Globe Automatic Sprinkler Co. v. Boester
| Decision Date | 07 July 1936 |
| Citation | 95 S.W.2d 825,231 Mo.App. 203 |
| Parties | GLOBE AUTOMATIC SPRINKLER COMPANY, A CORPORATION (PLAINTIFF), APPELLANT, v. C. F. BOESTER, D. S. BROWN AND A. M. SULLIVAN, AS TRUSTEES OF NORTH HILLS TRUST ESTATE, (DEFENDANTS) APPELLANTS; BROWNSTONE HILLS REALTY COMPANY, A CORPORATION (INTERVENOR), RESPONDENT; NORWOOD HILLS CORPORATION, A CORPORATION (DEFENDANT), RESPONDENT |
| Court | Missouri Court of Appeals |
Appeal from Circuit Court of St. Louis County.--Hon. Julius R Nolte, Judge.
AFFIRMED.
Judgment affirmed.
Bryan Williams, Cave & McPheeters for respondent Brownstone Hills Realty Company.
(1) A conditional vendor of property to be installed in a building has no right as against the lessor of the building to remove such property if the removal thereof would materially injure the building. Grinnell Co. v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn. of Missouri, 74 S.W.2d 1097; Viking Equipment Co. v. Central Hotel Co., 91 S.W.2d 94; Independent Aetna Sprinkler Corp. v. Morris, 114 N.J. L. 23, 175 A 102; Peoples Savings & Trust Co. v. Sheboygan Machine Co., 212 Wis. 449, 249 N.W. 527; National Bank v. Wells-Jackson Corp., 358 Ill. 356, 193 N.E. 215; Wolf Co. v. Hermann Savings Bank, 168 Mo.App. 549, 153 S.W. 1094; General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn., 227 Mo.App. 832, 58 S.W.2d 338; Holtgreve v. Sobolewski, 326 Mo. 412, 31 S.W.2d 993; Harvard Financial Corporation v. Greenblatt Construction Co., 261 N.Y. 169, 184 N.E. 748; Best Manufacturing Co. v. Cohn, 3 Cal.App. 657, 86 P. 829; Marker v. Williams, 39 Cal.App. 674, 179 P. 735; Greene County Building & Loan Assn. v. Holland Furnace Co., 227 Mo.App. 972, 59 S.W.2d 749. (2) If the whole of the sprinkler system cannot be removed without material injury to the freehold, the individual parts of the system may not be removed. Kelvinator St. Louis, Inc., v. Schader, 225 Mo.App. 479, 39 S.W.2d 385; General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn., 227 Mo.App. 832, 58 S.W.2d 338; Hopewell Mills v. Taunton Savings Bank, 150 Mass. 519, 23 N.E. 327, 6 L.R.A. 249; 11 R. C. L. 1086-1087.
T. M. Pierce, Samuel H. Liberman and E. T. & E. H. Miller for appellant Globe Automatic Sprinkler Company.
(1) A conditional vendor of property to the owner of real estate subject to a prior mortgage can, under the law of Missouri, reserve title to such property as against the mortgagee, even though it is attached to the real estate in such a manner that in the absence of contract it would be real estate. Clary v. Owen, 15 Gray (Mass.) 522 (1860); Gerlach Co. v. Noyes, 251 Mass. 558, 147 N.E. 24 (1925); Ford v. Cobb, 20 N.Y. 344 (1859); Tifft v. Horton, 53 N.Y. 377 (1873); Davis v. Bliss, 187 N.Y. 77 (1907); Harvard Financial Corp. v. Greenblatt Construction Co., 261 N.Y. 169, 184 N.E. 748 (1933); Holmes v. Tremper, 20 Johns (N. Y.) 29 (1822); Davenport v. Shants, 43 Vt. 546 (1871); Campbell v. Roddy, 44 N.J.Eq. 244 (1888); Bringholff v. Munzenmaier, 20 Iowa 513 (1866); Holt v. Henley, 232 U.S. 637 (1914); Patton v. Phoenix Brick Co., 167 Mo.App. 8, 150 S.W. 1116 (1912); Holtgreve v. Sobolewski, 326 Mo. 412, 31 S.W.2d 993 (1930); Wolf Co. v. Hermann Savings Bank, 168 Mo.App. 549, 153 S.W. 1094 (K. C., 1913); Kelvinator St. Louis, Inc., v. Schader, 225 Mo.App. 479, 39 S.W.2d 385 (St. L., 1931); General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn., 227 Mo.App. 832, 58 S.W.2d 338 (K. C., 1933); Greene County Building & Loan Assn. v. Holland Furnace Co., 227 Mo.App. 972, 59 S.W.2d 749 (K. C., 1933); Grinnell Co., Inc., v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn., 74 S.W.2d 1097 (Spr., 1934). (2) A conditional vendor of such property to the lessee of real estate can reserve title as to the owner-lessor in the same manner and to the same extent and effect as he could reserve title against a prior mortgagee of the real estate when the sale was to the mortgagor. National Bank v. Wells-Jackson Corp., 358 Ill. 356, 193 N.E. 215 (1934); Independent Aetna Sprinkler Corp. v. Morris, 114 N.J. L. 23, 175 A. 102 (1934); Peoples Savings & Trust Co. v. Sheboygan Machine Co., 212 Wis. 449, 249 N.W. 527 (1933); Holt v. Henley, 232 U.S. 637 (1914); Marker v. Williams, 39 Cal.App. 674, 179 P. 735 (1919); Palm v. Bachrach, 55 App. D. C. 302, 5 F.2d 125 (1925); Harvard Financial Corp. v. Greenblatt Construction Co., 261 N.Y. 169, 184 N.E. 748 (1933); Woodliff v. Citizens' Building & Realty Co., 240 Mich. 413, 215 N.W. 343 (1927); Eureka Gold Mines v. Cube Mines Co., 6 Alaska 110 (1918); Hart v. Appalachian Washed Coal Co., 139 Tenn. 204, 201 S.W. 515 (1918); Holland Furnace Co. v. Jefferson, 173 Minn. 121, 216 N.W. 795 (1927); Hanson v. Vose, 144 Minn. 264, 175 N.W. 113 (1919); Medicke v. Sauer, 61 Minn. 15, 63 N.W. 110 (1895); Fears v. Watson, 124 Ark. 341, 187 S.W. 178 (1916); Ridgway Dynamo & Engine Co. v. Werder, 287 Pa. 358, 135 A. 216 (1926); Byron Jackson Iron Works v. Hoge, 49 Cal.App. 700, 194 P. 45 (1920); Best Manufacture Co. v. Cohn, 3 Cal.App. 657, 86 P. 829 (1906); Ensign v. Koyk, 31 Ariz. 1, 250 P. 246 (1926); Rudolph Wurlitzer Co. v. Cohen, 156 Md. 368, 144 A. 641 (1929); Holtgreve v. Sobolewski, 326 Mo. 412, 31 S.W.2d 993 (1930); Patton v. Phoenix Brick Co., 167 Mo.App. 8, 150 S.W. 1116 (K. C., 1912); Wolf Co. v. Hermann Savings Bank, 168 Mo.App. 549, 153 S.W. 1094 (K. C., 1913); Kelvinator St. Louis, Inc., v. Schader, 225 Mo.App. 479, 39 S.W.2d 385 (St. L., 1931); General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn., 227 Mo.App. 832, 58 S.W.2d 338 (K. C., 1933); Greene County Building & Loan Assn. v. Holland Furnace Co., 227 Mo.App. 972, 59 S.W.2d 749 (K. C., 1933); Grinnell Co., Inc., v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn., 74 S.W.2d 1097 (Spr., 1934). (3) The removal of the sprinkler system would not cause material injury to the freehold. Independent Aetna Sprinkler Corp. v. Morris, 114 N.J. L. 23, 175 A. 102 (1934); Harvard Financial Corp. v. Greenblatt Construction Co., 261 N.Y. 169, 184 N.E. 748 (1933); National Bank v. Wells-Jackson Corp., 358 Ill. 356, 193 N.E. 215 (1934); Peoples Savings & Trust Co. v. Sheboygan Machine Co., 212 Wis. 449, 249 N.W. 527 (1933); Wolf Co. v. Hermann Savings Bank, 168 Mo.App. 549, 153 S.W. 1094 (K. C., 1913); General Motors Acceptance Corp. v. Farm & Home Savings & Loan Assn., 227 Mo.App. 832, 58 S.W.2d 338 (K. C., 1933); Holtgreve v. Sobolewski, 326 Mo. 412, 31 S.W.2d 993 (1930); Best Manufacturing Co. v. Cohn, 3 Cal.App. 657, 86 P. 829 (1906); Marker v. Williams, 39 Cal.App. 674, 179 P. 735 (1919). (4) The judgment against the trustees personally was proper. Gnadt v. More, 297 S.W. 468 (Spr., 1927); Taylor v. Davis, 110 U.S. 330 (1884).
--This is a suit by plaintiff, Globe Automatic Sprinkler Company, for the balance due it under a contract for the installation of a sprinkler system in certain property known variously as North Hills Country Club and Norwood Country Club, together with a prayer that in the event such balance was not paid within a time to be fixed by the court, plaintiff's vendor's lien might be foreclosed, and the property sold, and the proceeds of the sale applied to the indebtedness due plaintiff.
It appears from the stipulated facts in the case that the property in question, which is located in St. Louis County, is and was at all times owned by the intervenor, Brownstone Hills Realty Company.
On May 1, 1922, the Brownstone Hills Realty Company leased said property to one Hawke, said lease containing provisions to the effect that the lessee was not authorized to make any improvements of the property at the expense of the lessor, and that the lessor was to be under no obligation to pay for any improvements that might be made by the lessee.
Thereafter, on August 11, 1922, said lease was duly assigned by Hawke to the North Hills Trust Estate, a common-law trust, whose trustees were defendants C. F. Boester, D. S. Brown, and A. M. Sullivan.
Both the lease from the Brownstone Hills Realty Company to Hawke and the latter's written assignment of it to the North Hills Trust Estate were duly recorded in the office of the Recorder of Deeds in St. Louis County.
On July 18, 1928, plaintiff's assignor, the Consolidated Equipment Company, entered into a written contract with the trustees of the North Hills Trust Estate for the sale and installation in the clubhouse of the sprinkler system in question for the price of $ 9538, which sum was made payable by the purchasers upon certain stated terms. Of such contract price it appears that the principal sum of $ 2774.50 is now due and unpaid.
In and by the terms of said contract it was provided that title to the sprinkler system so sold and installed was reserved in the vendor until the payment of the entire amount due under the contract, and that in default of the purchasers thereunder the latter should pay all the costs and expenses of the vendor, including a reasonable attorney's fee, which, in the event of a pecuniary claim, was agreed to 10% of whatever amount should be involved.
As in the case of the lease and its subsequent assignment, this contract was likewise filed for record in the office of the Recorder of Deeds, and was entered in the book of "Chattel Deeds of Trust and Mortgages."
Inasmuch as the controversy in the case involves the question of whether, upon the installation of the sprinkler system in the clubhouse, the same became a fixture within contemplation of law, it is of importance to note from the stipulation of facts that the Brownstone Hills Realty Company, the owner of the property, at no time authorized the North Hills Trust Estate or its trustees to enter into a contract whereby any part of the property constituting real estate should be...
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