Zucco v. Farullo

174 P. 929, 37 Cal. App. 562, 1918 Cal. App. LEXIS 397
CourtCalifornia Court of Appeal
DecidedJune 17, 1918
DocketCiv. No. 2278.
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 174 P. 929 (Zucco v. Farullo) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering California Court of Appeal primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Zucco v. Farullo, 174 P. 929, 37 Cal. App. 562, 1918 Cal. App. LEXIS 397 (Cal. Ct. App. 1918).

Opinion

BEASLY, J., pro tem.

This is an action primarily of unlawful detainer, in which the defendant defaulted, and judgment was thereupon taken against him for the possession of the premises demanded and for damages, and for some other relief hereinafter noticed. He appeals from this judgment, *564 and makes three points for reversal, namely, that three causes of action are improperly united in the complaint, to wit, first, a suit in equity for the reformation of a lease; second, an action at law for damages for breach of the covenants of the lease, and, third, an aetioh of unlawful detainer.

This court, upon an appeal upon the judgment-roll from a default judgment, will not consider the question of misjoinder of causes of action in the manner it would if a demurrer had been filed in the case upon that ground. If a complaint states a cause of action sufficient as against a general demurrer to sustain the relief actually given in the judgment, it will not be held invalid because it also states facts authorizing other relief. This follows from the rule laid down in Alexander v. McDow, 108 Cal. 25, [41 Pac. 24], and Amestoy v. Electric Rapid Transit Co., 95 Cal. 311, [30 Pac. 550]. The complaint herein is not obnoxious to a general demurrer. It states ^a cause of action for unlawful detainer. It also attempts to state facts upon which it is claimed other relief might have been given; but, under the authority of those eases, this court will not, on appeal from a default judgment, where the complaint states a cause of action, as it does here, reverse the judgment because. of an attempt to unite other causes of action with that of unlawful detainer.

There are other and more serious questions which arise upon this complaint, and the summons and service thereof, on which this default judgment is predicated.

The summons was the usual three-day summons provided in summary proceedings for the recovery of the possession of real property by section 1167 of the Code of Civil Procedure. It was served on May 14, 1907, the day the action was begun. Default of the defendant for failure to appear was entered four days later, namely, on May 18th. Other relief than possession of the property and damages for the unlawful detainer was prayed for in the complaint and granted by the judgment, and it is contended on behalf of appellant that for this reason the three-day summons was not proper, but that the usual ten-day summons should have been issued in the case, and that ten days after service thereof should have been allowed the defendant in which to appear. The other relief consisted in reformation of the lease by substituting the word “second” for the word “first” in reference to the party whose duty it was to water certain trees planted on the premises and to take *565 eare of them. The party of the first part was the landlord; the party of the second part the tenant. The lease, recited literally in the complaint, contained among others this provision : “The party of the second part is to plant trees over ten acres of the tract, and the party of the first part is to furnish the trees therefor. The party of the first part agrees to water all the trees planted on said premises and to take the best care of them. He shall cultivate the space between the trees and all other ground where no trees have been planted. ’ ’ The lease gave the tenant (the defendant) exclusive possession of the entire property except a residence, which the landlord (plaintiff) reserved for her own use. The entire care of the property devolved upon the defendant. He was to care for and keep ih repair the pumping plant on the premises. As has been said, the particular in which the court undertook to reform this lease was to substitute “party of the second part” for “party of the first part” in the above-recited clause thereof as to watering and earing for the trees. Respondent claims in that behalf that under the rule of Gray v. Maier & Zobelein Brewery, 2 Cal. App. 653, [84 Pac. 280], where there is an obvious inadvertence in naming the party charged with a duty in the lease, and where the defect is so glaring in itself as to suggest the mutual character of the error, the court will in an action of unlawful detainer ascertain and enforce the real intention of the parties without resort to a separate suit in equity to reform the lease. What the court did in that case was to find that the words “first party” used in the lease in connection with an option were inadvertently used where the words “second party” were intended, and adjudged that the lease be corrected accordingly. While that action was one of unlawful detainer the parties had appeared, and we doubt if the case is authority for holding that the equitable remedy of reforming a lease can be administered upon default under a three-day summons. But however that may be, we do not think it necessary to decide whether such is the rule of Gray v. Maier & Zobelein Brewery, supra, nor whether such rule should be applied here; for the trial court, having the right to construe the lease and, holding it by its four corners, to determine its true meaning, and it being unreasonable to put any other construction upon it than that the intention of the parties was that the tenant should water the trees and take care of them, it became unnecessary *566 to reform the lease. The whole question was one of construing the lease and determining its meaning, and that, too, where the meaning was clear, for the landlord was a woman, and in the sentence immediately following, if this paper is to be construed with technical exactness, the pronoun “he”— evidently referring to the party who was to water the trees—■ can refer to only one person, and that the tenant, who was a' man. The lease, it must be admitted, was open to this construction, and really it is impossible to say that any other construction could be placed upon it. The judgment, therefore attempting to reform the lease, was immaterial.

It is alleged in the complaint that the defendant neglected and failed to perform various conditions and covenants of his lease, in that he failed and neglected during the calendar year 1916, and prior to the fifth day of May, 1917, to water all of the trees planted on said premises, or take the best care of them, and that he did not cultivate the space between the trees and all other ground where no trees had been planted, and that he did not furnish to the plaintiff vegetables and produce from said premises sufficient for the complete family use of the said plaintiff or to her satisfaction, and that he did not furnish all of the labor required to build a house, as agreed in said lease, and that he failed, and still fails, to furnish certain materials needed in the construction of said house, and that he had not kept in repair or good shape the pump, engine, or fences on the premises; that he had not constructed roads and paths required to be constructed by his lease; that he had not kept stock at the required distance from the house on said premises retained by said plaintiff, and that he has not properly cultivated or cared for said premises, and that he has committed waste on said premises—all of which things he was required to do and perform by the terms- of the lease itself.

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Bluebook (online)
174 P. 929, 37 Cal. App. 562, 1918 Cal. App. LEXIS 397, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/zucco-v-farullo-calctapp-1918.