West Coast Beet Seed Co. v. Polk County Farmers Cooperative

494 P.2d 880, 261 Or. 381, 1972 Ore. LEXIS 310
CourtOregon Supreme Court
DecidedMarch 9, 1972
StatusPublished
Cited by1 cases

This text of 494 P.2d 880 (West Coast Beet Seed Co. v. Polk County Farmers Cooperative) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Oregon Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
West Coast Beet Seed Co. v. Polk County Farmers Cooperative, 494 P.2d 880, 261 Or. 381, 1972 Ore. LEXIS 310 (Or. 1972).

Opinion

TONGUE, J.

This is an interpleader proceeding involving the balance of the proceeds of a crop of sugar beets, in the sum of $7,042.07. The actual controversy is between the owners of the land on which the crop was grown by a tenant who failed to pay rent due under his lease and a farmers cooperative which financed the unsuccessful farming operations of the tenant.

Defendants Kennedy, the owners, filed a cross-complaint contending that defendant Polk County Farmers Cooperative was liable to them for $13,000 in unpaid rent on the theory that it “so possessed and used Kennedy’s farm for its own purposes, that the Co-op became liable to Kennedy for the rent.” The trial court held that the Co-op was not liable for the balance of the rent and directed payment to it of the funds on deposit in the registry of the court. The Kennedys appeal.

In view of the contention by the Kennedys that the Co-op took possession of the farm to protect its security for payment of moneys advanced by it to the tenant, the facts are of primary importance.

In February 1968 the Kennedys entered into a [383]*383written lease of a farm near Salem to two brothers named Hayes. The lease, by its terms, extended until October 1972 and required specified rental payments on October 15, 1968, July 1, 1969, and October 15, 1969, among other payments. The lease prohibited any assignment or sublease without written consent of the owners. It did not, however, include any express provision for a landlords’ lien against crops grown by the tenants.

In July and September 1968 the Hayes brothers subleased 115 acres of the farm to one Brandt for the crop year 1968-69 on a share-crop basis. In turn, Brandt entered into a share-crop contract with plaintiff to raise sugar beet seed on that tract. The Hayes brothers testified that they asked Mr. Kennedy if it was “okay” to sublease that tract to Brandt and that he said “it would be fine.” They also testified that in December 1968 Kennedy admitted that he had previously agreed to the sublease.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
494 P.2d 880, 261 Or. 381, 1972 Ore. LEXIS 310, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/west-coast-beet-seed-co-v-polk-county-farmers-cooperative-or-1972.