Connors v. Wick
| Decision Date | 05 February 1945 |
| Citation | 317 Mass. 628,59 N.E.2d 277 |
| Parties | HANNAH M. CONNORS v. GEORGE WICK. |
| Court | United States State Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts Supreme Court |
December 8, 1944.
Present: FIELD, C.
J., QUA, DOLAN RONAN, & SPALDING, JJ.
Landlord and Tenant, Landlord's title, Termination of tenancy, Notice Tenancy at will, Rent. Notice. Error, Whether error harmful. Practice, Civil, Ordering verdict; Exceptions: whether error harmful.
Summary process under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 239, Section 1, as amended, might be maintained to recover possession of premises occupied by the defendant as a tenant at will of the plaintiff although the record title to the premises was held by another as a straw for the plaintiff.
An exception to the granting of a motion for the direction of a verdict was overruled, although a ground stated by the trial judge for its allowance was improper, where the moving party was not required to specify the reasons upon which the motion was based and the record disclosed another ground, not raised at the trial, on which it should have been granted.
Compliance by a landlord with G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 186, Section 12, in attempting to terminate a tenancy at will of a tenant paying rent monthly was not shown where there was no evidence showing what day of the month was rent day and the evidence was merely that rent had been paid for August in a certain year and that a notice, dated August 31, and served on the defendant on September 1 of that year, directed him to quit the premises "at the expiration of that month (September) of your tenancy which shall begin next after this date."
It seems, in the absence of proof of an agreement or custom otherwise, that the rent day for rent payable monthly under a tenancy at will would be the last day of the month.
SUMMARY PROCESS. Writ in the Municipal Court of the Dorchester District dated October 2, 1943.
On appeal to the Superior Court, the case was tried before Dillon, J. M. Caro for the plaintiff.
No argument nor brief for the defendant.
This is an action under G. L. (Ter. Ed.) c. 239, Section 1, as amended by St. 1941, c. 242, Section 1, to recover possession of certain premises which the defendant occupied as a tenant at will of the plaintiff. There was evidence that the rent which was paid monthly, had been paid for August, 1943; and that a notice dated August 31, 1943, to quit and deliver up the premises, which were adequately described, "at the expiration of that month (September) of your tenancy which shall begin next after this date," was served upon the defendant on September 1, 1943. At the trial, the defendant, subject to the plaintiff's exception, was permitted to show that the plaintiff was not the record holder of the title to the premises but that the title was in the name of one Tracy, a straw for the plaintiff. Thereupon the judge stated that the plaintiff could not maintain the action. He denied the plaintiff's motion for a directed verdict, and over the plaintiff's exception granted the defendant's motion for a directed verdict.
The evidence was sufficient, if believed, to show that the relationship of landlord and tenant existed between the parties. It was immaterial to the creation or existence of this relationship whether the owner held the title in her own name or in the name of a straw. The reciprocal obligations of landlord and tenant do not depend on the landlord's title. A tenancy at will usually arises out of an agreement by which one party enters upon and occupies the premises of another for a consideration, which is usually the payment of rent. One who holds title in the name of a straw is not thereby precluded from letting the premises to a tenant at will. Central Mills Co. v. Hart, 124 Mass. 123 . Porter v. Hubbard, 134 Mass. 233 . Lindsey v. Leighton, 150 Mass. 285 . Crowe v. Bixby, 237 Mass. 249 . Backoff v. Weiner, 305 Mass. 375 . Williams v. Seder, 306 Mass. 134 . Furthermore, one who enters and occupies the land of another as the tenant of the latter is estopped to dispute the title of his landlord. Cobb v. Arnold, 8 Met. 398. Curtis v. Goodwin, 232 Mass. 538 . Magaw v. Beals, 242 Mass. 321 . Connolly v. Kilcourse, 285 Mass. 398 .
It does not follow that, even if the judge was wrong in directing a verdict for the defendant on the ground that the plaintiff was not the record owner of the premises, the ruling is to be reversed if it was right upon another ground, Rathgeber v. Kelley, 299 Mass. 444; Old Colony Railroad v. Assessors of Quincy, 305 Mass. 509 , which is open upon these exceptions, even though the point was not raised at the trial, as the judge did not require the party moving for a directed verdict to specify the reasons upon which the motion was based. Proctor v. Dillon, 235 Mass. 538 , 540. Krasnow v. Krasnow, 253 Mass. 528 . Beebe v. Randall, 304 Mass. 207 .
The plaintiff sought to terminate the...
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