Ross v. Haner

244 S.W. 231, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 1258
Court of Appeals of Texas·Decided June 16, 1922·No. No. 833. [fn*]·Published·Cited by 15 cases

Opinion

WAJjKER, J.

Appellee is the son of Mrs. Viola Petrie and the stepson of her husband. Sidney B. Petrie, who were tenants of appellants from July 1, 1919, to October 1,1919, occupying apartment No. 36 on the third floor of the Rossonian, a large apartment house in Houston, Tex., belonging to appellants. About the 15th of August, appellee fell from a window in this apartment to the sidewalk, suffering serious and permanent injuries, for which he brought this suit as plaintiff, by his mother as next friend, against appellants. On a trial to a jury on special issues, he recovered judgment for $22,500.

Previous to July 1, 1919, Mr. and Mrs. M. E. Gimble had occupied this apartment as tenants of appellants, under a written contract of lease for a term of 12 months, beginning October 1, 1919, and' ending September 30, 1919. Section 3 of this contract was as follows:

“Neither the said premises, nor this lease, nor any part thereof, shall be assigned, let or underlet, or used or permitted to be used, for any purpose other than above mentioned, without the written consent of the said lessor or his agent; and if so assigned, let or underlet, used or permitted to be used, without such written consent, the said lessor may rerent and relet the said premises for said M. E. Gimble or as agent for said lessee, and receive and retain the rent therefor, this lease, at the option of the lessor, thereupon to become void. And consent to assignment, letting, subletting, or use for such other purpose, the express consent in writing of the lessor shall be required. It is expressly agreed that, in case of such assignment, letting, subletting or use, without consent, the lessor may, after reasonable notice, prevent the ingress of persons to the premises claiming under such assignment, letting or subletting, or making such use of the premises; and may, for the purpose of such prevention, use, without liability, all necessary force.”

The Petries contracted with ■ the Gimbles and appellants to take over the unexpired term of this lease from July 1st to October 1st, on the following conditions:

(a) They were to assume and become liable to appellants for the payment of the monthly rental in the .sum of $90. The Gimbles were to move out and the Petries to move in.

(b) Appellants required the Petries to buy the Gimble furniture, and would not accept them as tenants except on that condition.

(c) The appellants promised the Petries to make certain repairs in apartment No. 36, including the repair of a defective window screen. This screen was defective in that it had no latch. to hold it to the window, and, as it was hung from the top, a slight pressure - against the bottom caused it to swing out. The promised repair was to put a sufficient fastening on the window. This could have been done at a small cost of about $1. “The absence of such catch was a. de- *233 feet that made the screen dangerous and not reasonably safe.”

(d) Appellants’ promises to the Petries were conditioned on the surrender of the apartment to the Petries by the Gimbles.

(e) The Petries would not have taken the apartment nor assumed the monthly rental nor the obligation of buying the Gimble furniture, except for appellants’ promise to make the repairs. On faith of the contract conditioned as stated, the Petries ■ concluded an agreement with the Gimbles for the purchase of the furniture at a cost to them of $500, which they paid. The Gimbles then surrendered the apartment to the Petries for the unexpired term of the lease, and the Pe-tries became the tenants of appellants, occupying apartment No. 36, and obligated to appellants to pay a monthly rental of $90 for the use of the apartment, which sum they duly paid. Appellants made all the promised repairs in the apartment except the latch on the window screen, which they did not do while the Petries occupied the-apartment.

After becoming tenants of appellants, the Petries, relying on the promise of appellants to repair the screen, thought it -had been done, and did not learn the contrary until 6 or 8 days before appellee was injured, at which time, on cleaning the apartment Mrs. Petrie discovered that the screen had not been repaired. Forthwith she notified appellants of the condition of the screen, and was informed by them that they thought it had been attended to and promised her to have it repaired at once. The Petries relied on the promise of appellants to make the repairs, and were without knowledge of the continued existence of the defect until after appellee was injured. Such ignorance on their part was negligence. The continued existence of such defect in the screen at the time of the injury was due to negligence on the part of appellants, which was a proximate cause of appellee’s injury. Appellee was not guilty of contributory negligence. (The above statement embodies all the jury findings.)

When Mrs. Petrie was negotiating with appellants for the apartment, she told them that she had a small son (referring to ap-pellee, then about 7 years old) who, though not living with her at that time, would live with her in the apartment, and that was one of the reasons why she wanted the apartment; and, as she and her husband were working, he would be left in the apartment under the care of a servant. In regard to the screen, Mrs. Petrie said:

“I certainly had in .mind the danger of my boy falling from that window when I mentioned it to Mrs. Boss about the screen.”

. It was the custom of the Petries to leave appellee in the apartment under the care of a servant, as they explained to appellants they would be compelled to do when they took over the lease. On the morning of the 15th of August, they left him asleep, with no one to care for him, but expecting the servant to come within a few minutes, as she had promised, but on that morning she did not come. Appellee testified as follows, as to the circumstances of the accident:

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Ross v. Haner, 244 S.W. 231, 1922 Tex. App. LEXIS 1258 (Tex. Ct. App. 1922).

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