Rembold Motors, Inc. v. Bonfield

293 N.E.2d 210, 155 Ind. App. 422, 1973 Ind. App. LEXIS 1236
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedMarch 7, 1973
Docket3-1072A76
StatusPublished
Cited by21 cases

This text of 293 N.E.2d 210 (Rembold Motors, Inc. v. Bonfield) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Rembold Motors, Inc. v. Bonfield, 293 N.E.2d 210, 155 Ind. App. 422, 1973 Ind. App. LEXIS 1236 (Ind. Ct. App. 1973).

Opinion

Sharp,J.

This case was commenced by the Plaintiff-Appellee, Genevieve I. Bonfield, by the filing of a complaint on August 25, 1971, wherein Rembold Motors, Inc. was designated Defendant. Said complaint alleged that the Appellee as lessor had entered into a written lease dated June 30, 1969 with the Appellant as lessee. The complaint further alleged that the Appellant was in default under the term of said lease in the sum of $900.00 for rent and the sum of $630.72 for property taxes which had been demanded and payment refused. The complaint prayed for “termination of the lease, ejectment of the defendant from the leased premises, for costs in this action and for all other proper relief”. A copy of the lease in question was attached to the complaint and consists of 24 numbered paragraphs covering 12 full pages in the transcript. This lawsuit centers on one of the basic provisions of the lease which provides as follows:

“The Lessor hereby leases to the Lessee, and the Lessee hereby hires from the Lessor the following described real estate together with improvements situated thereon and thereto belonging, to-wit: (Real estate here described) for a term of five (5) years commencing on the 1st day of July, 1969, and ending on the 30th day of June, 1974, at an agreed rental of Nine Hundred Dollars ($900.00) per month together with an amount of money which may exceed the property taxes of $2,000.00 per annum payable for said demised premises commencing with taxes for the year 1969 due and payable in 1970 and continuing during the entire term of the lease, or any extensions thereof, in order that Lessee will pay such excess taxes for the entire term of occupancy. The monthly rental of $900.00 per month shall be payable in advance on the 1st day of each and every *425 month to the Lessor at such place as the Lessor may from time to time designate in writing.”

Two other relevant provisions are paragraphs 18 and 20 which provide:

“18. No delay on the part of either party in enforcing any of the provisions of this lease shall be considered as a waiver thereof. Either party may waive the enforcement of any of the provisions of this lease and such waiver shall not constitute a waiver of the right to exercise the same at any other time.”
***** *
“20. If Lessee defaults in the payment of rent, or if Lessee defaults in any of the other covenants and agreements of this lease, or if the Lessee shall be adjudicated bankrupt or insolvent according to law, or shall make an assignment for the benefit of creditors, Lessor shall then, but not until then, have the right to sue for rent or to terminate this lease and re-enter said premises and then, and in any of said cases, the Lessor may lawfully enter into and upon the said premises, or any part thereof, in the name of the whole and repossess the same and expel the Lessee and those claiming under and through it, and remove its effects, forcibly if necessary, without being deemed guilty of any manner of trespass and without prejudice to any remedies which might otherwise be used for arrears of rent, or preceding breach of covenant, and upon entry as aforesaid, this lease shall terminate and wholly expire, and the Lessee covenants that in case of such termination it will indemnify the Lessor against all loss of rent which the Lessor may incur by reason of such termination during the residue of the term hereof.”

The lease proceeds in a detailed fashion to describe various rights and obligations of the parties under it.

On the 3rd day of November, 1971 the Appellant filed an answer to the Appellee’s complaint explicitly setting out three defenses. The first defense asserted that the complaint failed to state a claim upon which relief could be granted. The second defense admitted the allegations of the complaint with reference to the execution of the lease but denied the allegations of the complaint with reference to the default. The third defense alleged:

*426 “Plaintiff has accepted rent allegedly delinquent and taxes allegedly payable have been paid or tendered whereupon the plaintiff has waived alleged defaults complainted [sic] of in this action.”

Thereafter on the 11th day of November 1971 the Appellant filed a supplemental answer asserting a fourth defense as follows:

“That since the defendant’s Ansv/er was filed herein on or about November 3, 1971, defendant has discovered that checks given by it to the plaintiff, Genevieve I. Bonfield, or her attorneys, at various times since August 1, 1971 have apparently not been presented for payment and that these checks aggregate Four Thousand Two Hundred Thirty Dollars and Seventy-two Cents ($4,230.72).
Defendant further says that all of said checks were tendered in good faith and in the manner heretofore acceptable to the plaintiff as payment for rentals due and none of the same have been returned to it or their receipt declined by plaintiff nor has defendant been notified that the same were not negotiated; further, that the tender by the defendant of said checks having been in good faith removed any delinquency or default under the Lease attached to the Complaint of the plaintiff as Exhibit 1 but that defendant has relied to its detriment upon the acceptance and retention of said checks for all amounts due under said Lease.
Defendant as of November 10, 1971 has learned that plaintiff has negotiated and executed a Lease of the premises demised to it with a third party without the knowledge of the defendant and without the completion of this litigation. In order to protect its position the defendant, therefore, tenders into Court by paying into the Clerk’s Office coincident with the filing of this Supplemental Answer the sum of Four Thousand Two Hundred Thirty Dollars and Seventy-two Cents ($4,230.72) which is the amount of the following checks received by the plaintiff as indicated;
Check No. 10875, dated August 24, 1971 $900.00
Check No. 10922, dated September 13, 1971 900.00
Check No. 11014, dated October 4, 1971 900.00
Check No. 11098, dated October 31, 1971 1,530.72
Plaintiff is estopped, therefore, to assert any provisions of the Lease with defendant which are inconsistent with plaintiff’s conduct in accepting and retaining the checks of the defendant as previously stated and from complaining and obtaining relief by virtue of those complaints for al *427 leged prior failure to make payments under said Lease. Further, that all of the actions of the plaintiff in retaining the tendered checks and entering into a Lease Agreement with a third party were covert and resulted in defendant, a business corporation, being placed in an injured position as a result of its reliance upon the apparent fact that any alleged breaches of the Lease had not been cured by payment.”

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
293 N.E.2d 210, 155 Ind. App. 422, 1973 Ind. App. LEXIS 1236, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/rembold-motors-inc-v-bonfield-indctapp-1973.