Robinson v. Herring

• Decision Date: 16 February 1953
• Docket Number: No. 5615,5615
• Parties: ROBINSON et al. v. HERRING et al.
• Court: Arizona Supreme Court

Page 347

253 P.2d 347

75 Ariz. 166

ROBINSON et al. v. HERRING et al.

No. 5615.

Supreme Court of Arizona.

Feb. 16, 1953.

Wright, Goddard, Hamilton, Moorehead & Morse, Tucson (Samuel P. Goddard, Jr., Tucson, of counsel), for appellants.

Richey & Herring, of Tucson, for appellees.

PHELPS, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the superior court of Pima County in favor of plaintiffs-appellees, Norman Herring and wife, and against defendants-appellants Paul Robinson and wife. For convenience they will hereinafter be referred to as plaintiffs and defendants.

The facts are that plaintiffs were at all times hereinafter mentioned the owners of a certain residence in Tucson, Arizona; that during the early part of June, 1951, defendants began negotiations for the lease of such residence from plaintiffs and on June 14 called at the office of Mr. Herring in that city and agreed with plaintiffs upon the terms of a lease of said premises for a period of one year from July 1, 1951. The plaintiffs thereupon drew up a lease contract in conformity with such agreement, signed it and handed it to defendants. The lease agreement provided among other things for the payment of $250 cash upon the execution of the lease, receipt of which was therein acknowledged, such payment being for the first and last months' rent. The remaining payments were to be made $125 on the first day of August, 1951, and $125 on the first of each and every month thereafter until the full sum of $1500 had been paid.

Defendants took both copies of the lease and after stating that since the lease required them to maintain the cooler and the furnace that they would have to have their man who knew about such things, inspect it. Defendants neither signed the lease then nor paid plaintiffs the $250 provided by the terms of the lease to be paid upon its execution.

Both plaintiffs and defendants testified to these facts. Mr. Herring said he expected defendants to then and there sign the lease and pay the $250 and that he was 'flabbergasted' when they took both copies of the lease and walked out of the office without doing either. Some ten days after June 15 Mr. Herring phoned Mr. Robinson and asked that he return the lease duly signed and pay the $250 but heard nothing from the defendants thereafter until the night of July 2 when Mr. Herring again phoned Mr. Robinson and informed him that since he had not told plaintiffs whether he was going to accept the lease, whether he had inspected the cooler and the furnace or anything else, that plaintiffs were then and there withdrawing the written offer contained in the written lease which had been previously given to him.

The following day Mr. Robinson brought the lease to plaintiffs' office signed by him on that date together with a cashier's check for $250 provided by the lease to be paid upon the execution thereof. Mr. Robinson stated upon the witness stand that he observed from reading the lease that the $250 was to be paid under its terms when the lease was executed and that Mr. Herring had acknowledged receipt of the $250 in the lease which precluded any particular rush on his part to make the payment. The reasonable inference to be drawn from that statement seems to be that since the $250 was not due until the lease was executed he had bided his time about executing the lease. He further testified that when he left Mr. Herring's office the only reservation in his mind was that he 'was going to check the place out there and see if it were satisfactory.'

Appellants present five assignments of error for our consideration, assignments 2 and 3 of which are based upon the court's memorandum opinion. We have frequently held that the memorandum opinion of the trial judge is no part of the record on appeal and therefore cannot form the basis for error. Ollason v. Glasscock, 26 Ariz. 193, 224 P. 284; Haynie v. Taylor, 69 Ariz. 339, 213 P.2d 684.

Assignment No. 1 asserts that the court erred in permitting plaintiff to introduce parol evidence tending to show a 'conditional delivery' of the lease in question after defendants had gone into possession. An examination of the record discloses that neither counsel for plaintiffs nor the court considered the question of 'conditional delivery' to be an issue in the case. Counsel took the view and was sustained by the court apparently that there was no delivery of the lease at all; that it never was the intention of plaintiffs to part with control over the premises until the lease was executed and the cash payment of $250 made by defendant and that it was not the intention of the defendants to accept the lease until they had inspected the residence and had had their man inspect the cooler and the furance which the lease provided defendants should maintain.

Defendants contend they moved into the premises on June 16 or 18 and had the gas and electricity cut on but they did not inform plaintiffs of that fact and they both immediately left the city. Neither did they report to plaintiffs that the residence was satisfactory or that they would accept the terms of the lease relative to maintaining the cooler and the furnace, nor did they sign the lease or pay the cash payment. Defendants cite Munford v. Humphreys, 68 Cal.App. 530, 229 P. 860 which held that where lessees were in possession of certain premises and were notified by the owner that the rental would be increased on a date certain and if they wished to continue their lease, to prepare a written lease embodying the increased rental, which they did and returned it to the owner who signed and returned the same to the lessees. The lessees never signed the lease but did pay the increase in rent for about three months and then notified the owner they were moving out. The court...