28 S.D. 475 | S.D. | 1912
Lead Opinion
In this equity case findings of fact and judgment were made and' rendered in favor of defendants. Plaintiff moved for new trial, which motion was granted, and defendants appeal,
Under this state of facts, the defendants were as fully and well notified of plaintiff’s rights and leasehold title under said lease as if said lease had been duly recorded, and any entry, or attempted entry, on said premises by defendants, under the deed by the Indian, Mireau, to defendant Cooley, delivered on September 10, 1908, was in violation and destruction of the plaintiff’s leasehold right. Defendant Cooley, prior to the making and delivery of the deed to her, was in possession of knowledge which put her upon inquiry as to the plaintiff’s rights under said lease, and defendant Cooley was thereby put upon inquiry concerning the grounds and reasons of plaintiff’s occupation, and is presumed, to have knowledge of all the facts she might have learned by means of an inquiry duly and reasonably made. Betts v. Letcher, 1 S. D. 182; 46 N. W. 193; Bliss v. Waterbury, 131 N. W. 731; Pomeroy’s Eq. Jurisprudence, §§ 614, 615; Gale v. Shillock, 4 Dak. 182, 29 N. W. 661.
Under the circumstances of this case, defendants were willful and malicious trespassers and could acquire no title to the grain
Under these circumstances, we are of the opinion that plaintiff was entitled to an injunction restraining defendants from interfering with his use and occupancy under said lease by means of said repeated trespasses, regardless of the question of the carrying off of the grain. The defendants were wrongdoers at all times, attempting to wrongfully oust plaintiff from a rightful possession. The plaintiff was right at all times in seeking to maintain his possession; and the principle that he who comes into a court of equity must do so with clean hands has no possible application to plaintiff. A lessee has such an interest as entitles him to an injunction to prevent irreparable injury to his leasehold estate. 22 Cyc. 818; Miller v. Dry Goods Co., 62 Neb. 270, 86 N. W. 1078. A tenant, like a landlord, is not necessarily restricted to an action for damages against one interfering with his possession or enjoyment, but may, in a proper case, obtain an injunction against such interference. Tiffany, Landlord & Tenant, p. 2128. An interference by the lessar, or another, with the possession or enjoyment of the premises by the lessee, may be restrained by injunction. Joyce on Injunctions, § 1251; Gaffey v. Northwestern Insurance Co., 71 Neb. 304, 98 N. W. 862. In principle this case last cited is very similar to the case at bar. In that case Gaffey was in possession under an unrecorded oral lease when the insurance company purchased from the landlord of Gaffe)'. The company attempted to exclude Gaffey, and an action was commenced by the company to restrain Gaffey, in which Gaffey set up a counter complaint and prayed for a permanent injunction against the plaintiff company restraining it from interfering with his possession. The trial court made findings and entered judgment for plaintiff restraining Gaffey from maintaining possession under his lease, from which judgment Gaffey appealed. The judgment of the lower court was reversed, and an injunction directed on Gaffey’s counterclaim in his favor upon the findings. The trial court found that Gaffey was in possession
Under the evidence plaintiff was entitled to an injunction restraining defendants from interfering with his possession under his lease. Irreparable injury, of course, must be shown to entitle a tenant to an injunction for interfering with the leased premises. Repeated and continuing trespasses, constantly recurring, constituting a wrongful invasion of plaintiff’s right, furnish proper cause, and injunction will lie to restrain such trespasses, both on the ground that the remedy at law by suit for damages is inadequate, and to prevent a repetition or multiplicity of suits, especially when the trespasses are committed by different persons. 22 Cyc. 836. Every day and eyery time that Asplund or Bickford went upon this land was a separate and distinct trespass, for which plaintiff might have maintained the action of trespass quare clausum against either of them. Defendants having plowed and planted, it is fair to presume they intended to enter again to harvest. It is fair to presume they would have continued such trespassing in 1909 and on until the termination of plaintiff’s lease. The entries of defendants of the land in question did not constitute what is termed a “scrambling” possession, where two trespassers or two persons with equal rights “scramble” for the possession of real property; but the entry of defendants, under the circumstances shown, constituted a willful and malicious wrong and invasion of plaintiff’s leasehold right or estate, with the intent
It is immaterial whether defendants ever produced a pound of crop on this land. It is the unlawful and wrongful interference with and exclusion of plaintiff from the leased premises, his loss of crops to be raised by himself in the use and enjoyment of the whole premises, ■■the nuisance of having his possession thus interfered withy that warrants the relief by injunction, and for which damages would not be adequaate or just compensation. There are numerous cases holding that a tenant may maintain injunction against one interfering with hi-s enjoyment and use of the leased premises by closing his way of ingress or egress, by interfering with his right to light or water, thereby creating nuisances which will be restrained by the court. What greater nuisance could exist against an agricultural tenant than to have strangers constantly plowing and planting where the tenant himself intended to plow and plant for his own use and purposes? The equities in this case are on the side of plaintiff, and plaintiff offered ample proof to justify a judgynent in his favor restraining defendants from interfering with his use and enjoyment of the leased premises. The allegations of the complaint are sufficient to warrant a judgment for plaintiff for obstructing and interfering with his free use of the leased premises, independent of the question of crops. We are of the opinion the trial court was right and committed no eiror in granting the new trial. The granting of this new trial was -in the discretion of the trial court, and the order granting the same should not be reversed, except where it is shown that the discretion was abused. This cause 'should be retried in the circuit court.
Finding no error in the record, the judgment and order appealed from is affirmed.
Dissenting Opinion
(dissenting). I am unable to agree with the conclusions reached by my colleagues, and, in order that the reasons for my dissent may be clear', I make the following statement in relation to what appears from the record herein:
The plaintiff, among other things, alleged that the defendant did forcibly, and by means of threats, prevent the plaintiff from putting in a crop on a portion of said land; that, during spring of 1908, in spite of plaintiff’s demand and notice to vacate said premises, defendant prevented plaintiff from attending to and caring for his crops on said land; that defendant threatens to and will forcibly evict plaintiff from said land and harvest and remove the plaintiff’s growing crops; and that defendant Bickford is insolvent. Upon the sworn complaint, plaintiff obtained a restraining, order, restraining the defendant from in any way entering upon or interfering with plaintiff’s possession of the land and crop during Ihe pendency of this action. It is clear that, under the allegations of the complaint, the plaintiff was entitled to the relief prayed foi. Tin's action was tried before a referee, who reported findings of fact and conclusions of law herein; the same being favorable to the defendant. These findings and conclusions were adopted by the trial court, and such tidal court did right in adopting the findings of the' referee, unless such findings were clearly against the evidence received. After the trial court had adopted the findings and conclusions, and had entered judgment in accordance therewith, it granted plaintiff’s motion for a new trial. Plaintiff offered no evidence whatever to. establish a single one of the allegations above referred to, and plaintiff sought no finding on either of these matters, all of which had been denied by the defendant. Taking the evidence and giving it the construction most favorable to plaintiff, and it would appear: Plaintiff had a valid lease entitling him to the possession and use of this land for the season of 1909, of which lease defendant Cooley had constructive notice. Defendant Cooley, with no actual notice of such lease, purchased the land in question and received a deed thereto, afterward maintaining (though in error in so doing) that her right under her deed was superior to any right of plaintiff under his
The question before us is not merely which one’s right in this land was superior, nor whether plaintiff was entitled' to recover damages against the defendants, but whether, under the facts proven, the referee was right in denying a permanent injunction, and the trial court wrong in granting a new trial. If plaintiff had proven the facts as alleged in his complaint, he certainly would have been entitled to the relief prayed for; but if, tinder the evidence herein, plaintiff is entitled to such relief, then, whenever two persons shall honestly differ as to which one is entitled to crop certain land, and both enter thereon, each in good faith cropping part thereof, the one who has the superior right has .only to remain quiet until the land has been properly tilled and the crop ready for harvesting, when he may come into court, disregarding his ample legal remedies, and get an order restraining the other party from removing said crop, and himself remove not only what he has sown, but that sown by the other party. To me this seems anything but equity. It would seem rather that this is a case wherein there well may be applied the equitable principles that: “He who comes into equity must do so with clean hands.” “He who seeks equity must do equity.” And, “Equity aids the vigilant, not the indolent.” In the words of the learned Chief Justice of Minnesota as found in Marks v. Jones, 71 Minn. 136, 73 N. W. 719, we would reverse the order of the trial court “upon the broad ground that the admitted facts do not show any superior equity entitling the plaintiff to the injunction asked as against the defendant. To grant an injunction restraining the defendant from removing or disposing of any portion of the crops would, in view of admitted facts, be inequitable, and oppressive to the defendant.”