Latta v. Weiss
Latta v. Weiss
Opinion of the Court
On the fourth day of October, 1889, one Henwood, then having a lease for ninety-nine years of the property, leased to one Bouton “all of lot numbered sixty-one, in block four, in McGees addition to Kansas City, with the buildings thereon, for the term of five years from the first of January, 1890. Afterward, on the seventh day of October, 1889, Bouton leased to defendants a storeroom in said building for a term of five years from the first of January, 1890, for which the defendants were to pay by the terms of the lease their proportion of the expenses of heating and lighting, etc., and rent as follows: $300 per month for the first year, $350 per month for the second year, $400 per month for the third year, $450 per month for the fourth year, and $500 per month for the fifth year, installments payable in advance on the first day of each month. By the terms of the lease, it was also provided that the lessees “will not sublet or allow any other tenant to come in with or under them without the written consent of said Bouton, his representatives or assigns; that they will repair all injuries or damages done to the premises by them during their occupancy or pay for the same; that all their- property, whether subject to legal exemption or not, shall be bound and subject to the payment of rents and damages thereof.”
On the twenty-sixth of March, 1891, by an agreement in writing of that date, between the defendants, parties of the first part, B. S. King, of the second part, and Bouton, of the third part, duly signed, sealed, and acknowledged by them, the defendants assigned and transferred to said King all their leasehold interest aforesaid; said agreement in writing containing the following provisions:
“Said King hereby covenanting and agreeing, promising and assuming to and with the said Weiss & Ridge, to pay the rent when and as it becomes due, commencing with the first day of April, 1891, and to observe all the stipulations, agreements, and provisions of the said lease and to save the said Weiss & Ridge harmless from any loss or damage by reason of his failure to do so; and the said Bouton does hereby consent to the said transfer of said lease, but not to ■ any further or other transfers, and the said King, in consideration of his consent, does hereby promise and agree to pay the rent reserved in said lease to the said Bouton, his representatives and assigns, and to keep and observe all and Singular the conditions, covenants, and agreements in said lease contained.
“It is further agreed that nothing herein contained shall in anywise alter the liability of said Weiss & Ridge on the covenants and agreements contained in said lease and they expressly waive any right to notice of any default or breach of any of the conditions, covenants, or agreements contained in said lease.”
King went into possession under this assignment, and thereafter paid the rentals as they fell due to Bouton, until September following.
In the meantime Bouton had leased other portions
“Now, therefore, in consideration of one (1) dollar to him paid by said Henwood and of other valuable considerations, said Bouton hereby sells, assigns, and transfers to said Henwood all the rentals and other moneys due or to become due under any or all of said three last mentioned leases, and also sells, assigns, and transfers to said Henwood all revenues that may be hereafter derived from any or all parts of said premises with the power to collect all rentals, and other moneys hereby assigned, and to that end to institute and prosecute suits in the name of said Bouton, or otherwise, said Bouton to be protected in all such suits from all costs and expenses, and in consideration of the foregoing said Bouton is hereby released by said Henwood from all obligations of said lease from said Henwood to him.
“Said Henwood is also hereby granted the privilege of canceling and terminating at any time he may see fit, without notice, the said lease first herein mentioned.
“Nothing herein contained shall affect the said leases from said Bouton to said Weiss & Ridge * * * in anyway other than as an assignment of the rentals, and other moneys becoming due thereunder as herein before specified, and particularly shall not affect the obligations of said lessees under said Bouton and their assigns to fulfill all the terms and conditions set forth in their said leases.
Thereafter, King continued in possession as before, paying the monthly rentals thereafter accruing to Hen-wood instead of Bouton.
“Now, therefore, in consideration of the sum of sixty-two hundred ($6,200) dollars, to me in hand paid by J. M. Latta, of the state of Indiana, the receipt of which is hereby acknowledged, I do hereby grant, bargain, sell, convey and confirm, assign, transfer and set over to said J. M. Latta all my right, title and interest in and to said real estate, together with all improvements thereon, including the benefits to be derived from the party wall contracts, and also all unexpired fire insurance now on said improvements; also all the existing leases now held by me upon said building and improvements, and all my right, title, and interest in and to said leases;
“To have and to hold the same unto the said J, M. Latta, his heirs and assigns, forever.”
Thereafter, King paid the monthly rental installments to plaintiff up to and including the rent for March, 1892.
On or about the twenty-eighth of March, 1892, King executed a chattel mortgage on his stock of goods in said storeroom and between that date and the first of April, 1892, the same was removed therefrom. On the thirty-first of March, 1892, defendants served a notice on plaintiff calling attention to the fact that the stock was being moved out of the storeroom by King, and requiring plaintiff to take the proper steps to secure and subject said property to the payment of the rent of said premises.
Thereafter, no further rent being paid, the plaintiff on the twenty-second day of September, 1892, instituted this suit, for the installments due for the months of April, May, June, July, August, and September of
Notwithstanding the admirable ingenuity with which this claim is urged, we can not give our assent to this construction of these instruments, made plausible only by losing sight of the fact that Henwood, at the time that Bouton reconveyed to him, was the owner of the reversion, as between him and Bouton. When Bouton transferred to Henwood all the rentals issuing out of the subleases made by Bouton (the only beneficial interest he had in the leasehold) Henwood became the owner of the whole estate, the right to the reversion, and the right to- the rentals. There could be no tangible reversion in Bouton, whose term expired at the same time as did the defendants. To attempt to found any rights upon such a reversion would be simply chasing a shadow.
When the whole assignment from Bouton to Hen-wood is read in the light of the relations they sustained
Henwood being thus possessed again of the whole leasehold for ninety-nine years, subject to these outstanding .subleases, and of the right to receive the rental accruing under them by his deed aforesaid, of the twenty-first of December, 1891, conveyed to plaintiff all his right, title, and interest in the premises, together with all the benefits to be derived from all the existing leases held by him upon said building, and all his right, title, and interest in said leases. The leases here referred to are evidently the leases transferred by Bouton to him, and the subleases of defendant and the other two tenants from Bouton, the benefits of which were the rentals accruing thereunder, and the reversion after the expiration of the term of such subleases. It is conceded that this instrument transferred Henwood’s reversion in the leasehold, and the rule is that, “a general grant of the reversion passes all the leases to which the property is subject, including the rents reserved, as incident to the grant.” 2 Taylor, Land. & Ten. [8 Ed.], sec. 426.
Here we have not only a general grant that would
This contention overlooks the fact that although King was thus accepted as the new tenant, the defendants, by their own personal covenant, contained in the assignment of the lease to King, agreed in express terms “that nothing herein contained shall in anywise alter the liability of said Weiss & Ridge on the covenants and agreements contained in such lease, and they expressly waive any right to notice of any default or breach of
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