Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Texas Employers' Ins. Ass'n

252 S.W.2d 973, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1822
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedJuly 23, 1952
DocketNo. 4868
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 252 S.W.2d 973 (Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Texas Employers' Ins. Ass'n) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Reserve Life Ins. Co. v. Texas Employers' Ins. Ass'n, 252 S.W.2d 973, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1822 (Tex. Ct. App. 1952).

Opinions

PRICE, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from one of the District Courts exercising jurisdiction in Dallas County. Texas Employers’ Insurance Association, hereinafter called appellee, sued Reserve Life Insurance 'Company, 'hereinafter called appellant, to recover the reasonable cash market value of certain lighting and air conditioning equipment in their depreciated condition at the termination of a lease contract under the eleventh provision thereof, copied below. The case was tried before the court without a jury, and a judgment for $24,939.30 was rendered for appellee.

Frank H. Abel, owner of an office building in the city of Dallas, made four leases to appellee, the first of which was dated February 28, 1946, the second May 7, 1947, the third May 28, 1947, and the fourth June 14, 1948, all of which leases commenced on the 1st day of June of the years when executed, except the fourth, which commenced July 1st, and all ended on the 31st day of May, 1954. The leases in the aggregate covered the office space on the fifth and sixth, floors and the east half of the fourth floor, which was for a stipulated sum payable in monthly installments. The second and third leases contained the following provision, to-wit:

“Eleventh. It is understood and agreed that the lessee after securing Lessor’s approval, may, at its own expense, make changes in office partitions, or may erect new partitions in the premises covered by this lease. Also Lessee may install new lighting fixtures, provided such installation will not increase the electrical load; also Lessee may install air conditioning equipment if sufficient current is available in present building wiring, and !by paying Lessor for the current consumed. Installation of such air-conditioning equipment must be made so no damage will result to the building and also not be obnoxious to other tenants. The Lessee may remove upon termination of this lease,, all its own equipment and agrees to replace any of Lessor’s fixtures which may be removed. The Lessor will bear no part of the costs which may be incurred under this paragraph.”

The fourth lease contained the provision, upon which appellees sued, and was practically identical with the amendment to the first three leases, which was as follows:

“It is mutually agreed that type written paragraph eleventh of the lease dated May 7, 1947, between Frank H. Abel as lessor and Texas Employers’Insurance Association as lessee, covering space in the Construction Building, Dallas, Texas, is amended so as-hereafter to be and read as follows:
‘Eleventh. It is understood and agreed that the Lessee, after securing Lessor’s -approval, may, at its own expense, make changes in office partitions, or may erect new partitions in. the premises covered by this Lease. Also Lessee may install new lighting-fixtures, provided such installation will-not increase the electrical load; Les[975]*975see may also install air-conditioning •equipment if sufficient current is available in present building wiring, and ¡by paying Lessor for current consumed. Installation of such air-conditioning equipment must be made so no damage will result to the ¡building, and also not be obnoxious to other tenants. The Lessor will bear no part of costs which may be incurred by Lessee in such alterations of the building except the painting of new partitions which may be erected, and Lessor will bear no part of the initial cost of lighting fixtures or air-conditioning equipment installed by Lessee. All such partitions •or permanent alterations shall become Lessor’s property from and after the time they are made. All such lighting fixtures or air-conditioning equipment installed by Lessee and remaining on .the premises at the expiration or termination of this lease shall at that time be purchased by Lessor, and Lessor agrees to pay Lessee therefor the reasonable cash market value of such fixtures and equipment in their then ■depreciated condition.’
“This agreement supersedes all prior .agreements concerning the subject matter hereof. All other terms and conditions of the original lease shall remain as written.”

On July 6, 1948, the eleventh provision of the fourth lease contract was added to the other three as an amendment.

The Lessor in these leases, Abel, on January 6, 1949, by general warranty deed ■conveyed the building a part of which was ¡subject to the four leases above referred to, to appellant. By mutual agreement the leases were terminated June 1, 1950. The parties were unable to agree upon the price that should be paid for the lighting fixtures and air-conditioning equipment; -.the arbitration provision was waived, and this suit was filed by the appellee. The -.trial was to the court without a jury and judgment was rendered in favor of ap-pellee for $24,939.30. The controversy was .about the last quoted provision of paragraph eleven, which provides in substance -.that the Lessor shall purchase the lighting fixtures and air-conditioning equipment - at the termination of the lease. Most of these fixtures had been installed prior to the insertion of paragraph eleven in the leases as an amendment.

Appellant briefs its case under seven points of error, in substance as follows: The court erred in rendering judgment for the appellee because the provision for the purchase of the installations is not a covenant running with the land; because the price to ¡be paid is not for the value to the owner in place but the reasonable market value'thereof if removed and sold on the open market; because the court erred in allowing the appellee to plead, prove and recover judgment on a cost-plus-depreciation formula instead of the value provided for; ¡because the judgment allowed recovery for the electrical work, duct work and other installation items that had been affixed to the realty and become a part of the property belonging to Lessor prior to the amendment; because the amendment was not retroactive and did not purport to change the existing property rights; because the judgment permitted a recovery of the value of labor and material involved in the electrical and duct work done in connection with the installation of the fixtures and air-conditioning equipment, whereas the contract was Lessor would pay no part of the initial cost but only’ for the fixtures, and because the reasonable cash market value as used in the contract means what is expressed in the usual definition of market value and not such price plus. the cost of installation in the building; and in rendering judgment for interest from June 1, 1950.

Thirty lighting fixtures and two air-conditioning units were installed after the first lease and before the second and third; 118 lighting fixtures and 2 air-conditioning units were installed after the second and third leases and before the fourth, and 49 lighting fixtures and one air-conditioning unit after the execution of the fourth lease and the amendments of the other leases.

In our opinion the covenant to purchase ran with the land. There are two classes of covenants that run with the land. [976]*976those, that are implied by law and those that are stipulated by the parties. Here it is thought the parties intended to stipulate the covenant to purchase should run with the land. The contract binds the Lessor, his heirs and assigns. The covenant to remove, originally inserted in the second and third leases, ran with the land. Guardian Loan & Trustee Co. v. Schunke, Tex. Civ.App., 36 S.W.2d 585

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Bluebook (online)
252 S.W.2d 973, 1952 Tex. App. LEXIS 1822, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/reserve-life-ins-co-v-texas-employers-ins-assn-texapp-1952.