Welz v. Rhodius

87 Ind. 1
CourtIndiana Supreme Court
DecidedNovember 15, 1882
DocketNo. 9948
StatusPublished
Cited by41 cases

This text of 87 Ind. 1 (Welz v. Rhodius) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Welz v. Rhodius, 87 Ind. 1 (Ind. 1882).

Opinion

Woods, C. J.

Complaint in two paragraphs by the appellant against the appellee. The court sustained a demurrer for want of facts to each paragraph, and gave judgment for' the defendant.

It is alleged in the first paragraph, that, on the 18th day of March, 1878, the plaintiff purchased of the defendant, at the price of $6,000, the furniture and fixtures of the Circle House, a hotel in Indianapolis, then and theretofore owned and conducted by the defendant, and at the same time accepted of the defendant a lease of the hotel and premises for the term of five years, commencing May 1st, 1878, with the privilege of renewal for a second and third term of five years-each, at an annual rental of $6,000. A copy of the lease is set out in the body of the paragraph. It contains a number of stipulations in reference to underletting, repairs, insurance, forfeiture, and the like matters, relevant to the occupation and use of the leasehold, among them the following, which is emphasized by counsel, to wit:

Ninth. It is agreed that the lessor shall retain at her pleasure the furniture in rooms Nos. 6 (private parlor), 7 and 11 in said hotel, and the use of rooms Nos. 7 and 11 without charge; and that she and one other person (a son) shall be boarded by said lessee during the continuance of this lease without charge.

It is further averred :

“ That at the time of purchasing the said furniture and of leasing said hotel by the plaintiff of and from the defendant,, in consideration that the plaintiff would purchase said furniture and lease said property for the term of five years, with the privilege of renewal, at the rental of $6,000 per annum, payable in instalments of $500 per month, the said defendant agreed to and with the plaintiff, verbally, that she would' not, at any time thereafter, permanently establish, open, or keep, or cause to be kept, a hotel in the city of Indianapolis. * * And, further, in consideration of said leasing of said property by said defendant to said plaintiff, and of the purchase of said hotel furniture by him, the defendant further-[3]*3agreed to remain and board at said hotel, and to use her influence to aid in retaining the guests of the house, and their patronage, for the plaintiff, at said hotel; and, but for such understanding and agreement, this plaintiff would not have purchased said furniture, nor opened a hotel in Indianapolis.”

It is next made to appear that the defendant, in violation of her agreement, after the plaintiff commenced business, erected close to and adjoining the Circle House another hotel, which she opened in August, 1879, and from thence carried on as a public hotel called “ Circle Park Hotel,” in opposition to the “ Circle House;” that she did not remain with the plaintiff and use her influence to induce .guests to patronize his hotel, but removed to her own hotel, and endeavored to, and did, draw away from the plaintiff' great numbers of guests, patrons and customers of the “Circle House;” that she adopted the name “ Circle Park Hotel ” for the purpose of deceiving the public and drawing them to her own hotel; that she further has placed upon the front of her own hotel the name “ Circle Park Hotel,” and also the name “ Rhodius,” whereby many people and patrons and guests of the Circle House have been and will be deceived and drawn to her hotel, who otherwise would have become guests and patrons of the plaintiff’s hotel; that she has also advertised her hotel under the name aforesaid, and has by this and other means greatly injured the plaintiff, whereby his patronage has been greatly lessened and diminished; his leasehold has been rendered of but little value as a hotel, which, by the terms of his lease, he is prevented from using for any other purpose; and his business has been greatly injured and destroyed, to his damage in the sum of $20,000, for which he prayed judgment, and all proper, including injunctive, -relief.

The second paragraph states, in addition to the main facts set forth in the first, that the defendant, to induce him to buy the furniture and take the lease, falsely and fraudulently represented that she wished and intended to retire from business and remain in the hotel and live on her income, and did not [4]*4intend to, and would not, carry on a hotel if he would buy, the furniture and lease the hotel, and that he should have the good-will and her influence; and that, to give color to her false and fraudulent representations, she reserved the rooms, etc., as set out above; that, as a fact, at the time of making these statements, she did intend to open and carry on another hotel, in case she succeeded in inducing plaintiff to buy the furniture and take the house, and to withdraw from him the patronage of her old customers and patrons; that he believed her statements to be true, and fully relied thereon, and so closed the transaction, without which he would not have done so; that, soon after he took possession, she left his hotel, opened another quite adjacent, used all her endeavors to, and succeeded in withdrawing to herself the custom and pati’ons of the Circle House, and has so continued and intends to continue to maintain a rival hotel, thereby damaging him, etc.

The only question under the first paragraph which counsel have discussed is whether or not the alleged parol agreement was merged in the written lease.

Counsel for the appellee insist that the paragraph '' undertakes to set up a contemporaneous parol agreement to control the terms of. the written lease, in violation of the familiar rule that 'When a contracthas been finally committed to writing all prior negotiations and stipulations between the parties are merged in that writing, and to that alone can the court refer to find what are the rights and obligations of the parties.’ ” Besides the texts of Greenleaf and Phillipps (1 Greenl. Ev., secs. 275, 285; 2 Phil. Ev. — C. H. &E. notes — pp. 558, 593), they cite: Irwin v. Lee, 34 Ind. 319; Kieth v. Kerr, 17 Ind. 284; Durland v. Pitcairn, 51 Ind. 426; McClure v. Jeffrey, 8 Ind. 79; Johnson v. McCabe, 37 Ind. 535; French v. Turner, 15 Ind. 59; Oiler v. Gard, 23 Ind. 212; Coleman v. Hart, 25 Ind. 256; Cincinnati, etc., R. R. Co. v. Pearce, 28 Ind. 502; King v. Enterprise Ins. Co., 45 Ind. 43; Smith v. Dallas, 35 Ind. 255; Bingham v. Rogers, 6 Watts & S. 495; Small v. Quincy, 4 Greenl. 497; Hamilton v. Wagner, 2 Marsh. [5]*5(Ky.) 331; Smith v. Williams, 1 Murph. 426; Mumford v. McPherson, 1 Johns. 414 (3 Am. Dec. 330); Van Ostrand v. Reed, 1 Wend. 424; Turner v. Cool, 23 Ind: 56; Lazear v. National Union Bank, 52 Md. 78 (36 Am. R. 355); Loxley v. Heath, 1 De G. F. & J. 489. And upon the doctrine that the consideration of a deed or contract may be shown by parol, they make a distinction. They say:

“ The language of a deed with reference to the consideration is not contractual; it is merely by way of a recital of a fact, viz.: the amount of the consideration, and not at all an agreement to pay it — and such recitals of fact may be contradicted. 1 Greenl. Ev., sec. 285.

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Bluebook (online)
87 Ind. 1, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/welz-v-rhodius-ind-1882.