Salinger v. Glidden Farmers' Elevator Co.
| Decision Date | 23 June 1930 |
| Docket Number | 39580 |
| Citation | 231 N.W. 366,210 Iowa 668 |
| Parties | B. I. SALINGER, Appellant, v. GLIDDEN FARMERS ELEVATOR COMPANY, Appellee |
| Court | Iowa Supreme Court |
Appeal from Carroll District Court.--J. A. HENDERSON, Judge.
Action in conversion, predicated on the theory that the defendant Elevator Company is liable to plaintiff for the value of a portion of plaintiff's share of a corn crop grown by plaintiff's tenant and purchased by defendant. The primary defense is that the tenant had delivered to the plaintiff landlord his share of the corn crop under the 1924 lease in question. The jury was waived, under the stipulation of the parties, and the cause was tried to the court. The judgment entered dismissed the petition of plaintiff at his costs. Plaintiff appeals.
Affirmed.
Salinger Reynolds, Meyers & Cooney, for appellant.
Lee & Robb and Douglas Rogers, for appellee.
DE GRAFF, J.
In the year 1920, the plaintiff-appellant was the owner of a parcel of Carroll County, Iowa, farm land. In that year he leased same in writing for the crop year 1921-1922, to one Roy Solt, not a party in this action. In that lease this provision is found:
"As rent for the premises hereinbefore leased the said Solt agrees to pay one half of the crop raised on the premises, delivered either at Glidden or Carroll, Iowa, at the option of the lessor, free of all charges and offsets, except that the lessor shall pay one half of the twine bill."
This lease was renewed for the year 1922-1923. In this lease is found the following provision:
Prior to the expiration of the second lease, to wit, March 1, 1923, there was an oral renewal for the year 1923-1924. Prior to March 1, 1924, the landlord and tenant aforesaid orally renewed their lease, and the tenant Solt remained upon the premises during the year 1924.
On July 31, 1924, the plaintiff-appellant and the tenant Solt entered into a written agreement, extending the original lease to March 1, 1926. In this lease is found the following provision:
Shortly prior to February 6, 1925, the tenant Solt made claim to the plaintiff (appellant) that the rental due should be computed on the basis of 25 bushels of corn per acre, as Solt declared he had cultivated 160 acres of corn in 1924, and that the total yield was 4,000 bushels. Plaintiff mailed a letter to Solt (received February 7, 1925), declining to accept Solt's proposition. In this letter the plaintiff said:
The culmination of the matter in dispute is that the parties could not and did not agree as to the landlord's share of the corn crop for the year 1924. This disagreement was the provocation for calling in the county auditor, under the terms of the lease, for the determination of the rental due the landlord. The county auditor did act as an arbitrator and the amount of corn to which the appellant was entitled as rental was decided by him, and a formal written and signed award was made, which reads as follows:
"I, W. T. Bohnenkamp, county auditor of Carroll County, Iowa, having made due investigation herein, do hereby determine the minimum rental to be delivered from corn crop to B. I. Salinger by Roy Solt and Beatrice Solt as rent on land of Salinger occupied by said Solts in the year 1924 at 2,784 bushels."
The auditor was a witness upon this trial, and explained the manner and method of his computation. It is also shown that both Solt and the landlord had knowledge of the method of computation and the result thereof prior to the filing of the award. In fact, the agent of the plaintiff-appellant prepared the award signed by the county auditor as arbitrator. It may be observed at this point that the contract of lease as to the rent due appellant, payable by Solt, made no provision as to the manner or method of making the award. The award made by the auditor was in bushels of ear corn by measurement, and the corn that was sold by Solt on behalf of plaintiff to the defendant elevator company, under the stipulation presently noted, was shelled corn; but it was the corn that was awarded to the appellant by the arbitrator.
This action for conversion against the defendant elevator company was commenced April 30, 1925.
It further appears from the evidence that the plaintiff (landlord), prior to the commencement of the instant action, and a short time subsequent to the award made by the auditor as arbitrator, instituted an action against Solt and his wife for the 1924 rent, which action was aided by a writ of attachment against Solt's property on the leased premises. A levy was made by the sheriff, and later the return was amended, reciting where the corn was located, and that it was all ear corn, measuring 2,784 bushels, according to crib measurements. We discover no basis for the challenge by appellant to the amendment to the return. See 10 Encyc. of Evidence 959.
On April 4, 1925, a stipulation in writing for the settlement of the attachment proceeding was entered into and signed by the plaintiff landlord and his tenant, Solt. The stipulation in question provided that the defendants (Solt and wife) should, as soon as possible, obtain a sheller and necessary help, and shell and deliver to the Morehouse Elevator Company, at Glidden, Iowa (defendant herein), "for account of plaintiff," the corn levied upon by the sheriff of Carroll County, and that there should be no liability under the attachment thereon on the part of Solt and wife in making such delivery.
It was further stipulated that Solt and wife should hold a public auction on the premises of plaintiff heretofore occupied by Solt and wife, not later than April 18, 1925, for the sale of all hogs and all hay on said premises belonging to Solt and wife, and also other exempt property belonging to the said tenants, to insure the payment into the hands of the clerk of said sale the net amount of said sale, which, added to the check for $ 199.15 (resulting from the sale of shelled corn belonging to Solt) would be "sufficient to enable him [the tenant] to make the payments herein provided to be made by him [the tenant]." It was further provided that Solt should deliver to the said clerk of sale the check of the Morehouse Company ($ 199.15), and that the clerk of the sale agreed upon and named in the stipulation should receive all sums of money resulting from the auction sale, and immediately apply same to certain named obligations to plaintiff. The stipulation also recited that Solt (the tenant) should, immediately upon the completion of said auction sale, vacate the leased premises, and that the tenant should have the right, in lieu of the sale of corn belonging to him and not included in said attachment, to sell the same on the market, the proceeds thereof to be placed in the hands of the clerk of said sale, the same as if sold at said sale. It is then provided:
The provisions of this stipulation were performed by the tenant, and the plaintiff Salinger did dismiss of record at his costs the cause of action giving rise to the said stipulation.
The defendant, in its answer to the petition of plaintiff,...
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