Belvedere Hotel Co. v. Williams

• Decision Date: 02 February 1921
• Docket Number: 81,82.
• Parties: BELVEDERE HOTEL CO. v. WILLIAMS. ZENTGRAFF v. SAME.
• Court: Maryland Court of Appeals

113 A. 335

137 Md. 665

BELVEDERE HOTEL CO. v. WILLIAMS.

ZENTGRAFF v. SAME.

Nos. 81, 82.

Court of Appeals of Maryland

February 2, 1921

Appeals from Circuit Court of Baltimore City; Henry Duffy, Judge.

Action by John Williams against the Belvedere Hotel Company and William Zentgraff. Decree for plaintiff, and defendants separately appeal. Affirmed on both appeals.

Clarence A. Tucker, of Baltimore (Knapp, Ulman & Tucker, of Baltimore on the brief), for appellants.

Rowland K. Adams and Vernon Cook, both of Baltimore, for appellee.

BRISCOE J.

The two appeals, in this case, are from the same decree, they present practically the same questions, and will be disposed of in one opinion.

The plaintiff below, and the appellee on this record, is a barber, and at present conducts the barber shop of the Belvedere Hotel, Baltimore, and other barber shops elsewhere including the one of the Southern Hotel, Baltimore, and the barber shop at the Traymore Hotel, at Atlantic City, N. J.

The Belvedere Hotel Company, one of the defendants below and appellant here, is a corporation of the state of Delaware and is owner and operator of the Hotel Belvedere, situate at the southeast corner of Charles and Chase streets, Baltimore City.

William Zentgraff, the other defendant below, and also appellant here, is a barber and was employed by the appellee for about two years in the Hotel Belvedere barber shop, but had been discharged by him (appellee) in February, 1920. He had been employed in the shop for some years prior to the time when the appellee began to operate the barber shop in the Belvedere Hotel.

It appears from a lease set out in the record that what is called and known as the Hotel Belvedere barber shop, and the manicuring concession in the Belvedere hotel, were rented to the appellee, John Williams, by the Belvedere Hotel Company by contract dated May 10, 1920, for a term of two years beginning May 20, 1918, at the annual rental of $2,000. The terms and stipulations of the lease are stated therein, and are in part as follows:

"The party of the first part agrees to lease, to the party of the second part, the barber shop and manicuring concession in its hotel for a term of two years, beginning May 20, 1918, at an annual rental of $2,000, to be paid in monthly installments of $166.66, due on or by the tenth of each month for the preceding month's rent."

It is further provided:

"At the expiration of the two years, if the party of the second part shows that there has been no material increase in the receipts of his business he is to have an additional year at the same rental. In the event that there is a substantial increase, to the amount worthy of paying a small additional rental, then the parties of the first and second parts can agree as to the said increase."

Subsequently a dispute arose between the parties to the lease as to the date when the lease terminated, and this resulted in a notice to the appellee, from the appellant hotel company, that the lease expired on the 20th of May, 1920, and that the leased premises should be vacated and surrendered on that date.

The contention on the part of the appellee was that he had a right, under the terms of the lease, to continue it for an additional year, or until May 20, 1921.

On May 17, 1920, the plaintiff filed a bill in the circuit court for Baltimore City against the Belvedere Hotel Company, praying that the defendant be restrained by injunction from ejecting the plaintiff by force or otherwise or from interfering with the plaintiff's enjoyment of his leasehold estate or from interfering with the business conducted by him on the premises.

The bill, among other things, charged:

That the defendant "openly threatened that if the plaintiff does not vacate said premises on or before the 20th day of May that the defendant will immediately thereafter forcibly eject the plaintiff from the premises occupied by him under the lease, to wit, the barber shop at the Hotel Belvedere, and the defendant has threatened to use all such force as may be necessary for this purpose, and has threatened to enter the barber shop at night while the plaintiff and his employees are away therefrom, and to cut off the water and electric current which has heretofore been supplied the barber shop under the terms of this lease, and which are absolutely essential for the operation thereof." "That the acts threatened on the part of the defendant would break up and destroy the plaintiff's business and destroy the use and enjoyment by the plaintiff of the leasehold interest to which he is entitled under the terms of the lease, and the plaintiff is without adequate remedy except in this honorable court."

This case was heard upon bill, answer, testimony, and a motion to dissolve a preliminary injunction which had been previously granted, and the court below on the 30th of June, 1920, overruled the motion to dissolve and decreed:

"That the preliminary injunction heretofore granted herein be and the same is hereby made perpetual until May 20, 1921, the date on which the plaintiff's lease mentioned in these proceedings will expire, provided the plaintiff during the period shall comply with the provisions of the lease."

There was no appeal from this decree, and it is admitted that at the hearing of the case testimony was offered by both the plaintiff and defendant in support of the contentions made in their respective pleadings, and that the court after full hearing passed the decree, and held that the tenancy of the appellee of the Belvedere Hotel barber shop continued under his lease to May 20, 1921. The action of the court below in passing this decree is not, therefore, before us for review on this appeal.

Shortly after the decree of the 30th of June, 1920, the appellant William Zentgraff, by lease dated the 10th day of July, 1920, rented from the Belvedere Hotel Company the front room on the first floor of the building known as No. 1023 North Charles street, in Baltimore City, to be used for a barber shop.

The terms and stipulation of the lease and renting are in part as follows:

"Witnesseth, that the said landlord hereby rents to the said tenant the front room, on the first floor of the building known as No. 1023 North Charles street, in Baltimore City, for the term of one month, beginning on the 16th day of July, 1920, and ending on the 15th day of August, 1920, at sixty dollars ($60.00), a month, payable in advance."

The tenant agreed and covenanted not to use the premises, or permit its use for purposes other than those of a barber shop and would not at any time assign the agreement or sublet the property or any portion thereof without the consent in writing of the landlord or its representatives.

The landlord on its part covenanted to furnish the tenant during the term, for the use of the leased premises, light, heat, and cold and hot water.

And it was further agreed that the agreement with all its provisions and covenants shall continue in force from month to month after the expiration of the term mentioned, provided however, that either of the parties could terminate the same at the end of the term by giving at least 30 days' previous...