Walser v. Wear

42 S.W. 928, 141 Mo. 443, 1897 Mo. LEXIS 335
Supreme Court of Missouri·Decided November 23, 1897·Published·Cited by 30 cases

Opinion

Btjegess, J.

— This is an action against defendant as guarantor for the performance on the part of one J, E. Gwin of a contract of lease entered into between plaintiff and said Gwin for a certain coal mine in Barton county.

The petition alleges: “That he, said Gwin, has failed to work the mine in good order on the rules of first class mining, as he agreed to do in said lease, in this, that he has failed to run mine entries, but stopped them entirely; that he ran entries in the wrong direction, to wit, northeast, when they should have been run, on the rules of good mining, east and north, and some of them in a southern direction. That the mine was not properly drained. Said Gwin failed to work out the coal to the extreme north as far as workable, but left a large amount of coal in the north end of the mine, which in consequence has been entirely lost to plaintiff. He did not take out the coal on a uniform face, carrying the north and south extremes on a line (and the terms of the lease were not varied by written consent of the plaintiff), but on the contrary said Gwin did not extend the work in the mine to the south extremes at all, leaving a large amount of coal in the south part of the coal field untouched and entirely cut off from approach from the works as now opened, in consequence of improperly running the entry, and in [450] consequence of the falling of the top caused by the unskillful way the coal was taken out, and improper room work in the wrong direction. Plaintiff states that said G-win, wholly disregarding the terms of said lease, on the--day of April, 1890, wholly and absolutely abandoned said mine and withdrew all the men therefrom, and then and there threw the same back on the hands of this plaintiff against his will and protest, and has not again resumed the operation of the mine. Plaintiff states that said Gwin did not return the tools, fixtures, property, nor the mine in order. On the contrary, the mine, when abandoned, wa.s left in such a manner that no miner could work in it until new entries were driven and new rooms were opened. The mine, when leased to the defendant, was capable of accommodating thirty miners. That said Gwin and defendant left the mine in such bad condition that to place the same in good order has subjected plaintiff to great loss and expense both in money and in time and will subject him to heavy losses in consequence thereof. Plaintiff states that said Gwin did not produce one thousand cars of lump coal per year, but on the contrary he did not produce more than one hundred and twenty-five cars of lump coal, leaving one thousand, eight hundred and seventy-five cars of coal in deficit on said contract. Plaintiff states that he turned over a large amount of trail iron, a good set of screens, a lot of dirt picks, iron, shovels, tracking props and ties which were in a great measure destroyed or used by said Gwin and not returned to plaintiff under said contract. Plaintiff states that said Gwin did not pay the royalty on the lump coal taken out of said mine, but there remains due and owing to plaintiff royalty on lump coal taken out to the amount of one hundred and fifty dollars. By means and in consequence of the failures of said Gwin to carry out the terms of said [451] lease as aforesaid, and in consequence of the entire abandonment of said mine as aforesaid, plaintiff has been damaged in the sum of five thousand dollars, for which plaintiff asks judgment.”

Defendant in his answer states:

“First. For answer to plaintiff’s last amended petition, filed at this term of this court, defendant denies each and every allegation therein contained.

“Second. And further answering, defendant admits that plaintiff and J. F. Gwin signed the written contract set out in said amended petition and that this plaintiff signed and delivered the other instrument of writing mentioned in said amended petition, guaranteeing the performance by said Gwin of the contract entered into between him and plaintiff aforesaid; but defendant says that he, and not said Gwin, was the real party in interest in said mining lease, as was well known and understood by the plaintiff at the time of the execution thereof.

“Third. And further answering, defendant says that said mining lease was by him and said Gwin faithfully carried out and performed in every particular' on their part until the - day of April, 1890, when they turned the said mine back to plaintiff and he voluntarily received the same, and immediately leased it to other parties on more favorable terms to him than it had been leased to this defendant, and plaintiff has in no respect been injured or damaged by anything done or omitted to be done by said Gwin or by this defendant.

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Walser v. Wear, 42 S.W. 928, 141 Mo. 443, 1897 Mo. LEXIS 335 (Mo. 1897).

42 S.W. 928 (Walser v. Wear) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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