Helton v. City of St. Joseph

• Decision Date: 03 October 1960
• Docket Number: No. 23126,23126
• Parties: Ernest F. HELTON and Martha M. Helton, Respondents, v. CITY OF ST. JOSEPH, Missouri, a Municipal Corporation, Appellant.
• Court: Missouri Court of Appeals

Page 198

340 S.W.2d 198

82 A.L.R.2d 1103

Ernest F. HELTON and Martha M. Helton, Respondents, v. CITY OF ST. JOSEPH, Missouri, a Municipal Corporation, Appellant.

No. 23126.

Kansas City Court of Appeals, Missouri.

Oct. 3, 1960.

Joseph G. Wood, Richard W. Dahms, St. Joseph, for appellant.

Dale, Potter & Flynn, St. Joseph, for respondents.

SPERRY, Commissioner.

Plaintiffs, husband and wife, are the owners of a house and fifteen lots in Florence Addition to St. Joseph, Missouri, which they leased to defendant for a term of two years with an option to purchase. This suit is for waste and damages alleged to have been committed to the house during the leasehold term, through the failure of defendant to properly preserve and protect it. There was a verdict and judgment for plaintiffs in the sum of $800, from which defendant appeals.

Plaintiffs offered substantial evidence tending to prove their ownership of the property; that they had acquired the house and five lots for the sum of $1,000, and later acquired title to the remaining lots; that, at the time the lease was entered into, the house was occupied by a tenant who was paying a rental of $25 per month; that it was in good condition and repair; that the whole property was then worth $3,000 to $3,500; that they contracted to lease it to defendant for two years at $35 per month, and gave defendant an option to buy it for the sum of $3,000; that their tenant vacated the house and defendant took control under the lease. Their evidence further tended to prove that defendant failed to place anyone in the house as a tenant or to provide a guard or caretaker for it; that it was wholly unsupervised, unoccupied, and that children and vandals broke out the doors and windows, broke and marred the floors, walls and closets; that the floors were damaged by fire, the plaster knocked off, the plumbing destroyed, and the outdoor toilet burned; that the total damage done to the house was in excess of $1,200; that the actual costs of repairs was near that figure; that when they repossessed the house it was in about the same condition it was in when plaintiffs originally purchased it for $1,000 and before they spent large sums to put it in good condition for occupancy and rental. Defendant made no objection to the introduction of plaintiffs' evidence as to the cause and extent of the damages to the house, nor as to the cost of repairs thereto. On the contrary, it cross-examined all of plaintiffs' witnesses as to such testimony and, thereafter, itself offered the testimony of various witnesses as to those facts. Such testimony tended, in some respects, to be contradictory of the facts elicited from plaintiffs' witnesses. Defendants' witnesses testified to facts tending to prove that the house, exclusive of the plumbing, could have been restored, by the use of used materials, for about $532. Plaintiffs evidence as to the cost of repairing the plumbing, $78.50, was not questioned. In short, the cost of restoration of the house from its damaged condition to a condition suitable for tenancy, including repair of the plumbing, ranged from $600 on the part of defendant, to more than $1,200 on the part of plaintiffs; and the verdict was for $800.

D...