Sanborn v. E. R. Roach Drug Co.
Sanborn v. E. R. Roach Drug Co.
Opinion of the Court
H. B. Sanborn sued the E. R. Roach Drug Company to recover rents claimed to be due plaintiff upon a building in the city of Amarillo; the amount claimed being $200 per month for the months of August, September, October, November, and December of the year 1908. The only defense urged to plaintiff’s claim was that plaintiff had, leased the property to defendant for a rental of $150 per month, which amount the defendant offered to pay, and the only issue tried was whether the rental contract was as the defendant alleged, or was that the defendant should pay $200, as contended by the plaintiff. Judgment was rendered in favor of tbe plaintiff for $750, and be has. appealed.
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The correspondence attached as exhibits to plaintiff’s petition and relied on as constituting a contract consisted, first, of a letter from the plaintiff to the defendant, in effect, that if a certain proposed written lease of the premises for three years, which had been submitted to the defendant by the plaintiff, was not executed by the latter immediately that $200 per month would be demanded for the rental of the premises thereafter; second, a letter.from the defendant to the plaintiff, declining to execute the proposed written lease, and also declining to pay $200 per month, but offering to pay $150 per month for the rent of the premises during the remainder of the year; third, a letter from the plaintiff to the defendant’s manager again notifying him that $200 per month would be demanded as a rental for the building, unless the proposed lease was executed. The petition contained an allegation that, after the defendant received the letter last mentioned, its manager made no reply thereto, and appellant urges that under those circumstances there was an implied contract on the part of the defendant to pay $200 per month as rental. If the circumstances were such that, under the rules of equity, the duty was imposed upon the defendant if he was unwilling to pay the price demanded, to reply to plaintiff’s second letter and again decline, as he had previously done, to accede to plaintiff’s demand for the payment of $200 per month, then, upon principles of estoppel, defendant might be held to have impliedly consented to the demand, even though, as a matter of fact, the minds of the parties never met, and therefore it could not be said that there was in fact an agreement between them. 9 Cyc. 242, 243.
But if, as alleged in the defendant’s answer, there was a valid and subsisting agreement between the parties for the rental of the property at the price of $150 per month at the time of the correspondence referred to above, then that fact was of course known to both parties, and under such circumstances no duty was imposed upon the defendant to decline a second time to accede to plaintiff’s demand for an increased rental, and the court did not err in overruling the exception now under discussion.
It is insisted that no testimony was introduced to prove the contract alleged by the defendant for the payment of $150 per month, and that the court erred in submitting that issue to the jury. We find in the record direct testimony by L. O. Thompson, the defendant’s manager, in effect, that such a contract was made with the plaintiff during the month of April, and a statement contained in one letter from the plaintiff himself to the defendant, which was introduced, tends to prove the same fact.
In the charge the court gave a form of verdict to be returned in the event of a finding that the contract relied on by-the defendant had been established, reading as follows: “We, the jury, find for the plaintiff the sum of $750, and that the same has been tendered by defendant, as alleged by it.” Judgment was rendered for $750, without interest. Appellant insists that there was no evidence to show a tender of rents for the months of November and December. However, the evidence did show, without controversy, that defendant tendered $150 for each of the months of August, September, and October, such tenders being made as the rents accrued, and the same were all refused by the plaintiff.
We have found no error in the record, and the judgment is affirmed.
Case-law data current through December 31, 2025. Source: CourtListener bulk data.