Seidenstricker Farms v. DOSS FAMILY TRUST

270 S.W.3d 842, 372 Ark. 72, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 10
CourtSupreme Court of Arkansas
DecidedJanuary 10, 2008
Docket07-786
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 270 S.W.3d 842 (Seidenstricker Farms v. DOSS FAMILY TRUST) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Seidenstricker Farms v. DOSS FAMILY TRUST, 270 S.W.3d 842, 372 Ark. 72, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 10 (Ark. 2008).

Opinions

Donald L. Corbin, Justice.

Appellant Seidenstricker Farms appeals the Prairie County Circuit Court’s order dismissing its complaint against Appellees Warren N. Doss and Etta A. Doss Family Trust, Warren N. Doss, both as trustee and individually, and Etta A. Doss, both as trustee and individually (collectively the “Dosses”). On appeal, Seidenstricker Farms raises two arguments for reversal: the circuit court clearly erred in finding that (1) Seidenstricker Farms’s lease with the Dosses was properly terminated because they were required to give written notice to Seidenstricker Farms on or before June 30, 2001, pursuant to Ark. Code Ann. § 18-16-105 (1987);1 (2) the 1993 lease contained a ninety-day termination provision because the lease did not address termination. This case involves an issue of statutory interpretation; jurisdiction is pursuant to Ark. Sup. Ct. R. 1-2(b)(6). We reverse and remand the circuit court’s order of dismissal.

Seidenstricker Farms, or its predecessors, have leased and farmed the land at issue in this case since 1972. On March 29, 1993, a written lease for the term of January 1, 1993, through January 1, 1994, was executed between Seidenstricker Farms and John Auersperg providing for the rental and farming of Auersperg’s land.2 The lease contained the following condition:

TO HAVE AND TO HOLD unto said TENANT from the date of January 1,1993, until the first ofjanuary 1994, provided it satisfactory with both parties. After one party has given the other a 90 day notice in writing before the expiration of this lease which is accepted by the other party, the term of said lease shall be renewed or extended for another year under the same terms and conditions.

Auersperg died in July 1993. Subsequently, Seidenstricker Farms was informed that ownership of the farm had transferred first to Mrs. Doss and her sister, and then to the Dosses.

Although Seidenstricker Farms continued to farm the land until 2001, neither a written renewal of the lease nor a new lease was ever executed. Rather, at the end of each harvest, the two parties met to discuss the crop yield and other issues related to the farm. The parties never discussed whether Seidenstricker Farms was going to continue to farm the land, and both parties just continued on as they had the previous year. Specifically, Seidenstricker Farms continued to occupy and farm the land, and the Dosses continued to receive and accept annual rental payments.3

On September 24, 2001, the Dosses called Seidenstricker Farms to inform it that the lease would terminate at the end of 2001. Following this phone call, late in 2001, Seidenstricker Farms presented a reimbursement request to the Dosses for improvements made on the land. Mrs. Doss testified that she sent Seidenstricker Farms a check, but that the check was never cashed. Consequently, according to Mrs. Doss, the Dosses still owe Seidenstricker Farms that money.

Then, on December 29, 2004, Seidenstricker Farms filed suit alleging that the Dosses had improperly terminated the lease. Seidenstricker Farms sought damages for loss of profits from crop production and for the cost of repairs and improvements on the land. Prior to trial, Seidenstricker Farms withdrew its claim for lost profits. Following a bench trial on February 21, 2007, the circuit court dismissed the case. Specifically, the court found that the conditions of the 1993 lease continued during the parties’ relationship, the provision for ninety days’ notice prior to expiration continued to apply, and the lease relationship was properly terminated. This appeal followed.

The present appeal is from a bench trial. Accordingly, our standard of review is not whether there is substantial evidence to support the finding of the circuit court, but whether the judge’s findings were clearly erroneous or clearly against the preponderance of the evidence. Pulaski County v. Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, Inc., 371 Ark. 217, 264 S.W.3d 465 (2007). A finding is clearly erroneous when, although there is evidence to support it, the reviewing court on the entire evidence is left with a firm conviction that an error has been committed. Id. Facts in dispute and determinations of credibility are within the province of the fact-finder. Id.

First, Seidenstricker Farms argues that the circuit court’s finding that the lease with the Dosses was properly terminated was an error of law and clearly erroneous because written notice was required on or before June 30, pursuant to section 18-16-105. Specifically, Seidenstricker Farms claims that it leased the farmland under an oral lease, or, alternatively, was a year-to-year tenant. In response, the Dosses argue that, based upon Lamew v. Townsend, 147 Ark. 282, 227 S.W. 593 (1921), as well as the written language of the lease and the practice and conduct of the parties, the lease was not wrongfully terminated because the notice-of-termination requirements of section 18-16-105 do not control here.

a. Lease Agreement

Agreements between landlord and tenant need not be in writing and may be implied in fact from the conduct of the parties or by a verbal agreement. See 49 Am. Jur. 2d Landlord and Tenant § 28 (1995). This court has recognized that a tenancy from year to year may be created by holding over after the end of the originally agreed upon term without any new agreement and by paying rent according to the terms of the lease, and the landlord accepting the payment. See, e.g., Brickey v. Lacy, 245 Ark 860, 435 S.W.2d 443 (1968); Lamew, 147 Ark. 282, 227 S.W. 593. This acceptance is considered a renewal of the prior lease for a like period and upon like terms. Lamew, 147 Ark. 282, 227 S.W. 593. Where a lease contract stipulates that a party shall give notice of the intent to renew the lease within a certain length of time or prior to the termination of the lease, the giving of such notice is a condition precedent, and upon the nonperformance of the condition, the right to renew is forfeited. See Bluthenthal v. Atkinson, 93 Ark. 252, 124 S.W. 510 (1910). Flowever, when alease contains a condition precedent of notice of renewal, and no notice is given but the parties continue as though the lease has been renewed, there is a waiver of the notice provision and the terms of the original lease apply. See Riverside Land Co. v. Big Rock Stone & Material Co., 183 Ark. 1061, 40 S.W.2d 423 (1931).

In the present case, Seidenstricker Farms executed a lease with Auersperg in March 1993. After Auersperg’s death in July 1993, Seidenstricker Farms was informed of a transfer of ownership of the land. The 1993 lease was never explicitly renewed, and a new lease or agreement was never executed with either of the subsequent owners, including the Dosses. Nevertheless, Seidenstricker Farms continued to occupy and farm the land, and the Dosses received and accepted rental payments, in the same manner as set forth in the 1993 lease, from 1994 through 2001. This is a classic case of a tenancy from year to year. Seidenstricker Farms held over at the end of the lease, and the Dosses continued to accept payments of rent in accordance with the lease.

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Seidenstricker Farms v. DOSS FAMILY TRUST
270 S.W.3d 842 (Supreme Court of Arkansas, 2008)

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Bluebook (online)
270 S.W.3d 842, 372 Ark. 72, 2008 Ark. LEXIS 10, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/seidenstricker-farms-v-doss-family-trust-ark-2008.