Daniels v. Farmer
| Decision Date | 14 November 1951 |
| Docket Number | No. 7698,7698 |
| Citation | 238 P.2d 695,72 Idaho 67 |
| Parties | DANIELS et al. v. FARMER et al. |
| Court | Idaho Supreme Court |
Beckwith & Langley, Twin Falls, for appellants.
Everett M. Sweeley and O. P. Duvall, Twin Falls, for respondents.
In the spring of 1948, respondent Farmer owned two adjoining half sections of dry land previously uncultivated, only partly cleared, in the eastern part of Twin Falls County; irrigation water for which was being developed by wells on the property, then only sufficient to irrigate a small part of the land. Farmer began clearing, levelling, and working the land. Earl Watts and appellant Bob Dale Daniels, then a minor, carried on this work for respondent Farmer. Crops of various kinds were raised by Watts and Daniels during 1948 and a complete settlement relative thereto was made between the parties.
In August 1948 a written agreement, Exhibit A, was entered into as of date March 15, 1948 between Farmer, Watts and the younger Daniels as follows:
'This agreement made and entered into this 15th day of March, 1948, by and between Fred C. Farmer hereinafter called the first party and Earl Watts and Bob Dale Daniels hereinafter called the second parties,
'Witnesseth, that in consideration of the mutual covenants and agreements hereinafter set forth by each of said parties to be kept and performed it is agreed as follows:
'The first party agrees to furnish the East Half of Section Twenty two and the East Half of Section Twenty seven, Township Eleven South, Range Twenty E. B.M. Twin Falls County, Idaho, for the crop season of 1948 and to furnish irrigation water therefor from wells now on said premises or to be drilled.
'The first party agrees to furnish heavy equipment necessary to get the ground in condition for farming and to pay all charges for gasoline and oil used in operating said equipment, and to pay for three-fifths of potato seed and commercial fertilizer used on said premises during the crop season of 1948.
'The second parties agree to farm said premises in the manner of good husbandry for the crop season of 1948 and to furnish all necessary machinery for the production and harvesting of all crops.
'The second parties agree to cut and windrow or pile all beans grown during the 1948 season.
'The first party agrees to pay three-fifths and the second parties agree to pay two-fifths of combining or thrashing charges for all beans grown on the premises and the hauling thereof to market and for all potato digging, picking, bucking, sacking, sorting, storing, and hauling.
'Bob Dale Daniels agrees to labor on said premises during the crop season of 1948 and to devote his entire time to the cultivation, irrigation, production and harvesting of all crops grown thereon, and to receive for his services from the first party, in addition to the compensation mentioned in the following paragraph an amount of money equal to one-fourth of the first party's net profits from the sale of all Rye grown on said premises during the 1948 season.
'The second parties agree to accept as compensation for their services, in addition to the compensation provided for Bob Dale Daniels in the preceding paragraph, two-fifths of all potatoes and beans grown on said premises during the 1948 season, it being understood that said two-fifths share is to be divided equally between Earl Watts and Bob Dale Daniels.
'The first party agrees to pay to O. W. Daniels one fourth of his net profits from potatoes and beans grown during crop season of 1948 as compensation for services.
In October of 1948 Watts and Bob Dale Daniels disced 110 acres of dry land and seeded it to rye and in the spring of 1949 disced and harrowed 70 acres in preparation for additional row crops.
April 12, 1949, Farmer sold part of the lands covered by the agreement to Leona M. Uezzell and served notice to quit and surrender the premises by April 15, 1949, on Watts, Bob Dale Daniels and his father, O. W. Daniels, and on May 7, a subsequent notice to them of the sale of the premises to Mrs. Uezzell. May 5, 1949, Mrs. Uezzell sent her hired man on to the land and he worked six days plowing and levelling. The two Daniels thereupon, May 20, instituted this suit to enjoin respondents from interfering with their occupancy of the land, and farmed it in 1949 and raised various crops. May 10, 1949 Watts executed an assignment of all of his interests to O. W. Daniels. June 3, 1949, appellants secured an injunction restraining respondents from interfering with appellants' possession and use of the land in question.
The second and last amended complaint filed September 23, 1949, had attached to it copy of Exhibit A and this allegation: 'That said agreement dated March 15, 1948, Exhibit A., constitutes and is a valid and existing lease of said real property therein described, for a term beginning January 1, 1949 and ending November 30, 1951, and plaintiffs are entitled to possession of all of said lands, as in said lease provided, until November 30, 1951, and entitled to have this Court require the defendants to specifically perform their part of said agreement and lease.' And that Watts and the plaintiffs had performed all the covenants and conditions of the lease and asked that the agreement (Ex. A) be decreed a valid and existing lease on the property until November 30, 1951 and for specific performance thereof as a lease, and that plaintiffs be let into and maintained in peaceful possession.
Two answers were filed to this last complaint, so far as the essential and determinative issue of this controversy is concerned, contending that the written agreement (Ex. A) constituted only a lease for the year 1948 and that the agreement did not constitute a lease, and no lease was entered into between the parties for subsequent years. The Court found:
'6. That at the time the defendant Farmer entered into the said written agreement with Watts and Daniels he had been for some years personally acquainted with the said Watts, was on friendly terms with him, had a high regard for his agricultural ability and experience and confidence in his industry, reliability and integrity, and entered into the said agreement because of, and only because of such relationship and confidence.
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'9. That thereafter, and on or about May 20, 1949, the plaintiffs commenced this action in the Court above named, the plaintiff O. W. Daniels claiming under a purported assignment to him by the said Watts of his interest in and rights under the said written agreement, the said plaintiffs by their original complaint alleging and representing themselves to be tenants holding over under the terms of said agreement applicable to the year 1948, and by virtue of an order of temporary injunction made in this cause on or about June 3, 1949, and made upon the allegations and representations of said complaint and other papers in connection therewith, the plaintiffs entered into possession and control of the said lands of the defendants.
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'11. That on or about September 10, 1949, the plaintiffs filed herein their second amended complaint, from which there were eliminated any and all allegations relating to their previous claim of being tenants of said lands holding over under the terms of the said written agreement for 1948 operations, and instead thereof assumed and took the position that they were in and entitled to continue in possession and control of the said lands by reason of that part of said written agreement relating to a proposed lease of the said lands for the years 1949, 1950 and until November 30, 1951, claiming that said provisions in the written agreement constituted a valid and existing lease of said lands for the said period, and praying for a decree of specific performance of that part of the said agreement.
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