Lake Erie Gas Coal & Coke Co. v. Patterson

Supreme Court of Pennsylvania January 3, 1898

Lake Erie Gas Coal & Coke Co. v. Patterson, 184 Pa. 364 (Pa. 1898)

39 A. 68; 1898 Pa. LEXIS 904

Bjgtt, Dean, Fell, Green, McCollum, Mltchell, Steb, Williams

Opinion of the Court

Per Curiam,

A careful consideration of this record has not convinced us that there is any error in the court’s findings of fact or conclusions of law. The case appears to have been carefully considered, and the questions necessarily involved have been rightly decided. We find nothing in either of the specifications that requires special notice or discussion.

The decree is affirmed on the opinion of the learned president of the common pleas, and the appeal is dismissed at appellant company’s costs.

Reference

Full Case Name: The Lake Erie Gas Coal & Coke Co. v. James E. Patterson and John M. McClure, Executors of the Estate of Alexander M. McClure, John M. McClure, Jennie H. Patterson, Joseph E. Seiffert, Sarah B. Stuckslager, Nora D. Thomas, A. L. McClure, L. C. Borelle, Samuel M. McClure, Emma L. Tyson, James E. Patterson, and W. F. Stewart, Trustee of the Real Estate of Alexander M. McClure
Cited By: 2 cases
Status: Published
Syllabus: Lease—Goal lease—Life estate—Mines and mining. The owner of a life interest in certain coal and of a fee in other coal leased •all the coal to a coal company for a term of years. The lessee owned the .land lying between the coal which the lessor owned in fee and that which he owned for life. The lease provided as follows: “ The said party of the first part hereby guarantees peaceable possession of the premises hereby leased during the term of this lease, and agrees and binds himself that if the said party of the second part should be legally dispossessd thereof, to pay and reimburse the said party of the second part for all improvements made upon the said demised premises by them. . . . All covenants herein bind executors, administrators and assignees.” At the time of lessor’s death nearly all the coal owned by the lessor for life, and only a small portion of that owned by him in fee, had been taken out. The representatives and heirs of the lessor executed an instrument in writing that the lessee should not be dispossessed until the end of the term. Held, that the lessee had no right to have the lease canceled upon the death of tlie lessor.