R. I. Warehouse Co. v. W. H. Holt Mfg. Co.

89 A. 706, 36 R.I. 192, 1914 R.I. LEXIS 12
CourtSupreme Court of Rhode Island
DecidedFebruary 24, 1914
StatusPublished

This text of 89 A. 706 (R. I. Warehouse Co. v. W. H. Holt Mfg. Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Rhode Island primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
R. I. Warehouse Co. v. W. H. Holt Mfg. Co., 89 A. 706, 36 R.I. 192, 1914 R.I. LEXIS 12 (R.I. 1914).

Opinion

Vincent, J.

This is a petition in equity brought by the Rhode Island Warehouse Company against the W. H. Holt Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, Robert H. Arnold, John J. Hoey, D. G. • Mahler Company, Fr,ank Holland, Thomas H. Needham and James Keenan to secure the allowance and enforcement of a warehouseman’s lien upon certain personal property under Sections 24 to 29 of Chapter 257 of the General Laws of 1909. The petitioner explains that several of these respondents were named in the petition out of an abundant caution and with the intent of safeguarding the proceeding by including everyone who might possibly have an interest in the subject matter thereof. However that may be, the respondent, Frank Holland, is the only one who contested the allowance of the lien in the Superior Court and the only one who has taken an appeal to this court. After a hearing in the Superior Court upon oral testimony, a decision was rendered in favor of the petitioner and a decree was entered in accordance therewith.

From this decree Frank Holland claimed an appeal, stating the following reasons therefor:

(1) That said decree is against the evidence and the weight thereof.

‘ ‘ (2) That said decree is against the law.

‘ ‘ (3) That said decree is against the rights of the respondent Holland as disclosed by the pleadings and proofs.

“(4) That said court erred in decreeing the sale of said property.

“(5) That said court erred in ordering and decreeing sale of all or any part of said property owned by different *194 persons, to satisfy said sum of $1,889.75, together with charges and costs incident thereto.

“(6) That if the petitioner has any lien for said sum, $1,889.75, or any part thereof, together with said charges and costs, the said sum, together with such charges and costs, should have been apportioned among the several different respondents with respect to the amount of property owned or possessed by each of them.

“(7) That the court erred in not decreeing that the person or persons who put or caused to be put said property in storage as aforesaid, are liable for said warehouse charges.

“(8) That the court erred in including in said sum of $1,889.75, bill of T. W. Waterman Co., for moving machinery, and also the expense of taking down shafting, which goes with said machinery. ”

It appears from the evidence that during the early part of the year 1910 the respondent W. H. Holt Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, occupied certain premises as the tenant of the respondent Robert H. Arnold, for whom Messrs. G. L. & H. J. Gross were acting as agents; and that in the late spring of 1910 the rent for these premises being long overdue, said respondent company was notified to vacate 'and subsequently did so. When it removed from the premises, however, it left thereon a large amount of personal property formerly in its possession, consisting of certain valuable tools, machines, and machinery of great size and bulk which it is claimed would have been ruined or seriously damaged if exposed to the weather. Thereafter, about December 7, 1910, the property still being on the premises, the owner of the building, Robert H. Arnold, through his agents, Messrs. G. L. & H. J. Gross, sent written notices to the respondent Holt Company and its attorneys and to Holland and his attorney that the property of the Holt Company must be removed from the premises. These persons were the only ones known by Arnold to have any interest in, or claims to, said property, the respondent Holt Company as late tenant in possession and apparent owner, *195 and the said Holland as agent or assignee of the respondent Keenan, the original holder of a mortgage of record thereon executed September 14,1909.

These notices requested that the person entitled to said property forthwith remove it from the premises and stated that in the event, that this was not done the respondent Arnold would cause said property to be removed and stored at the risk and expense of the person or persons entitled thereto. Thereafter, on or about December 28, 1910, the property in question not having been removed, the respondent Arnold caused it to be stored at the warehouse of the appellee at the risk and expense of the person or persons entitled thereto, and so notified the respondent Holt Company and the appellant Holland that this had been done. At no time either before or after receiving any of the above notices did the respondent Holt Company or the appellant Holland make any effort to remove, care for, or store said property themselves and neither did they in any way object to the action proposed to be, and subsequently, taken by Arnold in connection with the storage of it. The charge of the Warehouse Company for the storage of the property was fifty dollars per month. Proceedings to enforce its lien for all charges were deferred by Arnold at the request of the respondent Holt Company to which bills for the same were fruitlessly sent from time to time. On January 3,1913, the date of the commencement of this cause, the charges in connection with the care and storage of this property, with interest, amounted to $1,544.53, and on June 21, 1913, the date of the entry of the final decree herein, to $1,889.75.

The respondent Holland argues in support of his appeal that while the respondent Arnold, the owner of the premises, after due notice, could have removed the tools and machinery from the building and exposed them to damage by the elements, either through ejectment proceedings or without legal proceedings of any kind, he could not place them in storage, even after notice, and impose the expense thereof upon the parties in interest without their consent or agree *196 ment thereto. On this point numerous authorities have been cited upon both sides. We will not, however, enter upon a discussion of such authorities as it appears to us that the case must be disposed of upon other grounds.

(1) The petitioner claims that the respondent Holland has no right of appeal for the reason that he has no interest in the subject matter of the suit and hence, being without interest, he is not aggrieved.

Holland claimed to be interested, in the subject matter of the proceeding, as the holder of a certain chattel mortgage upon the personal estate of the W. H. Holt Manufacturing Company, Incorporated, which said mortgage was originally given by the said Holt Company to one James Keenan, September 14, 1909, and later assigned to the said Holland.

(2) To properly understand the questions which are presented to us as to the right of Holland to appeal, it will be necessary to refer to the case of W. H. Holt Manufacturing Company, Incorporated vs. Frank Holland et al. In that case a bill was filed in the Superior Court on June 4, 1910 (Eq. No. 2062), setting forth that the complainant was incorporated in December, 1908, under the laws of Rhode Island, with a capital stock of $40,000, divided into four thousand shares; that on December 4, 1908, Frank Holland, William H. Holt and Louis D.

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89 A. 706, 36 R.I. 192, 1914 R.I. LEXIS 12, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/r-i-warehouse-co-v-w-h-holt-mfg-co-ri-1914.