Schmitz v. Sondag

334 N.W.2d 362, 1983 Iowa App. LEXIS 1598
CourtCourt of Appeals of Iowa
DecidedApril 26, 1983
Docket2-67259
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 334 N.W.2d 362 (Schmitz v. Sondag) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Iowa primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Schmitz v. Sondag, 334 N.W.2d 362, 1983 Iowa App. LEXIS 1598 (iowactapp 1983).

Opinions

SNELL, Judge.

Defendant-lessor appeals from declaratory judgment that a valid farm lease existed between defendant and plaintiff for the 1980 crop year, and that the lease continued for the 1981 crop year because defendant failed to give notice of termination of the lease as required by Iowa Code § 562.7 [363]*363(1983). We reverse and remand for a new trial.

Plaintiff filed his petition for declaratory judgment on April 29, 1981. In it he alleged that defendant owns certain farmland that was leased to Norman Schmitz, plaintiff’s brother, from 1977 to 1979. Plaintiff and his brother farmed that land together during those years, each paying one-half of the rent called for in the lease, but split up in 1980 with plaintiff farming defendant’s land that year and paying the entire cash rent himself. In this way, plaintiff claimed that he became the lessee of defendant’s land in 1980 and therefore had to be given notice on or before September 1, 1980, pursuant to Iowa Code § 562.7, before his lease could be terminated for 1981. Defendant gave no such notice. Nevertheless, on March 13, 1981, plaintiff was barred from further farming activities on defendant’s land by her husband who claimed that plaintiff had no lease and that the land had been leased to someone else. Plaintiff requested a declaratory judgment that he was entitled to possession of the land for 1981 by reason of defendant’s failure to give timely statutory notice of termination of the lease.

Defendant, in her answer, claimed that plaintiff did not have a lease with her and that the lease entered into with plaintiff’s brother Norman contained a nonassignability clause. Even if plaintiff did have a lease, defendant alleged that he was not entitled to notice of termination under Iowa code § 562.7 because the last lease signed by Norman contained the following waiver of notice provision: “... and [lessee] specifically agrees that this lease shall not be extended by virtue of failure to give notice of cancellation or termination thereof.” In response to plaintiff’s motion to adjudicate law points concerning the effect of this notice waiver provision, the trial court ruled that it did not constitute sufficient notice of termination for purposes of § 562.7.

Trial was held before a jury, see Iowa R.Civ.P. 268, which returned a verdict for plaintiff. Judgment was entered on the verdict declaring that plaintiff had a valid lease for defendant’s land for 1981 due to the latter’s failure to give proper notice of termination of the lease under § 562.7. This appeal followed. Since the action is at law, our review is on assigned error. Iowa R.App.P. 4.

On appeal defendant asserts: (1) that there was neither an express nor an implied lease between defendant and plaintiff for the 1980 crop year; (2) that even if there were a lease for the 1980 crop year, defendant’s failure to give notice of termination did not result in the lease being continued for the 1981 crop year, because one of the lease provisions waived the lessee’s right to notice, and because plaintiff was estopped from asserting his right to notice by his conduct and that of his brother; and (3) that the question of the right to possession of the farm for the 1981 crop year was moot because a new tenant was in possession and had planted a crop.

We first address defendant’s contention that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the factors necessary for the valid assignment of a lease and on the nonassignability of the particular lease in question. The written lease for the year 1980 was signed by plaintiff’s brother Norman, not by plaintiff. At trial defendant and her husband both testified that plaintiff had never spoken to them about farming their land. Plaintiff presented evidence indicating the possible existence of an implied lease for 1980 by showing his past activities with Norman and defendants’ alleged acquiescence in plaintiff’s work on their land. We conclude that this evidence, when considered in conjunction with the pleadings, was sufficient to generate a jury question on the issues of the lease assignment. Defendant’s answer stated:

AFFIRMATIVE DEFENSES

* * * * * *
2. That the purported lease is with Norman Schmitz rather than with Roger Schmitz, even if it is held to be a lease by Defendant, it is not a lease with this Plaintiff.
* * * * * *
[364]*3645. That the lease by its terms cannot be assigned and it was not assigned from Norman Schmitz to Roger Schmitz.

Affirmative defense # 5 refers to the following prohibition against assignment, contained on pages 1-2 of the 1979 lease:

If the second party [Norman Schmitz] ... shall assign this lease or underlet said premises or any part thereof, then this lease shall, at the election of the first party, be null and void.

Defendant’s requested jury instructions regarding the issues of lease assignment were refused by the trial court. Defendant contends that, as a consequence of this refusal, the jury was not given an opportunity to consider the issues whether an assignment of the lease was permissible and, if so, whether the lease had been validly assigned to plaintiff. We agree. The evidence generated jury questions on these issues, and the court must instruct the jury upon issues to be decided by them. Iowa R.Civ.P. 196; State v. Tomlinson, 243 N.W.2d 551, 553 (Iowa 1976). “The court has the duty to instruct the jury on the law applicable to the facts as disclosed by the evidence, and must so instruct if there is evidence admitted which supports some involved issue.” State v. McConnell, 178 N.W.2d 386, 389 (Iowa 1970) (emphasis added). We hold that the trial court erred in failing to instruct the jury on the issues of lease assignment, and we reverse and remand on this issue. To facilitate retrial of this case, we address the following additional issues.

Defendant contends that the trial court erred in finding, in its order on motion for adjudication of law points, that the language in the printed form of the lease did not constitute the notice necessary under Iowa Code Chapter 562 and in failing to properly instruct the jury on the issue of waiver of right to written notice of termination; and in improperly instructing the jury as to inadequacy of notice of termination. Iowa Code Section 562.6 provides

Where an agreement is made fixing the time of the termination of the tenancy, whether in writing or not, it shall cease at the time agreed upon, without notice. In the case of farm tenants, except mere croppers, occupying and cultivating an acreage of forty acres or more, the tenancy shall continue for the following crop year upon the same terms and conditions as the original lease unless written notice for termination is given by either party to the other, whereupon the tenancy shall terminate March 1 following; provided further, the tenancy shall not continue because of absence of notice in case there be default in the performance of the existing rental agreement.

The manner for giving the required notice to terminate the lease is provided by section 562.7:

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Related

Schmitz v. Sondag
334 N.W.2d 362 (Court of Appeals of Iowa, 1983)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
334 N.W.2d 362, 1983 Iowa App. LEXIS 1598, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/schmitz-v-sondag-iowactapp-1983.