Gila Water Co. v. International Finance Corporation
| Decision Date | 12 July 1926 |
| Docket Number | No. 4823.,4823. |
| Citation | 13 F.2d 1 |
| Parties | GILA WATER CO. v. INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION et al. INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION v. GILA WATER CO. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit |
C. F. Ainsworth, of Phœnix, Ariz., for complainant.
Bauer, Wright & MacDonald and Alexander MacDonald, all of Los Angeles, Cal., and Chalmers, Stahl, Fennemore & Longan, of Phœnix, Ariz., for defendants.
Before GILBERT, HUNT, and RUDKIN, Circuit Judges.
This was a suit by a landlord against a tenant and the mortgagee of the tenant to foreclose a lien for rent. Upon the final hearing, the court below found that the plaintiff leased to the defendant International Finance Corporation 5,770 acres of farming land in Maricopa county, Ariz., for the cropping season of 1924; that the lessee entered into possession of the leased premises, and farmed and planted 5,400 acres thereof to cotton, harvesting and picking therefrom 743 bales; that the value of the cotton thus harvested exceeded the balance due for rent; that the cropping season for the year 1924 ended March 1, 1925; that by the terms of the lease the lessee agreed to pay to the lessor, as rental, $10 per acre for such portion of the 5,770 acres as might be farmed and planted to cotton; that $20,000 was to be paid at the commencement of the term, and the balance on October 25, 1924; that the $20,000 was paid as agreed, and that there was still due and owing the sum of $34,000, with interest; that subsequent to the commencement of this suit the defendant International Finance Corporation delivered to the defendant First National Bank of Los Angeles, at the compress in Phœnix, Ariz., the entire cotton crop harvested from the leased premises, and the same was sold by the bank for more than the balance due for rent; that paragraph 3671 of the Revised Statutes of Arizona of 1913 (Civ. Code) gives the landlord a lien on all crops growing or grown on the leased premises for the term of the lease and for six months thereafter, but provides no remedy for its enforcement; that the lien of the plaintiff on the crops grown on the leased premises for the term of the lease and for six months thereafter was superior to the lien of chattel mortgages under which the bank claimed; that the plaintiff did not, at the commencement of the suit or at any time prior to the trial thereof, bring replevin or take actual possession of the cotton crop; and that the only action taken by it was the bringing of the present suit in equity to collect the rent and foreclose the lien.
From the foregoing facts, the court below found, as conclusions of law, that the plaintiff was entitled to a personal judgment against the Finance Corporation for the sum of $34,000, with interest and costs, and that by bringing this suit in equity to collect the rent and foreclose the lien, without having first replevied or taken possession of the crop at the commencement of the suit and before the trial thereof, the plaintiff waived and forfeited its crop lien. On these findings and conclusions a decree was entered, awarding to the plaintiff a personal judgment against International Finance Corporation in the sum of $34,000, with interest and costs, but denying a foreclosure of the lien and dismissing the mortgagee from the suit, with costs. The plaintiff has appealed from that portion of the decree denying the foreclosure of the lien and dismissing the mortgagee from the suit, and the defendant International Finance Corporation has appealed from that portion of the decree awarding a personal judgment against it.
We will first consider the appeal by the tenant from the personal judgment against it. Considering their magnitude, the dealings between the landlord and the tenant were very loosely conducted, and as a result the testimony as to the terms of the lease now in controversy is meager and unsatisfactory. It seems that a considerable portion of the premises included in the present lease was let to a third party for a term of three years, for a portion of the crops, shortly before the present tenant entered into possession in the spring of 1923. That lease was surrendered, in order that the premises might be let to this appellant, and soon after its surrender a written lease was prepared and signed by the lessor, but it is conceded that this lease was never fully executed, and never became obligatory upon the parties. These two leases throw...
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