Dr. Lane, the president of the bank, signed, as a witness, the agreement by which defendant authorized the bank to occupy the premises until February 10, 1910, free, of rent. At the same time, and simul[7]*7taneously with the execution of these papers, Dr. Lane executed, a written order, directed to defendant, by which he appointed plaintiff bank as his agent to collect the rent of the premises for him under the new lease above mentioned. This paper was witnessed by J. A. Glassey, the cashier of the bank, who" signed his name thereto as á witness, but Glassey says that he did not know the matter involved a lease of the property until after he had taken the acknowledgment and received Dr. Lane’s copy of the lease to deposit with Lane’s private papers in the bank. Dr. Lane delivered his copy of the lease to Glassey, the cashier, to be placed with his papers, but the bank repudiated the transaction throughout immediately and asserted its rights to the premises under the lease renewed on February 8, 1909, for a term of five years, from February 10th of that year to February 10, 1914. Though it appears some of the directors of the bank knew that negotiations were pending between Dr. Lane, the owner of the property, and defendant about a lease, it is not shown that any of them consented thereto. Indeed, it affirmatively appears from the testimony of defendant, as well as from Dr. Lane himself and the cashier of the bank, Mr. Glassey, that shortly prior to June 23d, when the lease was consummated, Mr. Glassey, the cashier of the bank, informed Dr. Lane and defendant that he would not consent to a letting of the property to defendant by Dr. Lane, as it was a matter about which he was without authority and pertaining to which the board of directors alone could act. As to this, it appears Dr. Lane and defendant called at the bank to discuss with Glassey, the cashier, the matter of the proposed lease between Dr. Lane and defendant. Upon informing Mr. Glassey thereabout and requesting his consent, he refused it point blank, saying that is a matter for the board of directors. Notwithstanding this warning, Dr. Lane proceeded to execute a lease with [8]*8defendant as above stated and defendant relies thereon for his right of possession against the bank. The lease which defendant originally entered into with the bank stipulates for the payment of a monthly rental to the bank of twenty-five dollars per month, on the first day of each month, and provides further that, in the event defendant should default in any installment of rent for thirty days after the same is due, the lease shall terminate and he will, on demand, reinstate plaintiff in the peaceable possession of the premises. Defendant having defaulted in the payment of rent due to plaintiff under its lease, on July 1, 1909, plaintiff thereafter demanded possession and served a written notice on defendant to that effect, on August 10, 1909. As defendant continued in his refusal to either pay plaintiff rent or give possession of the premises, this suit in unlawful detainer was instituted on August 21st of the same year.

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208 S.W. 484 (Missouri Court of Appeals, 1919)

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Bluebook (online)
139 S.W. 219, 159 Mo. App. 1, 1911 Mo. App. LEXIS 516, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/peoples-bank-v-bennett-moctapp-1911.