Voigt Brewery Co. v. Holtz

134 N.W. 19, 168 Mich. 352, 1912 Mich. LEXIS 535
CourtMichigan Supreme Court
DecidedJanuary 23, 1912
DocketDocket No. 150
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 134 N.W. 19 (Voigt Brewery Co. v. Holtz) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Michigan Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Voigt Brewery Co. v. Holtz, 134 N.W. 19, 168 Mich. 352, 1912 Mich. LEXIS 535 (Mich. 1912).

Opinion

Steere, J.

Complainant is a Michigan corporation located in the city of Detroit and engaged in the brewery business; the purchasers of its products being mostly saloon keepers in that city. The defendant is one of its customers, being the keeper of a saloon at Nos. 159 and 161 East Fort street, Detroit, which premises he occupies under a five-year lease from complainant, bearing date April 13, 1908.

This bill of complaint was filed on April 5, 1911, to enjoin defendant from violating the following clause in said lease:

“ And as a further consideration, the party of the second part does hereby expressly covenant and promise to conduct and carry on in and upon said premises a saloon business in a respectable manner and to buy or cause to be bought of and from the said party of the first part, Voigt Brewery Company or its successors, and from no other person or persons, all the beer sold, used or consumed in and upon said premises in bulk as well as in bottles, and to pay or cause to be paid therefor on the delivery thereof its regular market price. The party of the first (part) or its representative shall have the right to inspect any and every part of the premises at any reasonable hour.”

A preliminary writ of injunction was granted according to the prayer therefor in complainant’s bill, but on final hearing the trial court held that complainant had an [354]*354adequate remedy by either summary proceedings before a commissioner, which it had already instituted, or in an action at law for damages, basing his decision squarely upon the .case of Hardy v. Allegan Circuit Judge, 147 Mich. 594 (111 N. W. 166, 10 L. R. A. [N. S.] 474, 118 Am. St. Rep. 557), and dismissed said bill.

On March 21, 1911, about two weeks prior to the filing of this bill, complainant obtained a judgment of restitution before a circuit court commissioner, under statutory, summary proceedings, from which judgment defendant appóaled to the circuit court, giving the usual bond for payment of rent.

It appears that at the time of making the lease in question, and for some time before, defendant was owner of a property at the corner of Forest and Wabash avenues, in Detroit, where he was engaged in running a saloon. This property he leased to complainant, and transferred his business to Fort street, occupying the same originally under a parol lease, engaged in running a saloon, grocery, and meat market business combined; the parties in effect exchanging the use of their two locations. This arrangement was continued by a subsequent exchange of leases A and B; the dates, rate of rent, and term of years being the same in each lease. Each party, therefore, became both landlord and tenant of the other, and each still has possession of the property leased from the other. This controversy, however, only directly relates to defendant’s conduct of his business under complainant’s lease to him. He admits that he has not fully complied with its terms in the particular that he has, since July 10,1910, bought from wholesalers, other than complainant, some of the beer sold by him in the saloon conducted on said premises.

It is his claim that on said date a supplemental agreement was made relaxing the restrictive clause in his lease, authorizing him to purchase and retail other kinds of beer, to meet the existing demands of his trade. His evidence shows that after he went to Fort street the character of the surrounding population changed from German, [355]*355French, and English speaking people to an Italian community, affecting his trade detrimentally, to the extent that he was forced to give up the meat and grocery business which he had conducted in connection with his saloon, and that the tastes and demands of many of his new customers were for other kinds of beer than that made by complainant; that, as a result of such developed conditions, he, on July 10, 1910, had an interview with Mr. Voigt, the president and general manager of complainant, in which he informed Mr. Voigt fully of the situation, told him that he could not, under existing conditions, profitably continue even the saloon business, and that he intended to quit, proposing in that connection to sell to complainant his fixtures; that, as a result of such talk and negotiations on that subject, Mr. Voigt prevailed on him to continue his saloon, and authorized him to buy from other dealers, and retail to his trade, other kinds of beer, when there was a demand for it, telling him to push the Voigt beer, but to give customers what they wanted when they called for it; that he accordingly did continue his saloon business, dispensing some Tivoli, Pabst, and Stroh beers, which he bought from the manufacturers, but only when called for, giving his customers Voigt beer, unless they expressed other preferences; that what he sold of other brands was mostly bottled beer, and the amount sold, between July 10, 1910, and the commencement of this suit, would not exceed in value the sum of $50.

Mr. Voig’t,.in his testimony, admitted such conversation and notice given to him as to a change in the character of the business in that locality, together with defendant’s declaration of intention to abandon the business as unprofitable; that as a result concessions were made relative to the sale of other beer, but he claims that this took place in September, 1910, and permission was only given to sell Tivoli beer in bottles.

The undisputed evidence shows that after July 10, 1910, defendant was openly dispensing, when called for, [356]*356other beer than complainant’s, and that Mr. Yoigt was well aware of it, having himself drank other brands of beer in the place. The testimony discloses no objections made during the summer, or until about the time summary proceedings were instituted to oust defendant. The testimony shows conclusively that under the changed conditions complained of by defendant, and known to complainants, permission was given to dispense other brands of beer, as an inducement for defendant to continue the business. The date and exact scope of that permission is in dispute.

It is the claim of complainant that whatever concessions may have been made, they were oral, gratuitous and void under the statute of frauds, the conditions as to the sale of complainant’s beer being in writing, not to be performed within a year and in connection with the transfer of real estate interests; that summary proceedings to oust defendant or an action to recover damages for breach of contract do not furnish an adequate remedy at law, the defendant having appealed from the judgment in the summary proceedings, and being yet in possession of the property, conducting his business in violation of the conditions of his lease, and that in the very nature of things it would be impossible to ascertain, in a suit to recover damages, how much more of complainant’s beer would have been sold providing defendant sold no other beer.

It is the claim of defendant that a waiver of the condition in his said lease was made under such circumstances as to constitute a binding agreement, based on a valid consideration, maintainable in a court of chancery; that complainant has an adequate remedy at law and has elected its remedy by declaring the lease forfeited and instituting summary proceedings to regain possession of the property; that the condition is void for want of mutuality, and the contract, being in restraint of trade, is against sound public policy.

A parol waiver of the conditions in a written lease for a term of years, which would be invalid if unwritten, can

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Bluebook (online)
134 N.W. 19, 168 Mich. 352, 1912 Mich. LEXIS 535, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/voigt-brewery-co-v-holtz-mich-1912.