Hart v. Appalachian Washed Coal Co.

• Decision Date: 11 February 1918
• Citation: 201 S.W. 515,139 Tenn. 204
• Parties: HART ET AL. v. APPALACHIAN WASHED COAL CO. ET AL.
• Court: Tennessee Supreme Court

201 S.W. 515

139 Tenn. 204

HART ET AL. v. APPALACHIAN WASHED COAL CO. ET AL.

Supreme Court of Tennessee.

February 11, 1918

Appeal from Chancery Court, Claiborne County; Hugh G. Kyle Chancellor.

Suit by F. D. Hart, Jr., and others against the Appalachian Washed Coal Company and others. The decree of the chancellor was reversed by the Court of Civil Appeals upon appeal of the Goodman Manufacturing Company, intervener, and plaintiffs appeal. Affirmed.

NEIL C.J.

The question for disposition arises on the intervening petition of Goodman Manufacturing Company in a general creditors' proceeding filed in the chancery court of Claiborne county. The facts necessary to raise the points of law to be determined are these:

On the 1st day of May, 1907, the American Association, Incorporated leased to the Nicholson Coal Company a coal mine in Claiborne county. Section 5 of the lease reads:

"The lessee further covenants and agrees that all rents and royalties herein agreed to be paid shall be deemed and considered as created for the rent of land, and shall be a lien on this leasehold and the fixtures and improvements thereon, and on the personal property of the lessee, and on the coal mined from and coke made on said premises for twelve months after said rents and royalties fall due, and until the termination of any suit commenced within that time for said rents and royalties."

Section 22:

"The lessee further covenants and agrees at the expiration of this lease to leave and surrender to the lessor the premises herein demised, with the improvements, fixtures, buildings and dwellings thereon, and with all of the mines, entries, openings, tramways, inclines, chutes, tracks, rails, and appurtenances inside and outside of the mines in good working order and condition (but on such termination the working tools and instruments used in mining, machinery, engines, boilers, pumps, ropes, and weighing scales and other personal property placed upon said premises by the lessee shall be and remain the property of lessee, and may be removed by the lessee in case all rents and royalties be paid and agreements of this lease fully complied with): Provided, however, the lessee covenants and agrees that the lessor shall have the right and preference to purchase, at an appraisal of fair market value, all or any of the machinery and other personal property of the lessee above allowed to be removed, should the lessor desire to do so at the expiration or sooner termination of this lease in lieu of allowing removal."

On the 23d of January, 1911, nearly four years after the execution of the lease, the Goodman Manufacturing Company sold to Nicholson Coal Company, which was the predecessor in title and interest of the Appalachian Washed Coal Company, the machinery involved in the present litigation, consisting of one 16 X16 McEwen center crank engine and one 100 K. W. Thompson Ryan Generator, for which the coal company agreed to pay $4,419.34, and there is still a balance due, the amount of which is not contested. At the time the machinery was furnished, there was a contract in writing retaining title until the debt should be paid. The machinery was placed on the leased premises in a sheet iron building, and on a concrete foundation constructed therein, to which it was bolted by nine bolts. It was not embedded in the concrete but the bolts were so embedded, and they were run through prepared holes, and the machinery was then confined to the bolts by nuts. The evidence shows that it can be removed from the building at an expense of not more than $5; it being necessary only to unscrew the nuts, detach the machinery from the bolts, and remove two sections of the sheet iron wall or siding, the door of the building being too small to pass the...