Reeves Furniture Co. v. Simms

• Decision Date: 08 March 1933
• Docket Number: No. 4295.,4295.
• Citation: 59 S.W.2d 262
• Parties: REEVES FURNITURE CO. v. SIMMS et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

59 S.W.2d 262

REEVES FURNITURE CO. v. SIMMS et al.

No. 4295.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. Texarkana.

March 8, 1933.

Rehearing Denied March 23, 1933.

Appeal from District Court, Bowie County; R. J. Williams, Judge.

Action by James H. Simms and another against the Reeves Furniture Company. From a judgment for plaintiffs, defendant appeals.

Affirmed.

King, Mahaffey, Wheeler & Bryson, of Texarkana, for appellant.

Crumpton & Crumpton, of Texarkana, for appellees.

SELLERS, Justice.

On April 1, 1926, and for a great number of years prior thereto, James H. Simms and his brother A. L. Simms were the owners of a certain three-story brick building in the city of Texarkana in which Reeves Furniture Company, a corporation, was conducting a furniture business. Reeves Furniture Company had been in the building since 1914, either as lessee from Simms brothers or as sublessee from the J. C. Penny Company with Simms brothers' consent. The J. C. Penny Company's lease with Simms brothers under which Reeves Furniture Company occupied the building expired on April 1, 1926. On or about this date Reeves Furniture Company, through its president, Mrs. Reeves, and its secretary, W. H. Riley, negotiated with Simms brothers for a lease on this building. The terms of this lease were agreed upon, according to the testimony of James H. Simms and the lease contract introduced in evidence, to be for a term of five years from April 1, 1926, to March 30, 1931, at a stipulated rental of $350 per month to be paid in advance. It was agreed between the parties that the contract was to be in writing and signed by both parties in duplicate. The lease agreement was reduced to writing and signed by Simms brothers on May 4, 1926, and forwarded to Reeves Furniture Company through the mail for its signature. Mrs. Reeves, president of Reeves Furniture Company, testified that she received the contract through the mail and refused to execute it on the part of Reeves Furniture Company, for the reason that the term of years expressed in the contract was not that agreed upon. She testified that the agreement was for a three-year lease and not for five years. She further testified that she placed both the original and copy of the lease in the safe of the Reeves Furniture Company to wait until James H. Simms, with whom she had negotiated with reference to the lease, came in, so she could discuss the matter with him. Nothing further was mentioned about the contract until the early part of 1930, when Reeves Furniture Company notified Simms brothers that it expected to vacate the building on June 15, 1930. Reeves Furniture Company paid rents during all this time at the rate of $350 per month in accordance with the provisions of the contract furnished it. On June 18, 1930, the Reeves Furniture Company vacated the building, paying all the rent due under the contract up to this date. James H. Simms, after receiving the notice of the intention of Reeves Furniture Company to vacate the building, called at the Reeves Furniture Company and requested a copy of the contract which was given him, but it was unsigned by Reeves Furniture Company. Simms brothers also notified Reeves Furniture Company before it vacated the building that they would expect it to pay rent on the building until the expiration of the full five years provided for in the lease contract.

Simms brothers brought this suit on April 24, 1931, upon the written lease contract to recover rents for the building as per the contract from the date Reeves Furniture Company vacated the building to the expiration of the term provided for in the lease; the amount of damages sought to be recovered being $3,290. Reeves Furniture Company's defense to the suit is that the lease contract was in violation of the statute of frauds and unenforceable. This defense was raised both by demurrer and special answer. The case was tried to a jury, and over objection of both parties the court submitted to the jury two issues, the first of which inquired of the jury whether the parties prior to April 1, 1926, entered into an oral agreement for the lease of the premises in question wherein the parties both understood and agreed on the same length of time the said agreement was to be in force, to which inquiry the jury answered "Yes." And in answer to the second issue the jury found the lease agreement was to run for a term of five years. Upon this verdict of the jury the court entered judgment for Simms brothers for the full amount of the damages sued for, and Reeves Furniture Company has duly prosecuted this appeal.

We doubt if there was an issue made by the evidence to be submitted to the jury. The undisputed evidence showed that the parties did agree upon all the essential terms of the lease contract, unless it was on the length of time the lease was to run. The lease agreement under the evidence was to be reduced to writing and signed by both parties. It was reduced to writing and provided for a term of five years. Both the original and copy were signed by Simms brothers, the appellees, and was delivered to Reeves Furniture Company, the...